Mini-Mansions Reclaimed as Wetlands

Last month we wrote about the Reburbia competition that challenged architects and urban planners to appropriate the soon-to-be vacant ruins of suburban sprawl (aka big box stores and mini-mansions) for more efficient uses. The grand prize went to Calvin Chiu’s Frog’s Dream: McMansions Turned into Biofilter Water Treatment Plants. It’s a design that turns bloated mini-mansions into wetlands, providing an organic filtration system for a nearby city.

Chiu explains the project:

In response to the anticipated future, the Frog’s Dream project attempts to re-establish a sustainable relationship between city and suburbia. It proposes to transform the vacant McMansions, at the periphery of cities, into eco-water treatment machines, commercially known as Living Machines, in which a micro-ecosystem of plants, algae, bacteria, fish and clams are present to purify the water. A micro-wetland ecosystem will be formed around these mansions to sustain larger wetland animals and plants. The project also involves transforming the highway system into a multi-functional infrastructure that transports cars, trains and bikes, as well as forming a network to facilitate water transport between a city and its surrounding suburban wetlands.

Check out the rest of the winners here.