Dezeen promotion: IE University student Jose Maria Mateo has designed a conceptual series of devices called NUDes that could be plugged into buildings to upgrade or adapt them to different conditions, like a pandemic.
The fundamental purpose of the plug-in Natural and Urban Devices (NUDes) is to upgrade existing constructions to avoid the need to demolish them and build new structures in their place.
The project was created in response to a challenge that tasked architecture firms with envisioning what the future will look like after the coronavirus pandemic is over.
Mateo is a second-year student at IE University, studying the Master in Business for Architecture and Design (MBArch), and a partner at the Martin Lejarraga Architecture Office, which was also involved in the project. The university describes the masters course as directed at architecture and design professionals who are looking to "expand their core capacities with management, entrepreneurship and innovation expertise" in order to become creative leaders.
Jose Maria Mateo has designed a conceptual series of devices called NUDes
The NUDes add-ons range from miniature forests that can be added onto roofs to deployable structures that can be attached to existing facades to serve as vertical urban farms, for example, to enable people to produce their own food.
This purpose would prove useful in the event of another pandemic, where people would be asked to stay out of contact with others as much as possib...