The project is developed at the School of Sustainability as a 5 months project from March to the end of July.

It is composed by two parts: the first part is a research at global scale to test the potential of current retrofit strategy to face climate change, and it was just ended; the second part will design a retrofit project for a neighbourhood in Abu Dhabi.

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The current building stock counts for 150 billions m2 globally, and it’s expected to increase by 58% by 2060, mostly in emerging countries. Additionally, the majority of the existing building stock worldwide is approaching the end of its expected life-cycle, (averagely 70 years) after which it’s normally demolished and replaced by a new-built. In the United Arab Emirates, as well as in other fast growing and highly speculative real estate markets, the average life-span drops to just 25 years due to programmed obsolescence and continuous land-value maximisation.

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This applied research focuses on the potential of transforming existing buildings into new urban ecosystems through a virtuous process that shifts from linear to circular to what we define as hyper-circular: a looping strategy that considers future uses and changing scenarios, transforming the building into a carbon storage acting as a tree. This retrofit strategy aims at fighting programmed obsolescence and avoids the release of carbon emissions due to construction and demolition accounting for 35% of total life-cycle embodied energy.

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The proposed case study is located in the challenging and fast developing context of Abu Dhabi (where programmed obsolescence leads the market) and aims at hyper-retrofitting an existing podium + 4 high-rises (typical speculative typology) located in the transformation area of Mina Zayed Port. The project generates a new paradigm of zero-carbon urban realm through a vertical system of public spaces that transforms the development into an ecosystem and aims at proposing to the surrounding city a new vision for its sustainable development.

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Team: Martina Bertoncini | Luca Genualdo | Giovanna Tirocchi | Elena Todescato