Aerial – Image by Future Cities Lab
Future Cities Lab is an experimental design and research office based in San Francisco, California and Athens, Greece. Design principals Jason Kelly Johnson (creator of Grasshopper’s plug-in Firefly) and Nataly Gattegno have collaborated on a range of award-winning projects that focus on the intersection of design with advanced fabrication technologies, robotics, responsive building systems and public space.
Scaled Physical Model – Image by Future Cities Lab
Thermaespheres was designed in 2011 as a proposal for a public thermal bath and event pavilion facing the sea in Athens, Greece. It contains three distinct microclimates – the “caldarium” (hot), the “tepidarium” (warm) and the “frigidarium” (cold). These three intersecting domed spaces are surrounded by a light-weight shade canopy that serves as an urban threshold, public promenade, solar energy collector and microclimate generator. The structural system was developed through a series of catenary experiments draped over three dome like masses that describe the structural and microclimatic performance of the canopy.
Canopy – Image by Future Cities Lab
From Above – Image by Future Cities Lab
