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_eco citiy:

Sustainable City Design




Professor: Dr. Tierney, Therese|tierney@illinois.edu
PROJECT TYPE: Studio Project|Team Work
Credit to: Chang Gu
Scale: Urban Complex
Date: February,2014 to May,2014,Second year of MArch I
Site location: Chicago,IL



Learning from Silicon valley, Google has decided to relocate its R&D headquarters to Chicago. In a strategic private/public partnership between Google, UIUC and City of Chicago, an ECO district will be designated that advances intelligent and sustainable design. It will also serve as a testbed for environmental models, including new modes of transportation.

a new urban proposal for city chicago


The Chicago River site is currently slated for development. The approach responding to current socio-economic trends by promoting:

A Platform of Collaboration where innovative people come together to leverage the opportunities of association with other innovators, small and large firms that form an ecosystem of ideas creation and knowledge sharing;

Providing Public Spaces and Programs that help incubate exchange between people, ideas and creativity;

Developing a 24-hour Neighborhood that works for flexible lifestyles, fully embracing the live-work nature of housing, providing a mix of uses that are active both day and night.


As the Earth’s atmosphere continues to warm, cities around the Great Lakes will need to adapt to changes in regional climate over the next century. These changes include higher air temperatures; shifts in the timing, frequency, and severity of precipitation events; declining lake levels; and higher water temperatures. Changes to regional climate pose increased risks to the water resources, built environment and infrastructure, ecosystems, and recreation and tourism sectors that already face other pressures such as invasive species, urban development, and economic competition.
      --NOAA “Planning Guide for Great Lakes Restoration, 2011

In response, this research investigates innovative methods, models and measures of urban design for the 21st century. Foregrounding the nascent reciprocity between ecology, economy and energy, the research opens a horizon on reimagining urban form in response to climate change, sustainable practices and new patterns of habitation.

Energy strategy

The energy proposal is based on the smart grid system. A smart grid is an electrical grid which includes a variety of operational and energy measures including smart meters, smart appliances, renewable energy resources, and energy efficiency resources. Electronic power conditioning and control of the production and distribution of electricity are important aspects of the smart grid. When smart grid has been introduced into urban infrastructure, any type of electricity generator could connect into the smart grid instead of serve to a closed system. Solar energy, wind energy, IPEG system created the carbon zero system.


Topography Rebuilt

Since the city already has it-self's architecture topography, so the new Eco-district should respect the important information and context around the site. React with the greater context is necessary. Major education, commercial, conference, museum serves as control point to form the new Eco-district's Architectural topography.


Conferences, workshops, symposium, exhibition and competitions are some formal ways that people exchange idea but are only hold once or several times a year. We feel like that these forms of communication should be embedded into our daily life. The idea should be spread and shared with no time limitation which will allow people to maximize the power of intelligence.


After the research of reform the topography of the site, we start to use important information as control point to influence the program layout. Also a walkable district is one of the major goals in this project, so the grid system should be welcome use for people's public activity, walking. A new district grid has been formed based on the quick accessibility of the public green space.