2023 May / two weeks/ individual project

This is my entry for the Generative Architecture Competition organised by SPACE 10.

Regenerative Futures was a global design competition to reimagine future homes, communities and cities with generative AI tools.

For further information ↗

ABOUT MY WORK.

My Work Inspired by previous collaborations with Peter Larsen Kaffee, the project envisions a future where coffee production is localized, sustainable, and resilient—offering an alternative to the exploitative, high-input monoculture model. The seamless integration of architecture, agriculture, and waste regeneration presents a vision of sustainability that is both functional and inspiring.

Building Exterior

This project is a sustainable housing design that incorporates coffee recycled materials and self-sustaining systems. The building has a unique shape and is situated on a steep hillside, with a large portion covered in a translucent greenhouse material to allow sunlight in. Inside, the building features a self-sustaining indoor coffee farm with composting systems. The design prioritizes regenerative agricultural systems and adaptation to future climate extremes.

Building Interior

The coffee industry is rife with waste and inequality, as coffee farmers earn very little profit and are forced to convert forested land into high-input monocultures due to price pressures. 99% of the nutritional value of coffee is wasted, and the industry’s practices can lead to the destruction of the natural ecology of coffee.

In response, I imagined a single-family coffee farm, using coffee by-products and waste for regeneration, rather than the current capitalist model of coffee production. The plan includes indoor coffee tree cultivation, recycled coffee byproducts as building materials and composting.

Process documentation

Early Explorations

Prompt

• indoor coffee farm, located in the mountains of Yunnan, China

• Yunnan coffee estate in a building, single dwelling , Parametric design , with hydroponic agricultural, located in Yunnan, China, raw documentation, 32k uhd, –ar 16:9 –niji 5

Extraction of architectural elements

Generated by adding My own sketches

Prompt

A photorealistic rendering of a single dwelling, Contemporary architecture, with hydroponic coffee farm, located in Yunnan, China, Referenced to terraced fields forms, the bottom of the building is overhanging, the top is covered with net or membrane to adapt to climate change,original file,32k uhd,geometric composition, artificially illuminated, accent lighting, during a bright foggy sunrise in a grass field with native prairie plantings — ar 16:9

Prompt

This architectural rendering depicts a stunningly unique and eco-friendly home made entirely out of recycled coffee grounds. The structure has a smooth and rounded shape, resembling an oversized egg or a large, polished stone. The exterior surroundings are the Arctic snowfields, the dark sky and the aurora borealis. in the style of organic forms, muted tones, terragen, smooth and curved lines. with a flat surface at the bottom, the bottom of the building overhanging, supported by many Wooden strips, On the sloping land halfway up the mountain. –ar 8:5