I did this project at Harvard's GSD in the spring of 2007 for visiting critic Bjarke Ingel's "Ecolomy Studio." Ingel's term "ecolomy" is a conflation of "economy" and "ecology." The premise of ecolomic projects is that, just as economically sound but ecologically irresponsible work is unsustainable, ecologically sound but economically irresponsible work is equally untenable.

The project conflates an underground aluminum plant potline as sub-structure with a mixed-use (luxury hotel, apartments, retail, and more) super-structure. The aluminum plant is powered by Iceland's plentiful hydroelectric and geothermal power. It's surplus cast-house heat is used to heat the various mixed-use programs above. Seawater is used as a pollutant-filtration system and returned (clean) to the ocean in a series of venice/blue lagoon-type canals.