Partnered with Julie Lucas, we designed a four story Memory Care Facility on the 27th through 30th floors of the Bank of America Plaza Building in downtown Atlanta. We were challenged to think about the narrative of the world in 2070. We speculated that the world will be more technologically advanced, but that technology would become more integrated with nature. Technology will be designed based off nature's forms and tasks. Robotic snails and bees will be designed to complete tasks similar to the natural creatures. Animals that face extinction will be replaced by robotic creatures.
Inspired by the French ideas of accepting the aging process as beautiful, we embodied this perspective in our design. We designed a form that mimicked a gracefully folded over study model. This form was placed within the building and used to program the space. We researched technologically advanced yet naturally derived materials and designed the form to be a 3D printed lattice-type structure which mycelium would grow on and between. The mycelium has air cleaning properties, and simulates the natural process of decay and growth. The mycelium allows for varied transparencies on the 3D printed form. This variation in transparency was inspired by the beautiful light emissive quality of the study model and the idea of aging skin.
The program situates the most public space on the 27th floor up to the most private space on the 30th floor. The 27th floor includes a series of libraries to draw in the public and the residents. The libraries include a resident library and reading stage to allow residents to interact with visitors about their past lives. Residents and visitors may also enjoy music, plant, and creatures libraries as well as a cat cafe. The 28th floor contains public space for the residents only, with a lounge and salon area. The 29th floor is where residents may harvest their own food if desired from the vertical farming pods, and cook it in the community kitchens. There is also a made-to-order kitchen if residents do not wish to cook, and a variety of seating scales for multiple dining experiences. The 30th floor is where the resident pods were outlines, to be designed individually in the second phase.
