Butterfly Effect – VenhoevenCS, DS & Studio Solarix

An ultra-light web over the motorway that generates renewable energy while restoring natural connective routes. This proposal offers a helping hand to small-scale ecosystems and in so doing contributes to a large-scale approach to climate change and biodiversity loss, hence the Butterfly Effect.

The design for an ultra-light web over the motorway can easily be applied to other sites to become an important part of the sustainability of infrastructure and transport projects globally. The team chose insects as the starting point for the project as working on the smallest scale can create the biggest impact. Building a treetop-level crossing for insects can help to restore important natural connective routes. The ‘web over the motorway’ offers a huge surface area on which to generate renewable energy. Thanks to its honeycomb structure, the lightweight crossing can be filled with materials that generate solar energy. The web is modular and can grow in line with technical innovations. Thanks to the double use of space less of the landscape needs to be set aside for solar panels, creating space for biodiversity and food production instead. The Butterfly Effect demonstrates sustainability as a source of design: techniques and aesthetics are fully integrated to create an harmonious attractive design.