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Monash Art, Design and Architecture Student Exhibition 2022

Sovannleejimmy Bunche

As a Cambodian spatial designer, my practice focusses on investigating human experiences and how different forms influence the relationship between space and us, dwellers. Across my projects, I have developed a profound interest in digital fabrication and working with mycelia as a design medium. I also have a great passion for exploring gender studies through the form of image-making. Set in 2055, in the aftermath of the industrial age, my final project, Urban Biotope, speculates a revitalisation of the wastescape using microorganisms. By investigating vernacular forms with advanced construction methods, Urban Biotope presents a harmonious dialogue between culture, climate and technology.

Best in Studio: ‘Ethics of Technology’

The New Neighbourhood, Urban Biotope, Cambodia, circa 2055

Looking into the landscape from one of the housings called Ptaes Khmer, the whole neighbourhood is populated with different traditional archetypes. A new form of materiality swarms the scenery which is shaped by our microbial partner, the mutated mycelium, creating unique visual and sensorial experiences in this emerging environment. Along with the residential structures, moss trees and mushroom bushes support the ecosystem by providing food and oxygen.

Interior Dwelling

Urban Biotope, hypothesizes a highly conceptual and speculative future that puts forth new forms, materialities and sceneries in the aftermath of industrialization. It presents an opportunity to reform the wastescape into a livable environment with the balance of man-made and nature. With this, it re-imagines the ways of life and interactions between us, dwellers, and the newly constructed settings. In this project, I have combined my range of physical tests and computational simulations to create the visualisation of Cambodia’s Urban Biotope. However, a fixed form can never be defined. Our reliance on mycelial growth will result in a truly dynamic and eccentric landscape of the future.

Landscape Construction and Development

Urban Biotope is the future of a landscape that is constructed from waste in the aftermath of the industrial age. It presents an opportunity to create an inhabitable environment out of the overflowing wastescape. Where almost all forms can be constructed by robotics, the project blends into the local scene by proposing a return to vernacular architecture. The new infrastructures re-embody each different regional archetype to which, Cambodia is my focal point. By combining traditional forms with advanced construction methods, Urban Biotope imbues the landscape with rich cultural values and creates a harmonious dialogue between culture, climate and technology.

A Collection of Mycelium Testing

Grounding my proposal in the contemporary setting and biotechnology, I studied and performed various simulated testing with mycelium and how it grows. Different objects and materials including wood offcuts, gravel, plaster and plastic waste are used to explore mycelial growth, resulting in different textures and colourations. I also observed how mycelium responds to the different waste elements as it binds the mixture while utilising cellulose waste for its growth.

The New Vernacular

Cambodia has 6 main different traditional housing forms of which I chose the signature Khmer House, or 'Ptaes Khmer', as my focal subject. Embodying the cultural values of Ptaes Khmer, the ideal house follows a gridded proportion and faces east to respect the rising sun. It has a steeply sloping roof with a lower gable covering the front and side veranda space. Consolidating traditions with the future propositions, simplification and massing of smaller elements and details are required, allowing the construction method and mutated mycelium growth to guide the final forms.

The New Ecosystem, The New Urban Landscape

To revitalise an overflowing wasteland devoid of life, I designed crucial infrastructures, serving different functions to accommodate the civilisation. The residential form takes after Khmer vernacular archetypes and presents a conceptual living space for this new speculative scenario. With higher content of exposed porous surfaces, moss populates the large tree structure, filtering air while providing oxygen for the new environment. The bush structure, with higher cellulose waste, supports mushroom growth to provide food source. Woven below ground, a mycorrhizal system is established between all new topological forms and opens the possibility of initiating new life.

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