‘sunflower’ is a village of 3D-printed homes designed to make communities more sustainable

‘sunflower’ is a residential village of 19 3D-printed homes designed to provide a new model of a sustainable community village for low-density and rural areas. the project is the result of a multi-disciplinary collaboration between valentino gareri atelier, steve lastro, and delos, who aim to take a more humanistic, sociological approach to residential technology and community living.

all images courtesy of valentino gareri atelier

like a sunflower, the arrangement of the houses designed by valentino gareri atelier ‘follows’ the sun circle, where the lots and houses are radially distributed around a central communal area. photovoltaic roofs are shaped and angled in order to receive clean energy from the sun, as a sunflower does in nature every day. the one-story houses are built with 3D-concrete-printing technology, and the adopted construction process naturally shapes the final urban form.

new materials and construction techniques had always influenced the forms of the buildings. similarly, the 3D printing technology will give form to the city of the future. the construction site is placed in the center and the concrete-printer machine, moving through extendable and retractable binaries, ‘prints’ all the houses in sequence by rotating in the central site area thanks to a temporarily placed turning table. this represents a more sustainable construction process compared to a traditional one, as less soil is utilized during the working phase. the final result is a series of 19 houses radially arranged around the central site that, once the construction works are completed, will become the community heart of the future village.

every single house is designed to be energy self-efficient. the building shape naturally promotes the sun energy collection thanks to photovoltaic frameless tiles that clad the angled roofs. the roofs are angled to follow and catch the most efficient amount of solar radiation, according to the site latitude. the clean energy is collected in batteries and utilized for the floor-heating system, for air-conditioning, and for electric car alimentation. moreover, the roof inclination promotes the rainwater collection (for toilets and irrigation) into a water tank located in the service room.

the generated house geometry promotes and increases the ’chimney effect’ reducing the need for air-conditioning energy thanks to natural ventilation. the energy self-sufficient houses, immerse and completely open to nature, are designed as sustainable ‘machines’ where the final shape is the result of scientific criteria that have the aim to save or produce energy. with wellness at the forefront of sunflower village, each home is fitted with darwin home wellness intelligence by delos, the world’s first holistic in-home wellness platform that is designed to passively enhance human health and well-being through air purification, water filtration, and lighting that mimics natural daylight.

project info:

name: sunflower: 3D printed residential village

designer: valentino gareri atelier

technology futurist & wellness consultant: 6sides

global wellness real estate and technology leaders: delos

renderings: denis guche

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: yasmina karam | designboom