The Suburb Eating Robot

Among all of the intense, ultra serious eco talk happening these days, it’s a bit refreshing to see someone thinking about playful ways to address sustainability through design in an unconventional way. This is the world’s first “Suburb Eating Robot.” The project was done by Australian architect Andrew Maynard for Critical Visions 2008 (CV08). His studio, Andrew Maynard Architects presented it as rant or criticism at the CV08 conference this year put on by the Royal Australian Institute of Architect’s in Sydney. Inspiration for the project grew out the increasing problems that suburbs are creating in Australia and Maynard was determined to shed some light on the issue.

Playfully responding to a question in a recent interview, he asks, “where will suburbanites live when there is no other means of circulation to their homes? What will we do with our abandoned and decaying suburbs? And most importantly, what will we do with the 50% of Australians that are over-weight due to car dependence and a sedentary lifestyle?” He also commented, “we’re thinking about getting a few more students here in the office to build a prototype in the store room. Then we will accidentally (or on purpose) spill various liquids on it until it comes to life and starts killing people indiscriminately and tries to take over the world, we can only hope…”

Watch the project video

Download the PDF

An interview with Maynard on Architecture MNP

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