KUNSTFORM

The kunstform focuses on the representational aspects of the construction, such as its materiality and enclosure. This project explores materiality in testing the structural and aesthetic capabilities of travertine stone. The form is intended to display the characteristics of weightlessness, lightness and delicateness of stone that sharply contrasts with the heavy representation of the same material seen in the backdrop of Roman construction. Light-colored travertine stone catches light and shadow to emphasize the surface textures and details. The interior cavities diffuse light that is preferred for archival spaces. Additionally, the representational aspect of construction stems from the organic geometries. Similar to cells functioning as the building blocks of the living world, these carved components are the building blocks of inhabitable space.

The etchings of Giovanni Battista Piranesi record a unique image of Rome. In his synthesis of his Campo Marzio dell'Antica Rome (1762), Piranesi interrogates the soft, malleable city. He explores the inhabitation of Rome's past and present by addressing the old (ruin) and new monuments within the same plate. It is suggestive in that the historical city is reinvented and selectively restructured into fragments. These fragments endure material transformations and a fictional order that proposes a site for the advent of "other forms." I seek to intervene with an "other form" - a form that respects the same materiality and steromtomic nature of construction, but employs evolved technologies of carving that introduce a new formal system and contradict the order of architecture established by Piranesi. The program of a herbarium will reinvent the use of the site just as the restructuring of the fragments of Rome calls for new ways of inhabiting space.

In addition to holding a collection, This “other form” acts as a lens from which Piranesi’s drawings can be viewed from within.

Herbarium PROGRAM

The Herbarium is a vessel for the gathering, classification, pressing, drying, and preserving of precious plants and plant specimens. The Herbarium is composed of three Archives, and five Gardens. The archive spaces are dedicated to the careful storage and preservation of a variety of preserved plants and plant parts. They are separated by the way in which they are preserved [dried, imprinted, living] and then further organized by their geographic region in which they were collected. The Gardens are spaces designed to instill wonder and create moments of pause. The herbarium's most important poetic function is to connect humanity back to nature. A living herbarium rests within the ground and below the floating cabinet of archive spaces. It serves as a point of growth and collection as well as a poetic opportunity to display the life cycle of these specimens.

Living Herbarium

design studio 7 prof. martin gold fall 2020 ba. of design univ. of florida colleague: sukanya mukherjee upper west side manhattan, NY

Urban

Urban farming is part of a wave of urban design that has been heavily discussed and pursued for over a century now. The threat of climate change, increasingly heightened demands on farmland, and the build up of contaminating pollutants endangers our ability to produce enough food to sustain rapidly growing populations. In order to create a meaningful change, we must understand the need to reorganize our cities to be more self-sustainable. A community centered around the ritual of farming nurtures a new culture of living that is more ecologically sustainable, social, focused on the well-being of residents, and relieves the pressures of food demand on the city.

IDENTITY + CONNECTIVITY

The Upper West Side of Manhattan is characterized by high-end commercial and residential districts that have layered over a historical working class culture. The site is currently occupied by a deteriorating public housing complex which lacks identity of place and connectivity to the dense urban fabric surrounding it. As a microcosm of Manhattan, this intervention seeks a duality in a new mixed-use housing programto reconceptualize a rich working class culture through the ritual of farming and act as an intermediary threshold connecting Lincoln Center and the Hudson River. By reimagining agricultural landscapes as vessels of dialogue between class lines, the proposal finds balance in the needs of the community for growth and the needs of the people themselves.

PARK

ST

Breaking The Gridanalysis Of City Density Around Parks

Ritual Of Farming

Agricultural typologies in the form of rooftop green-houses, vertical residential farming, and sunken cultivation spaces connect humans back to the earth. Growing, harvesting, cooking, and eating form the ritual of farming that facilitates community engagement through farmto-table dining experiences and openair produce markets hosted on the site.

GROW HARVEST COOK SLEEP

EAT kWh/m2+ 1172.11< 1054.90 937.69 820.48 703.27 586.05 468.84 351.63 234.42 117.21 <0.00

Radiation Analysis

This radiation analysis reveals the annual sun exposure on the surfaces of the housing and farming bars. The rooftop greenhouses and vertical farming volumes recieve sufficient daylighting throughout the year to sustain a culture of farming. The housing bars recieve significantly less sun exposure which reduces the loads on HVAC systems.

The site hosts three types of housing - subsidized, affordable, and marketrate. The layers of housing typologies correspond to a 25/50/25 ratio respectively. These programs are differentiated by plan and amount of livable space as opposed to being segregated throughout the project. The housing bars consist of subsidized and affordable living. The slight undulation of the bars allows the rows of housing to breath - shaping larger social realms for residents to meet and coexist.

Tower

In order to make residential gardening more accessible and efficient, this small-scale design can be integrated into the largescale urban form of towers. Articulating “farm” as vertical volumes that break through each floor provides access to the urban dweller occupying each level, thus, fostering small-scale agricultural villages.