Hydroassemblies - Unit-based system for the symbiosis of urban spaces and greeneries through hydraulic driven tectonics

Hydroassemblies is a research thesis that investigates the architectural potential of a unit-based modular system that can recursively grow in space guided by hydrodynamic principles in order to generate intricate tectonic assemblies, integrating the roles of spatial articulator, water collector/distributor and plant cultivation substrate to foster a symbiotic relation with the urban environment. By implementing principles of circulatory systems in biology, the authors developed a system that grows through recursive formation of loops and articulates its tectonic via a continuous, interconnected branching network. The founding process improves upon a combinatorial algorithm of discrete parts, considering how iterative interactions at the local level have a feedback impact on the growth process at the whole system scale. The paper explores how features, spatial and perceptive qualities, affordances and opportunities emerge at the global scale of the formation from the interplay of local behavioral principles and environmental conditions. The provided implementation is a proof of concept of the production of complex qualities by means of massive quantities of simple elements and interactions.