The temporary FabCity campus was located at the Java island, next to the Central Station in Amsterdam. Which is a kind of déjà vu for those of you who can remember PICNIC 2011, which had the same entrance with stacked sea containers.
But no poetic mud architecture or parametric designs here (like our Hypermud construction then). But many practical examples of sustainable housing, as FabCity is aimed at the city of the future.
A striking machine, to be viewed in action, creates the Wikkelhouse, that exceeds in fast building. In one day, you can make one segment with the machine that comes on a truck and wraps a wooden frame in (twenty) layers of cardboard. Two examples (that consist of multiple segments) are used on the campus for meetings. It comes with quite a price tag though.
Some creators are temporarily living in their own (tiny) houses. We spoke with one of them, Jelte Glas of Woonpioniers, who made the well-designed Porta Palace. He was happy that he just had met the Dutch 'master architect'. Because the biggest hurdle in bringing these new architecture forms to the real world in our country are: rules.
Another example is the tiny house called Tiny TIM. It is fully self-sufficient in energy and water, mobile and put together in just one day. The outside is made of burnt wood: no painting necessary! A water purifying system on the outside provides drinking water. But here come those rules again: you can drink the purified water yourself, but you cannot serve it to others. This house does not need any connection to the grid and can thus be used on any location.
These were just a few examples of smart living & working. Furthermore there was a lot to see and do on the campus in the field of materials, fabrication, transport, water, food and data.
