Design for 
ecological 
harmony

Supernature Labs is a regenerative design and technology organization committed to reinventing the existing structures of the built environment, and stopping urban sprawl as we know it.

The way we plan, design and build can’t continue

We currently use up to 50% of our natural resources to build cities that become urban sprawls, degrade our health & quality of life, and generate increasing social alienation, loss of biodiversity, resource scarcity and economic inequality.

By 2060, our built environment
will double.

The way we design cities today forces us into an unwanted compromise between being together (density), and being
together with nature.

By 2040, we will double the urban
land coverage.

We must plan, design and build like nature, with nature,
for the benefit of all life.

What if nature could help
us build better cities?

The wellbeing of humans and the planet are interconnected. Our approach is therefore focused around the invention and development of a new form of urbanism, and innovative ways to build like nature and with nature.

Bioplanning & Supercell
Core Benefits

(Supported by Buro Happold)

The cellular street grid delivers up to 50% reduction in roads and road infrastructure 

The fundamental innovation of the Supercell is the permeability of the system through the creation of direct paths for pedestrians between the public and private realm, creating shorter and nicer routes for micromobility modes.  

Impact: This introduces an environment that is advantageous for walking and soft modes of transport, reducing the dependency on cars and private transport. Supercells also require less space for roads in comparison to typical traditional grids. 

The cellular street grid reduces the number of required signaled intersections, enabling faster and more efficient traffic flow through the development 

The Supercell is designed for the future of mobility, leveraging the dissolution of the hierarchical approach of traditional transportation engineering.

Impact: The three arms intersections and the lack of hierarchical differentiation creates a seamless network that is more fast, efficient and CAV ready in comparison with traditional layouts.

The Hexagonal structural grid of the built form, drastically reduces the number of structural members required compared to traditional buildings 

With some adaptations, the Hexagonal Cell system is highly competitive in terms of number of elements when compared to traditional structural forms.

Impact: The cell system has the potential to drastically reduce complexity in terms of number of joints, in large part due to the innovative joining of beam and column into a single mass-produced element.

The Supercell urban form reduces the MEP usage per plot due to the collation of adjacent buildings together to create a series of homogenous built forms

Initial load modelling has shown that peak conditioning (cooling and heating) loads have the potential to be lower for the Supercell.

Impact: This has the benefit of lower energy consumption (for the planet and the pocket) and the specification of reduced plant sizing.

The building massing drastically improves the potential for passive design as each building unit, within each super plot, can be optimized to maximize local microclimate 

The fundamental advantage the Supercell has over the traditional grid is the number of orientations with a greater level of refinement possible, with 6 façade orientations rather than 4.

Impact: The tessellation of the hexagon provides better daylight and longer and more engaging views which both have shown to have a beneficial influence on health and wellbeing. The number of residential units which have an adjacent parallel façade is reduced when using hexagonal Supercells, decreasing privacy issues and lack of natural sunlight.

Each façade orientation has an optimal façade design based on environmental performance, which also results in a lower occurrence of wind funneling and better air mixing with building height variation.

More on Dror

Dror’s work prior to founding Supernature Labs — May 26, 2017.

Publications

Coming soon