What to do about all those abandoned McMansions? Turn them into wetlands and natural water filtration systems for urban centers.
According to many scientists and climatologists, we are fighting a losing battle against climate change, loss of rain forests and wetlands and extinction of species. Historians who study Maya and Angkor have warned of an inevitable collapse to civilization when natural resources are overused in non-sustainable ways. Many real estate analysts have also predicted that a change of lifestyle, shrink of household size and a rise of energy prices will seal the final downfall of suburbia.
What would be the future of suburbia when McMansions are abandoned?
In response to the anticipated future, the Frog’s Dream project attempts to re-establish a sustainable relationship between city and suburbia. It proposes to transform the vacant McMansions, at the periphery of cities, into eco-water treatment machines, commercially known as Living Machines, in which a micro-ecosystem of plants, algae, bacteria, fish and clams are present to purify the water. A micro-wetland ecosystem will be formed around these mansions to sustain larger wetland animals and plants. The project also involves transforming the highway system into a multi-functional infrastructure that transports cars, trains and bikes, as well as forming a network to facilitate water transport between a city and its surrounding suburban wetlands.
The Frog Dream presents the idea of a highly concentrated city and its ring of suburban wetlands will hold the key to a green future.
How cool would this look in 50 or 100 years? It would be like ruins full of marsh land. Beautiful. Though some of those shoddy houses might fall into the water not too long from now.
Great idea.. best of luck!
love the concept and imagining how it would look after a while as well, you’ve got to wonder about all the toxic crap built into those houses tho!
Curious about how you’ll handle the mosquito problem?
This idea works in conjunction with the shift of suburban population to higher density dwellings… I think it is a superb idea that can be added to others.
Wetlands were a concern for biologists years ago, because they were directly downstream of industrial waste. Some reports returned that wetlands are far more resilient than we thought, and were actually very powerful at treating waste.
The greatest threat to wetlands seems to be the paving of suburbia!
If we can shift our working class population to community centric high density dwellings along close proximity to interstates, we will see many oppurtunities to convert mcmansions to wetlands. The wasteful alternative is to add the rubble to landfills, which is already maxed out in construction waste.
I would imagine that much of the former paving can be used to line a dam creating the reservoir required to flood these hoods.
This is a great idea! Especially since clean water will likely become more of a precious resource in the near future.
What I like about this project is that it presents a model of sustainable city development. The future high dense cities would certainly need an adjacent supporting system to ensure sustainable growth. Having rings of man-made wetlands surrounding city center would provide one possible solution. I begin to image a beautiful picture of paddling along a stream which was once to be the suburban road. I think the imagery derived from this project is very powerful.
This is a surreal concept, althrough I’m not sure how cities could afford to buy up those empty homes, but if they could…
What I like about this project is that it is forward looking and presents a model of future city development. Any high dense cities would certainly need a supporting system to ensure their sustainable growth. It’s a fascinating idea to have rings of man-made wetlands surrounding a city. The imagery presented in this project is very strong.
Excellent, this is one of the finest design that I ever see, I believe you spend a lot of time to create such good idea for this project.
First about, THANK YOU for all the comments.
To answer some of your questions and comments, I would like to address further on my design intention.
1) I don’t see the decline of Suburbia a problem that we need to solve, but an excellent opportunity for us to rethink and transform our attitude towards the relationship between man and land/nature.
2) My project serves as a beginning, and an urge to people that in order to solve bigger issues such as global warming and shift of climate patterns, we humans have to give up or change some old habits. It is pointless to hold on the lands when there is no return on desertification or annual flooding.
3) The decline of suburbia is the best time to convince people to give up their unsustainable lifestyle, move back into a more efficient urban centres and leave the lands outside the cities for nature, except the immediate ring of space outside the city, where former suburban neighborhoods are, to serve as manmade wetlands where human needs (cleaning urban grey water) and natural needs (natural ecosystems) can co-exist and co-evolve.
4) This project is just a starting point. There are many practical/non-practical ways to create this ring of manmade wetlands around the city.
5) This project will evolve because no one can precisely predict the climate, rate of urban development and how nature will adapt to this manmade setting, just like no one can certainly estimate how long these abandoned mcmansions will stand, maybe 50 years? I think all projects to tackle such a big issue should allow evolution.
To rely some of your comments:
1) I have acknowledged that pavement, asphalt, etc will be an issue. I think using them somewhere to hold the water is the best idea. I have also researched on the recycling of these materials but didn’t really find the best solution before the deadline.
2) In the past centuries we have drained enough wetlands for development and mosquito control. For my project, I don’t see mosquito as a big issue because these wetlands are outside the cities, more like regional parks.
3) I think the romantic vision of these “suburban ruins” can be a by-product of the project, though it is not a primary consideration. These houses may last 50 years or 80 years the most, so eventually this project and the wetlands will have to evolve in order to achieve a sustainable system to treat the water.
This project helps me to consolidate some of my beliefs.
I truly hope it can also raise people’s awareness on environmental issues as we are searching better ways to share our future living spaces – what do we really need and what we can give up when we create our future homeland.
sorry for the typo, should be:
I truly hope it can also raise people’s awareness on environmental issues as we are searching better ways to SHAPE our future living spaces – what do we really need and what we can give up when we create our future homeland.
This looks awesome and I love the idea! Very functional concept for sustainable urban development, yet, finally gives back to some of the things that man has taken away from Mother Nature!
The frog would never want a princess to kiss him once he lives in this dreamland! Seriously, this design has other implications on health as well as on our eco-system. It is economical, sustainable and practical. Imagine living in this serene environment, one does not require any therapist to reduce stress! Monet would have loved to live and paint there.
Calvin, thank you for your comments. as a practical proposal, yes mosquitoes would be an issue and yes the buildings could be toxic. i don’t think this project really works on a lot of these kinds of levels when you think it through.
but for asking the question of whether elaborate plans for reinvention are really more worthwhile than simply giving the land back to nature, i think it deserves a lot of praise.
Citizens speak up as pollution experts call for better environmental planning. Environments and polulations must be considered and make improvements. A masterpiece of Modern Riverside Living is definitely a ideal place.
Desmond
This sounds like an excellent idea for Detroit. With so many homes foreclosed and the rest at very low prices, it’d be much easier to achieve for individuals as a coop., businesses, or the city government at large.
I like this project, I hope the judges understand this because the voters are way too ignorant to realize the concept of this competition. Look at the leaders… we’re doomed!
I like this a lot.
But why do the houses have to be abandoned? Why not offer tax incentives and integrate the design so that the residents are encouraged to convert, and the neighborhood offers a welcoming area for the other life forms we should be living with.
It could be done now. It could relieve the problems many cities are having maintaining their systems, and be a win win for cities and residents. If 1 home could convert and process the output of 10 homes, what an impact.
Pfff….
I am not a contestant in this contest for starters, and I think that forcing suburb dwellers to dig up grass and fill their yards with ponds and frogs is more than ridiculous. There are so many things wrong with this design.
First of all, there are many climates within the country that won’t allow ponds. Second, how do you force individual home owners to transform their yards into tropical slash wetlands oases. Third, there are not enough of frogs in the whole world to fill all the suburb ponds. Fourth, mosquitos would eat us faster than this concept realizes all over the country.
Remaking suburbs into Brazilian Amazon jungle is not a solution!
This is the weakest of all designs, and I don’t understand the judges choice at all. There are so many better designs in this competition.
I am baffled to say the least.
Despite the lack of good design and sustainable techniques that went into building these McMansions, they have already been built. The carbon emissions generated from the concrete, wood, other materials, and transportation have already made their contribution to our environment. Abandoning them while people are still building new structures (however “green” they are) is still irresponsible. True sustainability is using what we already have before we create something new. A better use of these structures would be to divide them up into multiple units for low cost housing and perhaps plant trees in their front and back yards to help combat the carbon emissions.
I am a really surprised this won. It doesn’t address the issue that a huge majority of people what to live in the suburbs. The contest is Reburbia not Noburbia. I dislike McMansions as much as everyone else here, but I don’t think this creates a replacement for the current suburbs in which people would want to live.
Poor choice by the judges.
I think these houses would have had to be built very solid in order to even “maybe” work. However most suburban developments are built with the cheapest materials and are not made to last. Has this person considered the crazy amount of mold that would form as result of exposing the houses to water, considering most are wood frame construction and the exterior is covered with wood panels containing formaldehyde? This project would create an extremely toxic environment not only to humans but animals too (from the mold and formaldehyde exposure)…thus making this project no feasible on any form or shape. The last thing we need is to make more plans that create more problems. i get the idea that there was an emphasis on ” the crazier the idea the better”for the competition but this isn’t even that crazy…its just thought out well plain and simple.
[...] box stores and mini-mansions) for more efficient uses. The grand prize went to Calvin Chiu’S Frog’s Dream: McMansions Turned into Biofilter Water Treatment Plants. It’s a design that turns bloated mini-mansions into wetlands, providing an organic [...]
hey I really got impressive your work
I just wanna know why do you decide to leave the houses?
Im doing this kind of work,so i wonder, thanks
[...] competição que desafiou arquitetos e afins para dar nova utilidade para lugares abandonados, foi Frog’s Dream: McMansions Turned into Biofilter Water Treatment Plants. O projeto oferece uma forma de filtragem natural de água pras cidades vizinhas. Massa, né? [...]
Reference Paul Stamets’research on using mycelia to transform toxic materials, mold, petroleum run-off, oil spills. Perhaps mycelia could solve many of the problems associated with these homes’ eventual decline into masses of decaying, toxic building materials.
[...] of the current home foreclosure crisis and rising energy costs. The competition’s cheeky winning entry posits the transformation of abandoned suburban mansions into wetlands and water purification [...]
I think water should be our biggest concern at this point. Your project addresses one aspect of it. I like the comment about mosquitos–I guess we’ll just see a spike in bat populations, right? In my feeble opinion, focus should be on these types of projects–in an imperative type of way. In addition, I think John Lyle was on to something by bringing food production to the mix. Regenerative design is the only way to go, and it needs to be spread throughout the globe on multi-multiple small scales–it’s own microcosm if you will. Permaculture is a term that should be in our every day vocabulary. Kudos to you and your forward thinking. Let’s see if we can fix this whole deal.
I think this plan is brilliant in several ways. For one, it recognizes that the coming unsustainability of suburbia (due to the costs, including CO2 emissions, of transportation) is an opportunity as well as a problem. For another, it recognizes the critical importance of water and the power of wetlands to purify it. It relies on the self-organizing capability of natural systems — and by the way, I think fish such as carp could hold down the mosquito population by eating their larvae. Even the toxic materials present in the houses may not prove an insurmountable problem. If you dig deeper into the use of wetland ecosystems for water purification (e.g. John Todd and OceanArks), you will find that even heavy metals can be removed by such means. The supply of drinkable water is one of the critical limiting factors on every human effort, and it will only be moreso. We will have to get better and better at purification in order to maintain a decent supply. For a fascinating proposal to use wetlands in an urban setting, see this link: http://www.urbanlab.com/h2o/. This design idea proposes the creation of “Eco-Boulevards” — longitudinal wetlands — that would purify Chicago’s wastewater and storm runoff.
One of the main things to understand as we head into a speedily changing future is that the vacant lot is not vacant. What has been abandoned is not useless, if we only understand where its new usefulness lies. Our human economy needs to become a collaboration with nature rather than what it has been, an effort to make nature a subordinate part of a human economy.