BioCellar

CLEVELAND, OH

Like many older industrial cities, Cleveland, Ohio has experienced a dramatic decline in population and a corresponding rise in vacant properties. In order to address this fundamental imbalance between supply and demand, cities across the country , and particularly in the former industrial strongholds of the midwest and northeast, have been demolishing housing at unprecendented rates. In Cleveland alone, there are estimated to be more than 8,000 homes in vacantand deteriorated condition. This number is growing due to the on-going effects of the foreclosure crisis. The City demolishes 1,000 homes in a typical year . Large-scale demolition programs represent a tremendous loss of embodied energy. The BioCellar initiative proposes to salvage the most valuable part of a derelict house-it's masonry foundation. An existing foundation wall, surrounded by earth, is an insulated container that can store energy and serve a variety of productive functions such as green houses, solar collectors, aquaculture facilities, stormwater filtration, and other new uses.

Project Partners

  • American Planning Association Urban Design and Preservation Division

  • Adil Sharag- Eldin, Ph. D, Hollee Becker, Rhonini Srivastava CAED, KSU, Jean Loria Adam Smith, Urban Lumberjacks of Cleveland, Morgan Taggart, OSU Ext.