The City + Energy
Investigating the Metabolism of Cities

Cities are creatures of their specific energy regimes. Either modern metropolis or sprawling suburbs, medieval cities or ancient villages, all human settlements have been and continue to be the direct result of their energy conditions. Ancient cities were shaped by processes and tools founded on combustion of natural resources, on animal strength and human power supplemented by the force of the wind and the sun. They have been as much outcomes of their respective energy conditions as the formation of the modern suburb is incontrovertibly the by-product of the increasing availability of electricity and of fossil-fuel economy.

Parallel to the rapidly increasing interest into the global geographies, emergent landscapes and geopolitical implications of energy production and distribution, especially in relation to the rising exploitation of renewable resources, and parallel to the large body of work on ‘sustainable’ architecture, Studio Basel will continue its exploration into the metabolism of cities through a year-long research aiming at understanding the relationship between energy and the city.

HS 2012: The City + Energy I

Six Urban Typologies. Assessing energy performances
Metropolitan analysis. Guidelines for a energy strategic project in Basel

FS 2013_ The City + Energy II

An architectural design studio investigating the transformation
of urban typologies in Basel