This is the version two-point-oh of Brown Rock City. If you're reading this for the first time, please fast-forward to the first version of BRC below, read up, then rewind back to this paragraph to understand the design process and the changes that I've made. After consulting with some of the other eco-freaks in the community, I've implemented some improvements. The most common complaint that I got from people is that there isn't enough space between individual housing units in version one. Although that is a disadvantage, it's for a specific reason: having houses in close quarters protects them from the direct rays of the sun, which can cause temperatures to reach the mid-forties easily -- and that's Celsius! However, it was pointed out to me that the same objective could be achieved by planing a series of trees with bountiful foliage in an expanded patio area between every two housing units. That wouldn't work for the mud skyscrapers of Yemen, which reach up to eight storeys in height. But here the houses will only be built to a maximum of two storeys, low enough to benefit from tree shade.

The back alleys between two contiguous housing units serve a number of potential purposes. For one, they allow for alternative exits and extra air flow. Two, they allow for access to a staircase or series of staircases that reach the roof, and what may eventually turn into second floor rooms. They also allow access to the common room roof, via a walkway supported by an arch underneath. The extra outdoor green space came at the expense of the separate outbuildings for composting toilets and shower/baths. The people I spoke to were pretty insistent on having access to these services inside of their own private homes. Nevertheless, I believe that the 16-meter diameter common room is large enough to contain these functions within it, as well. Most of the main positive points of the original design are still in effect. By eliminating most of the outdoor passageways, the footprint is more compact, taking up only 64 metres in diameter. In this version, it looks like the Black Rock Sun exploded into space, going Nova, so I shall call it Nova, with a nod to the liberated humans at the end of the original Planet of the Apes. =)

Version 1.0

In a certain community in the Naqab Desert, there is a need for new housing. There are 8 neighbourhoods of 8 units each, plus a few scattered bachelor pads and temporary caravans scattered around the perimeter. None of these in any way respond to the natural environment. The proposal: Neighbourhood Number Nine, with a completely ecological infrastructure. With an obvious nod to the Burning Man Festival, I present Brown Rock City: public space in the middle, and cluster of housing units emanating from the centre like rays of the sun. Except instead of being straight and angular, they're wavy. Like an old Italian hill village, you can't automatically see what's coming up around the corner, every step is an adventure in intimacy. It may look confusing to the uninitiated, but it's actually quite easy to find your way around, once you understand the pattern. Each unit is named for the hour on the clock face that it is situated on, and for the planetary orbit that it occupies. So, for example, the darkest purple house closest to the common room would be Mercury-4, or 4th & Mercury. Simple, no?

The houses are laid out in this way to give each group of units as much access as possible to a good view of the beautiful desert. The common room opens up to an area that can be used for communal gardening, playing, or a bit of both. This outdoor commons points in the direction of the rest of the village, who are always welcome to visit, participate in the daily joys and sorrows of village life. The plan is for the houses to be built from 1-metre-thick walls of earth, which will surely regulate their internal temperatures, without the need for air conditioning. In order to get a permit to build, it may be necessary to hold up the ceiling with a steel post and beam endoskeleton. But it makes no difference to engineers what the walls are infilled with, mud or whatnot. The pedestrian walkways are only two metres wide, and that means that they'll be shaded from the smoking hot sun by adjoining buildings. The D's on the diagram symbolize doors, the W's are windows, and the P's are potential or possible portals: meaning, they will be built as dooways, then filled, so that they can be opened up easily after the fact.

Each of the 8 sectors has 4 separate housing which are entirely modular. Despite their different physical footprint, they take up approximately the same square footage. The two inner ring building are independent structures, and the outer ring building is made up of 2 equally-sized rooms. Each of these rooms are approximately 32 square metres in area. The idea is that each unit could be used to house an individual or a couple, but that a string of contiguous units could be used to house a family of four or more. The walkways between the houses could be left as is, open passageways, or they could be blocked up partway, or fully. I can easily see them turning into water closets, or walk-in closets, for still-only-pale-green neighbours. But for the deep-green eco-freaks, there will be two separate semi-public structures (one at each end of the arc) for composting toilets, and one each for showers and for baths -- a hamam. It's far more ecological and practical to lump together all of the water utilities and refuse collection, and much more hygenic to remove these functions from the sleeping and social rooms.

For the same reasons, part of the common room could be a kitchen and eating area, held by the whole neighbourhood in common. That shouldn't be too difficult -- the room has a diameter of 17 metres, for an total area of over 225 metres. Needless to say, it is also extremely important for the social cohesion of the community to produce and consume foodstuffs together, and this layout facilitates that purpose. Although this design may be appropriate for a number of applications, it's especially so for this particular community. Summer daytime temperatures easily in excess of 40 degrees Celsius (over 100 degrees Farenheit!) and winter night temperatures approaching the freezing mark make a thermal mass annual temperature regulation system absolutely mandatory. What's also critical are indoor areas that are not the exclusive domain of one nuclear family, and shaded outdoor areas, for the same reason: when it gets this hot, people flee to climate-controlled spaces if they don't need to be outside. So let them flee to the same spaces, not separate ones; or else some of their social connections will fray even faster than they fry!