CONTRIBUTORS:
Ryan Karczewski Ann Nguyen PERSONAL CONTRIBUTION: Research and concept development Digital modeling Building Sections Ground Floor Plan |
Like many parts of the United States, there is a crisis in the West Chelsea neighborhood of New York caused by limited access to healthy and affordable food options. Among the COVID-19 pandemic, local food insecurity has increased drastically by 2,264%. This in turn has created a host of health and social problems for the local community
.This project aims to address and help solve these issues in Chelsea by implementing a self-sufficient urban farm and community center interesting a major transit artery along the Hudson River. Deriving its name from the “Three Sisters” farming technique developed by the Native Americans of the region, which utilizes the nutrients and low growth height of beans and squash to support the vertical height of the cornstalk. This concept translates into three programs that define the Three Sisters Tower: a marketplace, residential and community spaces, and an urban farm/horticultural research center. This translates programmatically to both a community center and market supporting the sale of food produced by the urban farm on the ground floor, and the farm itself supporting the livelihood of the residents living in the residential tower. This concept of self sufficiency employs itself at a large scale over the entire block, as well as within the human scale. The vertical development of modular housing units, each supported by a ‘rooftop’ greenhouse, begins to divide the tower into a more tangible, approachable scale. The sloped overhead condition of the greenhouses and the spaces between the residential modules creates an opportunity for light collection in the central core, which also houses a vertical hydroponic garden. The sloped roofs atop the cores also creates an opportunity for rainwater collection, which is vital in supporting the urban farm. The modular units combined with the ground floor programs develop a close communal relationship, taking inspiration from New York City’s network of bodegas - which are severely lacking within West Chelsea’s food desert. Their interconnectedness is prevalent through the development of a large central core, allowing for visual connections to the market below and intersections between programs. By utilizing the ground floor as an extension of the street into the interior of the building, this also creates a greater sense of accessibility that is essential in creating a welcoming, inclusive public space. Overall the design intention was to explore the idea of the ‘bodega’ at different scales, using modular techniques and programs intersecting across perpendicular vertical and horizontal axes. By providing spaces for urban farming, education/research, civic engagement, and living, this project would be a great investment into the community. |