ITU's Sustainability R&D Center promotes AI and biomimicry for sustainability. The open design connects researchers, designers, and the public, featuring labs, a museum, and following the Patch Corridor Matrix theory. Situated in Istanbul's Florya district, it aligns with natural patches to enhance biodiversity.
Sustainabilityused to be seen as a secondary function of design, where it's good to be therebut not necessarily thought about, yet, the environmental challenges we, as humans, arefacing today make sustainability a priority and an essential part of anydesign, whether these designs are related to architecture, industry, biology,or any other field. Therefore, the proposed R&D center is based onsustainable design where researchers, from all spectrums of the research field,come together with designers to research & develop sustainability and itstechnologies and tools, such as artificial intelligence, biomimicry design,etc. All of that must be done while integrating the public inside the process,for the end products of these research are made for the community's day-to-daylife.
Theresearch center itself is to be designed with more open than closed areas,while including a variety of functions starting from the tightly closedresearch labs up to a museum that is open for the public, and even proposing anaccommodation area for the researchers.
The PatchCorridor Matrix theory is a concept developed by landscape architects to encouragethe reconnection of people and nature by creating a multi-functionalsustainable landscape. The theory suggests that design should incorporate bothlarge and small patches of habitat and link them with corridors so thatmovement among patches is easier. This helps to ensure that natural resourcessuch as soil, clean water, plants, and animals can be shared within the patchcorridor matrix. Corridors provide direct pathways for animals to move betweenpatch clusters for food sources or reproduction purposes and also allow forhuman interaction with wildlife. By providing wildlife corridors and habitatpatches, the patch corridor matrix theory encourages biodiversity in urbanareas by providing a variety of habitats all connected together.
Based onthat theory, We suggested a building with 3 main “patches”: Education, Design,and Research, each one acting as a separate function while being connected witha single horizontal circulation “Coriddor”, creating the desired diversity and multidipline between the threemain user profiles: Students, Designers, and Researchers.
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