Cataclysm, research project done at the University in Bologna, is a disaster caused by natural phenomenon, but in this particular case shows the fatal outcome of man-kind action in order to warn about serious consequences of humans acting as a geological factor, able to pour out the events that used to exclusively belong to nature.

The participants in an experiment used bottom-up methodology and studied paradigm of rivers creation and weather erosion process in order to develop the new approach to sustainable housing. The project is developed for the mountain area in Slovenia, south of Maribor – the future location of an urban complex.

The importance of the project lays in fact that it is researching inevitable ground transformations, as consequences of weather erosion, which bring favorable conditions and new spaces for a wide biodiversity. The project also exploits ground’s splits, caused by river formation dynamics simulated through agent-based algorithms, developing itself on the inside and making use of the outline as a boundary.

The structure is flexible and adaptable – light and air are captured by pyramid-shaped components, which change form and orientation according to weather conditions – wind and irradiation, finding the optimized configuration.

On the exterior, the presence of capturing cones is derived from a pattern whose profile is managed by a height’s gradient, in relation to distance from paths. In the interior, development of floor slabs is managed by parameters such as light and air penetration, which define their rearward and height; floors’ continuous processing answers to carrying capacity and connections.