CANOP’CITY
GABPA 
Los Angeles

It’s bad enough that the kampongs in Jakarta, Indonesia, lack basic amenities like water, electricity, and parks. It’s especially bad that these dense urban settlements have nowhere to build new infrastructure, short of razing homes. The Los Angeles firm GABPA conceived of low-tech infrastructure stations that pack rainwater storage tanks into 50-foot-tall treelike towers. At ground level, the stations feed filtered water into faucets. Aboveground, “treetop” platforms—each about the diameter of a parachute—act like sunshades and can also serve as rainwater collectors, paved playgrounds, or green roofs. Hovering over alleys, streets, courtyards, and public squares, the platforms form what GABPA calls a Canop’City—a city above the city. The symbolism isn’t lost on Alejo Paillard, the 36-year-old GABPA cofounder. “These objects should be signifiers of urban renewal,” he says, “a branding device helping to reestablish the importance of underprivileged urban areas.” 

http://www.metropolismag.com/nextgen/ng_story.php?article_id=4259