The Bio-Apartment Part 1 Project 2021 Wenjie Hu Loughborough University | UK With “bio-computer” as the basic concept, this project is about the refurbishment and extension of a concrete frame building in Rio de Janeiro, enabling the newly built part to be an apartment complex developed to reveal a key characteristic of Rio — connection. As a supercomputer that uses biology as the medium for information transmission, bio-computer reveals the key to connection in the scale of a building – individuals. Users are deemed as the main carriers for the generation, transportation, and storage of information. Among these individuals, the young, who are equitable to the most dynamic DNA chain in a bio- computer, are also very fragile, and they are subject to the deepest influence imposed by the housing crisis. Therefore, the project is aimed at developing an affordable housing option for the young. The design allows users to customise every room to express their personality and the building material can be purchased freely with the use of a prefabricated system. With the renovation of an existing building, it displays the contrast between new rules and old rules, as well as the connection and interaction between the new and the old. Tutor(s) Robert Schmidt III