workshop

Metabolism of a City, Post-Industrial Waterfronts

in New York Institute of Technology

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what

redesign of the district edge in order to manage future floods

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who

Elena Busoni, Chiara Ponti, Lucrezia Rossi

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when

14th - 24th april 2017

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where

Hunts Point, The Bronx

New York, USA

40°48'09.0"N 73°52'20.7"W

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The name of our project is the Hybrid Pole, because we would approach to the site in different ways creating a singular pole of attraction.

 

First of all we have explained our principles and tools which were helpful to develop the project. The first principle is the creation of the continuity of the green eco-system along the Bronx River, after the analysis of all the agricultural parks along this waterfront: we would like to create a more natural landscape along the estuary of the river, and a more artificial landscape in the opposite side of the coast. After the survey, we realize there’s no accessibility to the water because of barriers so people don’t have the perception of the sea. We also realized that Hunts Point is a temporary urban settlement, so a place of transaction for people from different countries who is waiting for an employment; our aim would be to create a long-term built up area for people who wants to live there and stay as long as possible. The last but not the least principle is the food distribution, the main theme of our project for the functions we would like to insert into the new buildings. 

 

We adopt three strategies that would work together: the waterfront, the built area and the connections.

We tought about redesigning the waterfront in three different ways: the sponge park, along the river, that would became an agricultural park with fields and would prevent floods absorbing water along the coast; the tip plaza in the South part of the peninsula, so a new place of socialization for the population with a more artificial approach to the riverside that would let people live different heights as consequence of the floods actions. The third approach to the waterfront would be the continuity of the existent grid on the sea, permitting the water to enter the land through canals.

 

The second strategy is the built area that would create a sort of L along the waterfront. The first approach is the convertion of the wholesale into a food market that produces, processes and sells fresh and “from farm to table” food, thanks to the closeness of vegetable gardens along the river. The main aim of the new food market would be the elimination of the storage and transportation phases in the food life cycle, in order to avoid pollution.

The second approach to the built area would be the designing of a new building that overlooks the sea at the end of the tip plaza, like a leasure and cultural center, with cooking classes, post-school place for children and meeting rent areas.

The final approach to the built area is the creation of a new headquarter with residential floating blocks on the South part; the apartments would be autonomous thanks to an hypotetic water treatment system with green roofs and walls.

 

The third strategy is the connections: we would like to move the wholesale from the existing place to another one close to the highway on the North. We would design an infrastructural building in different levels in order to give access to all the infrastructures: from the bottom to the top of the building, this would allow the entrance to the boats from the sea, to the cars and trains from the street and railway, and to the trucks from the express way.

Another intervention would be the creation of a green boulevard on Hunts Point avenue, that is something like an exception of the grid, to give a strong direction to the tip.

The eco-system mobility would be resolved with the creation of new bike paths along the riverside, and new tram or bus line that could allow people to reach all the parts of the peninsula, something that it doesn’t exist now.