pixel in the park

a competition entry for a new residential quarter of around 380 units on the southern edge of graz.

everything grows from one square module of 16.6 by 16.6 metres, the pixel. it multiplies into urban edges, densifies into clusters and halves into terraced houses; shifting and rotating the modules produces the variety. the range comes from the syntax of the arrangement, not from a large formal vocabulary.

a ring road takes all car traffic around the quarter and drops it straight into garages under the buildings, which keeps the park and the inner streets free of cars. two-storey terraced houses mediate towards the existing houses to the north and east, a densely planted sports strip buffers the commercial area to the south and west, and the height rises to three and four storeys along the ring road and the park edge. a kindergarten and a restaurant on the ground floor activate the central park.

the quarter is designed for heat: retention roofs with pv, unsealed swales and ditches, shade trees and ventilation between the volumes. up to 85 percent of the buildings stand on point foundations, and the modules are laid out so a kindergarten can later become flats.