MINGHAO WILLIAM DU

SOFTENING MODERNISM 1 EMPIRE STATE PLAZA ADAPTIVE REUSE Design IV, Spring 2022, Individual Work

RESILIENT URBAN SPINES

URBAN DESIGN FOR GOWANUS Design IV, Fall 2021, Individual Work

FROM REDLINING TO BLUE ZONING

URBAN PROTOTYPE FOR LIBERTY CITY Exhibition, Fall 2021, Collective Research & Individual Design

HI-LOW LA

LOW-RISE HOUSING DESIGN IN VENICE, CA Design III, Spring 2021, Individual Work

CONTEXTUALIZED MODULARITY

PAVILION DESIGN IN LOWER MANHATTAN Architectonic II, Spring 2019, Individual Work

FORMAL ANALYSIS

ON THREE CANONICAL ARCHITECTURES

MAISON JAOUL TECTONIC STUDY Building Technology, Fall 2020, Group Work

URBANIZING THE EARTH

B. ARCH, COOPER UNION IRWIN S. CHANIN SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE [ 2018-2023

LANDFORM URBANISM FOR LOESS PLATEAU Thesis Prep, Fall 2022 , Individual Work

Softening Modernism

EMPIRE STATE PLAZA ADAPTIVE REUSE

DESIGN IV OPTION STUDIO . THE COOPER UNION . SPRING 2022

Professor: Stella Betts

Individual Work

The site of the studio - under interrogation - is Empire State Plaza in New York’s capital city of Albany. Conceived and designed by the then Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller and the architect Wallace Harrison, Empire Plaza was built in the late 60s and early 70s and is a paradigm of modernist urban planning that played out in this era’s other such government centers as Brasilia, Chandigarh, Boston, to name but a few.

Through a series of choreographed operations, this project aims to readapt Empire State Plaza by transforming its relationship to its larger urban context and infrastructural systems, rethinking its program and use, adapting its existing buildings to become carbon neutral and imaging the possibilities towards a new kind of public plaza for the people of Albany and the citizens of New York.

This project will also serve as a platform for the re-imagining of modernist planning, urbanism and architecture - from multiple points of view - that has often not served its contexts, stood as resistant energy intensive examples of the carbon age, is programmatically mono-cultural, and in many cases fallen victim to knee-jerk demolition without better replacements. To this end, this study will include the recycling, re-use and modification of existing buildings.

SOFTNESS RE-REPRESENTATION THE SITE

The project starts by using experimental representation to attack the bureaucratic image of empire state plaza. Via the technique of photogrammetry, the reality is first transcripted into points with spatial and colored information, and then converted into meshes. The interpolation of the mesh turns the reality into undulating surfaces, softening the boundary between empire plaza and surrounding context.

UNDULATING GROUND DE-MONUMENTALIZING THE PLAZA

The design strategy echoes the implied concept of softness and smoothness derived from the representation by transforming the plaza’s relationship to its larger urban context. The design conceptualizes the original parking plinth as a new ground for intervention and proposes to insert four horizontal buildings with atriums around them by excavating the plinth. The new structures would accommodate new civic programs and enhance the connection with the city.

CRITIQUE OF FLATNESS RE-SKIN THE PLINTH AND THE TOWER

The project reskins both the vertical and horizontal surfaces, respectively towers and plinth, through translucent materials, specifically ETFE and PTFE. Conceptually, this skin is an inhabitable zone; its varied thickness corresponds to different programs. The PTFE skin of the plinth drops to become the facade of the inserted building.

Gowanus Resilient Urban Spines

DESIGN IV OPTION STUDIO . THE COOPER UNION . FALL 2021

Instructors: Susannah Drake, Nadege Giraudet

Individual Work

To connect Gowanus with the existing urban fabric and optimize density in relation to the neighborhood’s flood zone, my project proposes several resilient urban spines running from the watershed to the canal. These spines would be populated by adaptive housing, depaved boulevards with green infrastructure, and renovated industrial buildings.

This proposal transforms selected east-west running roads in Gowanus into depaved boulevards with permeable paving and rain gardens for improving pedestrian accessibility and stormwater management. These open streets would join two separate blocks into one block by creating a shared space undisrupted by cars. The blocks along the depaved boulevards would be densified through a zoning that allows roof and backyard ADU to boost the overall FAR by twenty to thirty percent. In the flood zone, these ADU modules would secure residents with extra spaces on the rooftop for domestic use, while the ground floors can be freed up for non-residential programs to generate potential rent for the property-owner and enhance pedestrian experience.

The ultimate ambition of this project is to rethink the relationship between natural patterns and urban structure in the future city. This project recognizes the value of public space as green infrastructure and proposes several design strategies integrating water infrastructure into public landscapes. The project also discovers new value, via adaptive reuse, in previously neglected spaces such as rooftops, backyards, and abandoned industrial buildings.

Circulation

Each spine comprised two open streets for pedestrians and one vehicle lane. The vehicle lane in the flood zone would be elevated to ensure the functioning of the city at all times.

Water System

The depaved boulevards significantly improve the storm water management by enhancing the water absorbing capacity via permeable paving. Water treatment facility and rain water tanks are integrated into the public landscape. Open Space

These open streets would transform the vehicle lanes into public space for communal & commericial use, and improve pedestrian accessibility to the waterfront. The industrial park became the destinations of the pedestrian experience.

Double Block Zoning

Transform selected east-west running roads into depaved open streets. These open streets would join two separate blocks into one block by creating a shared space undisrupted by car.

Density

Evacuate and secure the density on low ground and absorb density on high ground in the proposed urban spines through a zoning that encourages adaptive housing and high density development outside the flood zone.

DOUBLE-BLOCK SPINES URBAN CORRIDOR FOR PEOPLE AND WATER

The project proposes to transform the road between two selected blocks into open street with permeable paving for pedestrian, jointing two separate blocks into one super block by creating a shared space for people and green infrastructure. he blocks along the depaved boulevards would be densified through a zoning that allows roof and backyard ADU to boost the overall FAR by twenty to thirty percent.

NEW GROUND, NEW DENSITY ADAPTIVE ADU HOUSING STRATEGY

Instead of relying on large-scale development on the flood zone, the project addresses the density issue by developing a parasitic housing strategy that densified the proposed urban spines. These prefabricated housing modules can be deployed on the rooftop and backyard of the existing blocks to boost the FAR. The parasitic housing strategy also facilitates a decentralized real estate mode, which would benefit the small-scale property owners.

BACKYARD ADU Type A: 2B

BACKYARD ADU Type B: 2.5B

Rooftop ADU Type A: 1B

Rooftop ADU Type B: Studio

Existing Structure

Adaptive Reuse: 270 Nevins St

As the end points of the urban spines, renovated industrial buildings become a future destination attracting people to the Gowanus waterfront. Adaptive reuse strategies for these industrial buildings focus on public accessibility and green infrastructure.

1. Harbor

2. Public Terrace

3. Retail Module

4. Public Circulation

5. Food Court

6. Public Art

7. UV Treatment

8. Planted Filtration Swales

9. Water Tank

10. Planted Couryard

11. Settlement Tanks

12. Rain Garden

13. Planted Basins

14. Roof

Existing Structure

Adaptive Reuse 2: 300 Nevins St

The surgical insertion of public circulation and new programmatic volumes will transform industrial buildings into a waterfront hub at a manageable cost. This new water infrastructure will help manage stormwater from the watershed.

1. Water Tower

2. Rooftop Food Court

3. Retail Module

4. Office & Art Studio

5. Performance Module

6. Water Tank

7. Green House & Urban Farm

8. Open Roof

9. Public Circulation

10. Stair to Bridge

11. Bridge

12. Rain Garden

13. Planted Basins

14. Harbor