This year Istanbul Design Week goes back to the future with a very ambitious project: HavvAda, a cutting-edge net-positive-energy residential island conceptualized by New York-based Studio Dror. Turkish developer Serdar Inan has commissioned the project, which will be unveiled in Istanbul on September 29. Read more.

HavvAda will be built off Istanbul’s shore, using excavated soil from a new massive canal planned between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara. Inan has asked that the project be completed in time for the Turkish Republic’s Centennial in 2023.

For the design, Dror has drawn on its fascination with spatial geometry, as well as Buckminster Fuller’s legacy in structural engineering and Ebenezer Howard’s Garden City. Six months of intensive dialog with a team of experts–including members of the the Buckminster Fuller Institute, Buro Happold, and Shoji Sadao from Fuller, Sadao & Zung Architects–have allowed Dror to realize an ambitious concept that offers a high quality of life and helps the environment.

The island is envisioned as a landscape of six residential hills, surrounding a circular valley dedicated to parks and recreation. The slopes will accommodate 300,000 housing units in low-rise buildings, to make the most of the panoramic views.

Each hill will be supported by a mega-dome structure inspired by Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic dome, allowing for a “three-dimensional grid” that aims to maximize energy and structural efficiency. In Dror’s vision, the grid can accommodate a fully integrated renewable energy system and water recycling as well as efficient heating and cooling for the domes, allowing the community as a whole to produce more energy than it consumes.

Conceived as autonomous neighborhoods, the hills will also feature educational, entertainment, health, and sport facilities, and will be connected by a rapid transportation system.

Dror Studio, run by Dror Benshetrit, has developed an interdisciplinary practice specializing in innovative design projects. Last year the firm patented QuaDror TM, a three-dimensional structural support system that can adapt to various conditions and configurations and will be used at various scales in the design of the island’s structures.

All images courtesy of Dror

by Silvia Gugu

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