Gregory Yeo

H3O is an Industrial hybrid proposal for Melbourne in the year 2070, that integrates water harvesting and treatment infrastructure with the current mixed-used residential and commercial hybrid norm.

For some context, this project is underpinned by rapid urbanisation and climate change projections leading up to the year 2070; where the world’s population will be condensed within cities like Melbourne, leading to an urban deficit of key resources such as food, energy and most importantly, water. And as Melbourne progresses from 2020, to 2050 to 2070; resource generating infrastructure is projected to become increasingly essential, and advanced technologies such as Elon Musk’s economical borehole and tunnelling systems start to become more abundant, enabling new strategies for implementation. The proposed neo-hybrid aims to shift away from Melbourne’s currently detached water infrastructure towards a more integrated and centralised approach, pioneering a future of industrial urbanisation, with individual buildings catching, storing, and distributing resources independently.

Equally important, is the choice in project site at the corner of Flinders and Elizabeth Street. The chosen site exists as the lowest topographical point within the Melbourne CBD, thus making it a natural water catchment site. Historically, it also exists as a drainage line built atop what used to be “Williams Creek” that fed back into the Yarra River, which is presently one of the Yarra’s biggest culprit of pollution, caused by stormwater and urban surface run-off. With impacts of climate change, Melbourne’s highly variable climate has had precedents of extended droughts and wide-spread floods from past to present, which has led to multiple instances of injury and destruction; ultimately cementing the positive impact that H3O can offer.

Projecting into the future, with proposed neo-hybrids becoming a typological norm, each building would be built to fulfill its contribution towards an overarching vision of a sustainable way forward, working within a collective circular economy (micro-city). By itself, H3O revolves around a symbiotic relationship of Live x Work x Learn, catering to both private residents and the wider public, with a plethora of unique experiences to be explored.