Environment, form and feedback is a large-scale housing development in Pittsburgh’s Strip District.  This communal dwelling is derived from environmental data and parametrically adapted to create a functioning “Eco-Machine” to allow the housing to better adapt to its surroundings.

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The eco-machine in this habitat is retention pools for flood prevention. Given the strip district’s location along the Allegheny River. This area can be prone to massive inundation given the 100-year flood outlook. This design looks at a drastic increase in permeability of the site in the form of retention pools that surround the residential areas.

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The residential buildings are derived from the topography lines surrounding the retention pools. The massing of the residential typologies is embedded into a landscape which derive the form of the living units.  The height of the topography around the retention pools is derived as a formal gesture to combat a 50-year flood.  The porous design allows for more river water and rainwater collection.