Martin, C. L., 2009.

Syn-City – Explorations into the Biomimetic Solar City: A Synergy of Urban and Celestial geometries within a Forest-Inspired Masterplan.

Syn-City extends previous studies into solar derived form by Ralph Knowles (Solar Envelope/interstitium), Toranamon-Azabudai (Solar-Orientated City), and MVRDV (Trojan Extrusion & Claustro City) by allowing biological expediency to inform and respond to urban contexts born out of non-solar forces. By challenging both the concept of a Solar City, an oxymoron in which buildings close together shade each other and thus prevent insolation, and the solar suburbs, which are generally low density and site expensive, the work advances both the understanding of urban sustainability from a bio-analogous perspective and strengthens the architectural knowledge of urban and celestial geometries, the synergy of which are key to true solar city design.
The challenge here was to seed a solar community, capable of sustaining an inevitable urban population within an existing and site limited northern European city. Within natural forest systems a fractal shift of scale from the microscopic to the macro encourages specialization, mutualism, and compaction. On this evidence a hybridized hypothesis proposes an equivalent shift of scale involving the cellular phenomenon of Phenotypic Plasticity. It would be argued that the implications for a solar society seeking to adapt to both sun and shade environs would be profound, not only at the micro scale where selective glazing systems are now emerging, but also at meso and macro scales i.e. the street and city respectively making for a highly distinctive and increasingly sought resolution.
Forms generated by the author and students at the Manchester School of Architecture display the same faceted dynamism and presence as the futuristic visions of 1930’s illustrator and architect Hugh Ferris as well as the intense and contemporary geometries of Rem Koolhaas at Casa da Música and Seattle Central Library. By offering sustainable design a new language of validity a significant and provoking architectural statement can now be made.

Related Research:   Craig Martin