Spaces for the conservation of biodiversity adapted to the urban environment.
Zokhalo are vertical gardens made of ceramic for the care of urban biodiversity. Its brand purpose goes beyond integrating nature into urban buildings, since it is developed locally, by hand, with raw materials from the area.
National
Spain
Castilla La Mancha (Toledo), Comunidad de Madrid (Madrid)
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
The aesthetic criteria of architects and landscape designers must be adapted to the conditions of biodiversity conservation and the need to enhance its functionality as green infrastructure. The covering of the ground with asphalt, cement, concrete, cobblestones and other types of paving constitutes a profound transformation of the environment that directly affects biodiversity.
It is a question of overcoming this vision of biodiversity as an obstacle to the development of new housing and infrastructure, and presenting it as an opportunity for the planning of more sustainable resilient cities with a greater quality of life. We have to stop seeing pavings as the limits of our biodiversity and take advantage of them as conservation spaces adapted to the urban environment. That's why I present Zokhalo; which is a collection of handmade ceramic wall tiles for the care of urban biodiversity by 3d manufacturing methods.
Zokhalo naturalize cities, integrate biodiversity into the buildings and return to urban centers the quality of life provided by the presence of green spaces in order to protect areas disturbed by humans. This collection is inspired by the geometry found in nature, tessellations abstracted in shapes or symbolic references of natural elements, where its modules serve to house both, flora and birds that inhabit these areas.
Zokhalo also focuses on sparrows, swifts, martins and swallows, whose survival is linked to the conservation of their urban populations and are of vital importance to maintain the balance of these environments.
Local
Biodiversity
Handmade
New crafts
Resilient cities
The transformation to a sustainable city is not only the promotion of some green areas or specific policies, it must become a transversal element in planning and management of the city. Zokhalo can be integrated into the same buildings and urban centers. In existing constructions, terraces, balconies and even the window sills. All these alternatives can be applied without modifying the architectural structure, just by using current buildings and facades for the placement of modules and external elements that protect the native nature of each place.
It is also a union between culture and traditional trades with innovation and all the benefits that involve vertical gardens, sustainable drainage systems, eco-design and bird-friendly buildings. What's more, Zokhalo's purpose for sustainability goes beyond integrating nature into urban buildings, since it is developed in a local environment, with raw materials from the area and with an artisan manufacturing.
The tile is an inexhaustible graphic and sculptural support, in its dimensions, volumes and reliefs, as well as in graphics or decoration that can be placed on it.
The collection presents the ceramic tile as a graphic support and design object with an aesthetic function present both shape and surface, from the tessellation and volume to the decoration of the plane, defining the appearance of the module and panel, being the pieces together the ones that generate the final composition. This opens up a path of possibilities in terms of personalization of pieces, giving rise to countless artistic licenses that can be done by designers, artists and individuals. It is Zokhalo's goal to encourage people that live in these areas to participate, co-create and cooperate in how it will look. Courses and workshops will be implemented in the coloring of these green walls, as it is in the choices of color, native plants and distribution. With the reminder that Zokhalo proposes, that is to expand these dimensions for its function, friendly habitats for birds and flora, that also accompanies the aesthetic and biofilic aspect.
Inspired by the integration of natural and cultural values, the tile is also an identifying element of the craft industry in Spain, influenced by the Cordovan courtyard, known for being Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. In these courtyards or common areas between neighborhoods we have an opportunity to make ta place of coexistence, for improving and recovering the quality of life.
The services that include the elaboration of the modules are under the vision of inclusion since the outsourcing services such as distribution, packaging and electricity are stablished with inclusive bussiness that use renewable energies and hire employees with special needs. The creation of this project is affordable since the vertical gardens are made up of individual modules, pieces that build a larger mural. Therefore, the budget can be adapted depending on the size of the intervention.
Zokhalo also wants to become part of the Alternative and Solidarity Economy Network that works in Castilla-La-Mancha and Madrid, offering recreational, educational and therapeutic activities, relating on art therapy to improve people's lifes. To become a part of this iniciative allows Zokhalo to create synergies with other partner entities, by sharing visions, knowledge, and providing services that grant to build together.
The towns, beyond being residential areas, need job opportunities for young people to bet on their place of origin, their crafts and the cultural heritage of their region. We are experimenting depopulation and loosing traditional crafts made by hand. For that, Zokhalo will be produced in a rural area, Cobisa, a small town in Toledo next to Madrid, a location that allows us to be close to natural raw materials in the area to produce these pieces, and in turn it is close to the largest urban center in the country, which experiences a lack of green areas and space, two of the main needs that Zokhalo provides. Also I started this project in Cobisa to put unknown places on the map where interesting proposals and social projects can be generated that interact with people, that favor the growth of the town and its surroundings through these vertical gardens, these walls in which life and nature grows.
This project began as a final degree project, which I carried out in coordination with professional ceramic training studios. It was carried out locally, in Madrid, and it can be implemented in all levels, regional, national and European.
In Zokhalo converge 3d design manufacture processes, design based solutions and traditional craftsmanship. An update of the trades in the new times. Crafts that today are on the verge of disappearing due to a society characterized by high levels of consumption, for this reason, I promote and defend ceramics, a profession for which I feel a vocation, as a technique and material that allows to carry out reality pieces and prototypes with multiple artistic and experimental licenses conceived in the design phase. Design feeds back and collaborates; it connects not only at a technical level, but from the conceptual sense that social design contributes, the responsibility that an element has according to its environment; and we have a voice through that object, in this case, in the
artistic and socio-environmental field.
So I hope that the interaction in between these fields represents and defends coherent, conscious and responsible design, necessary to change the economy and society, towards a more sustainable, humane and happy model.
Specifically, the methodology used to make the models that make up the Zokhalo collection coordinates digital techniques with manual finishes in the reproduction of the different pieces. Once the pattern tile has been determined, a 3D modeling and construction is chosen, since it facilitates the use of symmetries and geometric design, based on exact measurements and precision in the modules, which allows a correct assembly between each one of the tiles. Then, under virtual software, all the prototypes are displayed together with their volumes, where a reduction coefficient is applied to the measurements of the final models, since the pieces contract after drying and firing in the kiln.
Once the matrix is made by digital means, I continue with the printing and the artisanal process of making reproduction molds in plaster, with which pieces can be created in series to generate networks of vertical garden modules. This becomes a innovation in the handmade process, uniting the best of digital and handcrafted means.
Since all the design is done by digital means it can be shared easily, then, all the processes and learning have no need of technology and can be implemented anywhere as all the materials have a very low price and are not difficult to find. It only takes plaster and clay to create all of these modules and compositions.
This is a proposal for rural development that is based on the natural wealth and traditional knowledge of the area with the aim of also contributing to the greening of urban space and the protection of biodiversity. It is designed to help the strengthening of social relationships and interations, creating healthy places to live by. Supporting Alternative and Solidarity Economy Networks by different courses and workshops and collaborating with other entities that are sustainable.
At the end we have more resilient and respectful cities in which autochthonous flora and fauna can develop and bring countless benefits to human beings as it reduces heat island effect, improves air quality and reduces heating and cooling demands of buildings.
