Undergraduate Thesis Project Brief by Winnie Ng

Proposal for the New York City

Textile Academy Sunset Park, Brooklyn CD 07 Design Brief

AR30021 | Winnie Ng Tutor: Jayne Barlow

CO N T E N TS

Project aims

Context analysis Historical Regional Socio-economic

3 8 16

Precedent studies Function Organisation Facade

18 21 26

Design brief

Clients & partnerships Proposed programme

References + Bibliography

28 30 34

P ROJ ECT AIM S

A new textile academy at the heart of NY’s manufacturing district

T IT L E

Fig. 1: Textile Mill in NYC. Image by Chris Payne.

Heading

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Garment Manufacturing: Towards a Sustainable and Circular Economy 1.1 To protect and revitalise New York City’s garment manufacturing sector in line with the city’s plan for the rezoning of the Garment District in Midtown Manhattan to Sunset Park, Brooklyn. 1.2 To facilitate the intersection of design and biotechnology in textile research & development, working towards a ‘cradle-to-cradle’ philosophy to minimise fashion’s ecological impact from conception to consumption.

1.4 To make industry knowledge more accessible to the wider public through exhibits, seminars and skills workshops such as sewing classes. 1.5 To exemplify sustainable design strategies in the construction and operation of the proposed building, reflecting the long-term sustainability goals of the in-house academic programme and the wider fashion & textile industry.

1.3 To elevate the transfer of knowledge between students and professionals by creating a supportive local network of academic & industrial programme.

CO NTE X T ANALYS IS

Historical The global fashion industry Manufacturing in NYC Regional Citywide industry nodes

Proposed site at Sunset Park Socio-economic Sunset Park community profile

T HE T E X TILE & AP PAREL INDU STRY

Fig. 2: Loading of garments in the Garment District, Manhattan, 1967.

A Brief History

New York: Fashion Capital

The textile industry was the very first sector in which the Industrial Revolution took hold in 18th century Britain. Silk, wool and linen fabrics were gradually eclipsed by cotton and synthetic textiles made viable on a mass scale following the emergence of the spinning wheel and loom.

In contrast to that of haute couture in Paris, the clothing industry in New York City has its origins in ready-to-wear. (Rantisi, 2002). As the US was beginning to industrialise in the mid-1800s, NYC served as a port of arrival welcoming a steady stream of immigrant labour into its ever-growing garment manufacturing sector, meeting a surge in consumer demand at a time of rapid urbanisation.

Between 1994 and 2014, the production of garments has increased four-fold as a result of new technologies and more efficient methods of manufacturing (Rantisi, 2002). As prices fell and disposable incomes grew, the volume of garment manufacturing and consumption simultaneously rose to an all-time high. The scale at which the $3 trillion global industry operates today is second only to the information technology and tourism sectors.

While the invention of the sewing machine in 1846 by Elias Howe enabled volume production, the dawn of mailorder catalogues, fashion magazines and prominent department stores has helped achieve an equlibrium on the consumption end of the economy. Marketing campaigns and adverts propagated distinct trends so as to homogenise interests and tastes in a popular audience, effectively sustaining a ready-made fashion retail industry.

C O N T E X T A N A LY S I S

T HE DA R K S IDE OF FAS HION

“The fashion supply chain is lubricated by cheap oil and cheap credit, and driven by the capitalist imperative to grow.” (Vogue, 2015)

Ecological Impacts

POLLU TION

10%

of global emissions are derived from the fashion industry

20%

of global waste water is contributed by the fashion industry

70m

barrels of oil a year is used to manufacture polyester, currently the world’s most commonly used fibre

35%

of microplastics in the oceans comes from synthetic textiles

Textile production, from start to finish, involves copious amounts of water, energy use and hazardous chemicals in the process. The dyeing, printing and finishing stages in particular are responsible for a disproportionately large amount of environmental damage, most of which is completely avoidable (Shishoo, 2012). Large amounts of textile waste have been cumulatively generated from the rise of fast fashion, shaping consumers to prize quantity over quality with the perpetual incentive of low prices to keep up with the latest trends. With minimal utility gained in the life cycle of discarded garments ending up in landfills, the fashion industry is tending towards self-destruction insofar as it remains resistant to the urgency of the climate crisis. Social Implications Built on a long history of colonisation, the global textile industry owes its success to the mass exploitation of labour and resources. The voraciously expanding industry thrives at the expense of developing countries and marginalised communities who suffer the consequences of poor working conditions and environmental pollution on a global scale, while large corporations and wealthier nations continue to turn a blind eye to their complicity with the wider ecological problem in a hard-headed race towards financial profit and growth.

WAST E Globally, just

12%

of the material used for clothing ends up being recycled

85%

of textile waste in the US goes to landfill or is incinerated

The average American discards

37kg

of clothing each year

It takes

2,700

litres of water to make one cotton t-shirt, enough for one person to drink for 900 days

Statistics extracted from various sources including Forbes, 2015, Making Climate Change Fashionable The Garment Industry Takes On Global Warming, and BBC, 2020. Why clothes are so hard to recycle

C O N T E X T A N A LY S I S

T HE WAY FORWARD

Fig. 3 (above): Diagram showing the closed loop established by a circular economy, following a ‘cradle-to-cradle’ philosophy as opposed to the traditional linear model of take-make-dispose.

“The great tragedy of the climate crisis is that 7.5 billion people must pay the price - in the form of a degraded planet - so that a couple dozen of polluting interests can continue to make record profits.” (Michael Mann, Climatologist and Geophysicist)

Clean Production

Waste Reduction

Recent innovations in biofabrication have radically reimagined traditional textile processing and manufacturing practices. Synthetic biology fixes colours onto garments without the use of heavy metals and toxins that would otherwise contaminate waterways, while biobased alternatives to polyester such as lab-grown spider silk are able to reduce the fashion industry’s dependency on petroleum-based oil.

On top of scientific progress, there is a humble call to increase textile resource efficiency by improving local collection systems for reusing and recycling. Currently just 13.6% of garments discarded in the US end up being recycled, in stark comparison to that of paper, glass and plastic, which have recyling rates of 66%, 27% and 29% respectively. (BBC, 2020).

To boost the economic viability of these new technologies, a textile academy is proposed in the Fashion Capital to refine a growing pool of biosynthetic research and prototyping. Fostering collaboration and communication between industry designers and academic researchers will catalyse the transformation of fashion’s destructive supply chain from its very roots.

The proposed textile academy aims to adopt a recycling programme that retrieves the original fibres of endof-life textiles in a closed loop model, minimising the use of energy-intensive virgin materials in the production of new garments.

C O N T E X T A N A LY S I S

M A N U FACT U RING IN NYC

Fig. 4: Textile industry workers in New York City.

Evolution of the Garment Manufacturing Sector

From Midtown Manhattan to Sunset Park, Brooklyn

At its peak, NYC’s Garment District manufactured 95% of America’s clothing back in the 1960s; today, it is a mere 3% (2015). Garment companies have been closing shop over the last few decades due to high competition from low-wage producers overseas, property redevelopment and a lack of enforcement by the city of zoning requirements. (Moin, 2018)

In place of the restrictive land use regulations previously enforced, the city now adopts a tax incentive programme to enlist more owners, upgrade the industry and train workers to preserve the long-term vitality of the Garment District. The city’s rezoning plan also covers real estate and programmatic support for fashion manufacturers, allocating significant investments in city-owned assets to create a 200,000 square-foot garment manufacturing hub at the Made in NY Campus in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

Since 1987, landlords in the Garment District were legally obliged to add a square foot of garment space for every square foot removed for other uses. This parameter was superseded in a landmark vote for the rezoning of the Garment District in 2018, allowing for greater diversification into a thriving and responsive mixed-use hub.

Sunset Park’s existing Industrial Business Zone is characterised by a linear strip along the South Brooklyn waterfront, with the established presence of Industry City and a host of local warehouses and wholesalers.

Fig. 5-7 (top & middle): Renders of the Made in NY Campus, a garment manufacuring hub at Bush Terminal in Sunset Park, Brooklyn by WXY Architects. The campus, anticipated to open in 2021, will provide small white-box spaces ranging from 2,000 to 40,000 square feet to companies working in pattern making, marking and grading, cutting and sewing, and sample making.

Fig. 8 (bottom): Industry City (formerly Bush Terminal) - view from the south, looking towards the Lower Manhattan skyline - a historic intermodal shipping, warehousing, and manufacturing complex on the Sunset Park waterfront in Brooklyn. The Made in NY Campus will soon open south of this complex.

C O N T E X T A N A LY S I S

R EG IO N A L CONTE X T Fashion Design Institutes in NYC + Textile/Apparel Industry Nodes

Manhattan Metropolitan Museum of Art

Museum of Modern Art

N ew J ers e y

Garment District

Queens

Fashion Institute of Technology Parsons School of Design

Lower East Side Garment Cluster

New Yo r k

Brooklyn Sewing Academy City College of Technology

Textile Arts Center

Sunset Park Material Recovery Faility

Project Site

Industry City

Made in NY Campus

Brooklyn

Significant Industrial & Maritime Zones: Brooklyn + Lower Manhattan 1km

Newtown Creek

Brooklyn Navy Yard

Red Hook

Sunset Park Waterfront

Map sourced from NYCDCP, 2016. The New York City Waterfront Revitalization Program.

C O N T E X T A N A LY S I S

D I ST R ICT CONTE X T

Fig. 9 (top left): View from Bush Terminal Pier, looking north-west towards the Upper New York Bay and Statue of Liberty. Fig. 10 (top right): View from Sunset Park looking towards Bush Terminal. Fig. 11 (bottom left): South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, aerial view looking south. Fig. 12 (bottom right): View of Sunset Park streetscape in traditional brownstone, featuring St Michael’s Church in the background.

Park Slope Prospect Expy

Sunset Industrial Park

Gowanus Expy

Red Hook

Gowanus Bay

Greenwood Cemetery

Sims Municipal Recycling

South Brooklyn Marine Terminal Industry City Bay Ridge Channel Made in NY Campus

Sunset Park, Brooklyn Context Plan

Proposed Site

Note: All other areas not highlighted are predominantly of residential land use.

Brooklyn Meat Market

100m

7th Ave

Industrial Business Zone

5th Ave

Site Boundary

3rd Ave

Bush Terminal Piers Park

1st Ave

46th St

Key:

Sunset Park

43rd St

500m

C O N T E X T A N A LY S I S

SI T E CO NDITIONS

Waterfront intervention to revitalise Sunset Park’s maritime industry Goods deliveries by barge reduce carbon emissions from road travel Existing 6-7 storey warehouses Opportunity for outdoor research activity by the pier Vacant carpark site Rail route presents another means of goods delivery Proximity to Made in NY Campus (garment manufacturing hub) Key: Proposed site Fig. 13: Bush Terminal, Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Aerial view looking south-west.

Opportunities (see Fig. 13 above)

Constraints

The strategic location of Sunset Park - close to the water, a major highway, and three subway lines - appeals to a variety of industrial and commercial uses. Access to the Bush Terminal Piers Park is advantageous for recreational use under the institution/community.

The brownfield site gives little to no architectural context with which to design and respond due to the predominantly industrial use of the area. Its waterfront location also poses a flood risk and should be thoroughly considered in the design process to mitigate potential damages. Nonetheless, the proposed programme of a textile academy will undoubtedly boost the already extensive network of garment manufacturers around the site, developing new technologies to sustain and innovate the thriving industry in the long run.

The linearity of the site also grants the opportunity to reconcile the architectural language of the South Brooklyn waterfront, currently manifesting as a hodgepodge of 1950s warehouses and fenced up carparks across its strictly gridded urban fabric.

2 2

5 C

Bush Terminal, Sunset Park Context Plan 1:5000 Key:

1. South Brooklyn Marine Terminal 2. Made in NY Campus 3. Site - Bush Terminal 4. Bush Terminal Piers Park 5. Bay Ridge Channel 6. Brooklyn Meat Market

6 0m

100m

C O N T E X T A N A LY S I S

T HR E A DS OF THE CIT Y

Proposed site

Bush Terminal Carpark (1-2 storey warehouses in the background)

Elevation A-A 1:1250

Proposed site

Section B-B 1:1250

Bush Terminal Carpark (1-2 storey warehouses in the background)

1-2 storey warehouses

Elevation C-C 1:1250

1st Ave

6-7 storey warehouses

South Brooklyn Railway

50th St

7 storey warehouse

Cycling path

Bush Terminal Piers Park

Proposed site

SO C I O - ECONOM IC CONTE X T

C O N T E X T A N A LY S I S

“Brooklyn’s Sunset Park - built and rebuilt by immigrants” (LA Times, 2018)

36,000

130,635

industrial jobs ranging from apparel to woodworking to warehousing in Sunset Park

Sunset Park Total Population

44% Hispanic

28% Asian*

Population by Race & Ethnicity

3% Black; 1% other

* Non-Hispanic.

29%

Sunset Park is the

largest immigrant neighbourhood in NYC

of residents live below the Federal Povery Level, 8% above the NYC average

38%

20%

of residents walk to work, representing a strong link with local employment

Less than high school

42%

22%

24% White*

21% 10%

High school graduate

29%

Adult Education Attainment

9% College graduate

0-17

18-24

25-44

45-64

65+

29%

Population by Age

Statistic above reproduced from NYC Health, 2015, Brooklyn Community District 7: Sunset Park, and NYCEDC, 2009, Sunset Park Waterfront Vision Plan.

P R ECEDENT ST U DIES

Function Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility University Center (The New School) Organisation Dominus Winery

Exeter College: Cohen Quad Ganga Maki Textile Studio Facade RMIT Design Hub Peninsula House

Bato Hiroshige Museum of Art

PRECEDENT STUDIES

FU N CT IO N: RECYCLING FACILIT Y

Pier Area: 44,515 m 2 Gross Floor Area: 13,000 m 2

Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility Selldorf Architects, 2013 South Brooklyn Marine Terminal. NY

50m

Recycling Facility GFA: 11,100m2

Tipping: 3300m2 (30%) Processing: 5500m2 (50%) Storage: 2300m2 (20%)

Education Centre GFA: 1,400m2

Loading/Unloading

Site Plan 1. Barge 2. Loading Bay 3. Tipping Building 4. Processing Plant 5. Bale Storage 6. Education Centre 7. Pedestrian Bridge 8. Covered walkway 9. Visitor Parking

Sunset Park MRF, aerial view looking south. 18

9 2 5

7 4

Visitors approaching the Education Centre. View looking south-west.

Education Centre Programme Breakdown

19%

36%

33%

12%

Circulation 265m2

Level 2 Plan

Education/ Administration Reception 52m2 Offices 170m2 Conference Room 32m2 Exhibition 121m2 Classrooms 80m2 Theatre 46m2

Level 1 Plan

Support Spaces Cafeteria 92m2 Terrace 200m2 WC 53m2 Locker rooms 107m2 Store rooms 18m2

Ground Floor Plan

Mechanical 174m2

Bridging Industry + Education Sunset Park MRF represents the main processing facility for all of NYC’s residential metal, glass and plastic recyclables. Located on a waterfront pier, the facility navigates deliveries by barge, which can hold up to 100x the amount of a truck, eliminating 240,000 miles of annual vehicle travel from roadways.

Exposed recycled steel girders. The building’s programmatic use as a recycling facility inspired reuse throughout.

The attached education centre engages the public with the nitty-gritty of industrial processing and brings awareness to the magnitude of citywide waste generated daily. There is, however, a noticeable lack in textile recycling technology despite fashion’s substantial carbon footprint. As such, the proposed textile design school aims to target this ‘textile gap’, following in the footsteps of the MRF’s success with metal, glass & plastics. 19

PRECEDENT STUDIES

FU N CT IO N: DES IG N INSTIT U TE

Gross Floor Area: 34,370m 2 Number of storeys: 16

University Center (The New School) Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, 2014 63 5th Avenue, Manhattan NY

Residential

Education

Misc.

41%

54%

Programme Breakdown Vertical Integration Academic space 18,600m2 19 fashion studios 17 drawing studios 12 classrooms 7 science labs 15 faculty offices faculty resource room 600-bed dormitory 13,900m2

Interactive academic space

Auditorium (800-seat) Central library Cafeteria 3 student lounges Lobby & events cafe

Retail space Mechanical floor

Parsons School of Design’s new University Center consolidates its scattered city campus in a single landmark that celebrates the intermingling of students from different majors across the institution. The vertical configuration of learning, living, dining and socialising spaces creates strategic adjacencies that eliminate the compartmentalised nature of traditional institutional layouts. These nodes of activity are tied together with feature stairs that trace along the facade. The bold, outwardly expression of activities within encapsulates the pedagogical nature of the New School as a frontrunning design and social research institution.

O RG A N I SATION: LINEAR

Building Footprint: 3,400m 2 Gross Floor Area: 4,100m 2

Dominus Winery Herzog & De Meuron, 1997 Napa Valley, California

PRECEDENT STUDIES

Top: Dominus Estate Winery, view from the east across the vineyard plantations.

Tank Room

Barrique Cellar

1. Fermentation & Pressing

2. Aging

Offices & Roof Terrace Storeroom 3. Bottling & Degustation

Bottom: Spatial analysis diagram following the process of winemaking.

A Linear Process The sequential logic of wine-making is not dissimilar to that of textile sorting. At the Dominus Estate Winery, raw material enters the building on one end, which leads on to the final product of bottled wine degusted and purchased by customers on the opposing end. The division of volumes by programmatic function establishes clear lines of sight and ceremonious arrival spaces in the resultant gaps between each zone.

PRECEDENT STUDIES

O RG A N I SATION: COU RT YARD

Gross Floor Area: 6,000m 2

Exeter College: Cohen Quad Alison Brooks Architects, 2016 Walton Street, Oxford, UK

10m

Academic space 5 fellows teaching rooms 8 seminar rooms Auditorium (200-seat) Music practice room Library & archive

Level 3 Plan

Interactive space Social learning space Cafe restaurant Common rooms senior & junior 4 family kitchens Roof terrace Dormitory 90 study bedrooms 4 fellows’ apartments

Level 1 Plan

Support spaces Porter’s lodge WC Circulation Courtyards Corridors + cloisters Vertical circulation Ground Floor Plan

E-W Section, looking north 22

Top left: View of central social learning space and timber-arched cloister. Top right: Double-height social learning space facing the courtyard. Bottom left: Fellows teaching room on the top floor, above student residences. Bottom right: Auditorium/lecture hall.

The Central Hearth In contrast to Parsons University Center’s perimeter social gathering points along the facade, Exeter College’s Cohen Quad focuses common spaces in a central node that anchors two wings of academic and residential programme in the form of an ‘S’-shape. The building’s ambulatory form eliminates any dead-ends and carves out two courtyards that are lined with timber arched cloisters, creating continous lines of sight wherever occupants may be in the building and connecting them to the external landscape.

PRECEDENT STUDIES

O RG A N I SATION: CLU STER

Gross Floor Area: 1,735m 2

Ganga Maki Textile Studio Studio Mumbai, 2014 Bairagada, Uttarakhand, India

10m

Site plan Weaving workshops: 4 x 125m 2 Gallery: 100m 2 Washing & dyeing blocks 350m 2 Owner & guests’ residences 450m 2 Support spaces Canteen: 111m 2 Service corridors: 176m 2 (4 x 44m 2) Utility room: 48m 2

Programme Breakdown

35%

20%

26%

19%

Sections: Gallery (top left); Canteen (top right); Weaving workshop (bottom). 0m

10m

Top left: Central courtyard connecting the four L-shaped weaving workshops. Top right: Weaving workshop interior, with a bamboo trellis roof, brick walls finished with lime and stone floors. Bottom left: Washing and dyeing block. Bottom right: Raised workspace along weaving workshop perimeter.

A Self-Sufficient Community Rooted in craft, place, people and the environment, the Ganga Maki Textile Studio sensitively fuses locally harvested bricks and lime, stone and marble from Rajasthan and Bengali bamboo. The clustered arrangement of workspaces and residences in a selfcontained ‘village’ fosters long-term collaboration between textile designer Chiaki Maki and fellow craftspeople, cultivating artisan skills and techniques among a diverse community. The L-shaped weaving workshops are buttressed on one side by a slender storage and service space, and on the other by a raised workspace.

PRECEDENT STUDIES

FACA D E : T ECTONICS & S HADING

RMIT Design Hub Sean Godsell Architects, 2012 Melbourne, Austrialia The building’s operable facade offers automated sunshading through a series of dynamic glass discs which incorporate photovoltaic cells, evaporative cooling and fresh air intakes. The parametric elements light and shade targeted spaces, with its modularity enabling the ease of replacement as solar technology advances in the years to come. Peninsula House Sean Godsell Architects, 2002 Sorrento, Victoria, Austrialia The house vertically transitions from light to dark, with the ground floor living room being light and airy to the intimate library atop gently dim. The density of timber ‘threads’ varies accordingly to achieve this sensitive interplay of light, dressing the otherwise austere steel exoskeleton with a delicate outer skin.

Batō Hiroshige Museum of Art Kengo Kuma & Associates, 2000 Tochigi, Japan Dedicated to the works of the ukiyo-e painter Hiroshige Utagawa, the museum translates the layered spatial composition of the artist’s woodblock prints into its built form. The superposition of cedar louvres creates a homogenous frontality of overlapping layers, blurring the functional boundaries of walls and roofs and transforming the grounded, linear volume into one of lightness and intricacy.

DES IG N BRIEF

“Craft is not a story of stagnation but of sensible emergence” (Studio Mumbai, 2014)

DESIGN BRIEF

C L I E N T S & PARTNERS HIPS

AFFILIATIONS

Management & Funding

Curriculum

Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), under the State University of New York (SUNY)

As an extension of the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT)’s Manhattan campus, the new textile academy will be state-funded and run by FIT in collaboration with the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), who has overseen the development of the garment manufacturing hub - Made in NY Campus at Bush Terminal (opening in 2021) - as well as the Sunset Park Waterfront Vision Plan (2009).

FIT will run its new specialised textile campus in partnership with Slow Factory Foundation to deliver their One x One Conscious Design Initiative fashion’s first science incubator.

New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) Worn Again Technologies (WA) One x One Conscious Design Initiative by Slow Factory Foundation Genspace, New York’s Community Biolab

The attached textile recovery facility will be separately managed by Worn Again Technologies, a polymer recycling company who recaptures the raw materials of end-of-use textiles through the use of solvents. WA’s continual research & development into industrialising their chemical recovery process at large is financially backed by industry leaders such as H&M and Fashion For Good.

One x One participant Dr Theanne Schiros, assistant professor at FIT and research scientist at Columbia University, creating her lab-grown “leather” for a sneaker prototype.

Established in 2019, the programme pairs designers with scientists as part of a cross-disciplinary effort to empower sustainable innovation centred around ‘Circularity, Equity and Renewable Technology’ in fashion design. Training apprenticeships are also offered to members of low-income and immigrant communities, creating a template for fashion companies to work with eager entrants to the industry. The institutional backing of FIT paired with Slow Factory’s ambition and specialist biotech support from longtime partner Genspace will provide a solid foundation on which creatives and garment workers alike can further their education and vocational training towards a sustainable fashion industry.

The One x One apprenticeship programme equips low-income immigrant trainees with a six-week course on technical design, career skills and wellness to further their economic advancement in the fashion industry.

U S ER REQU IREM E NT S

Textile workshops: sewing & weaving

Textile workshops: dyeing & printing

Biofab labs for textile research & development

DESIGN BRIEF

P RO P OSE D P ROG RAM M E

Buildable Site Area 6,000m2 Site Boundary (includes piers) Area for future expansion

21%

13%

20%

18%

24%

external

Academic

Interactive

Residential

Administrative

Ancillary spaces

Industrial

Landscaping

Area Breakdown by Category

Schedule of Accommodation

Textile Academy

Design studios 4 x 150m2 Textile workshops 2 x 250m2 Biofab labs 2 x 100m2 Lab prep 2 x 50m2 Classrooms 5 x 60m2 Auditorium (200-seat) Textile library Social learning space divisible Cafeteria Marketplace Gallery Dormitory (ensuite) Common rooms

80 x 26m2 4 x 80m2

Faculty & staff offices 20 x 10m2 Conference room Reception/Foyer WC divisible Storage divisible Kitchen Bin store Plant (10% overall area) divisible Circulation (15% overall area) divisible

600 m2 500 m2 200 m2 100 m2 300 m2 270 m2 500 m2 270 m2 270 m2 500 m2 500 m2

2,0800 m2 320 m2 200 m2 30 m2 200 m2

100 m2 50 m2 70 m2 10 m2 810 m2 1,025 m2

8,915 m2

Textile Recovery Facility

Sorting/Processing 1,000 m2 Treatment/Recovery 500 m2 Spinning into new fibres 500 m2 Raw material storage 250 m2 Fabric storage 250 m2 Utility room (10% overall area) 250 m2 WC/Locker room 50 m2 2,800 m2

Gross Internal Area (GIA): 11,715 m2 External Landscaping

Courtyard/Garden Loading bays 4 x 80 m2

350 m2 320 m2

Gross External Area (GEA): 670 m2 Cost Estimates Building construction £2,500 per m2 £29,3m Landscaping £750 per m2 £ 0.5m Consultant fees 12% £ 3.6m

Total Cost: £33.4m 31

Private access

Utility Room

Programme Adjacencies 1:1000

Locker Rooms/WC

Loading bay Loading bay

Sorting & Processing

Loading bay Loading bay Raw mat. storage

Finished fabric storage

Treatment/ Recovery

Re-spinning

Public access

WC Bins

Kitchen

Cafeteria

Reception/ Foyer

Gallery

Marketplace

Storage

Auditorium Faculty & Staff Offices Conference room

Social Learning Space

Textile Library

Design Studio

Class room

Class room Class room Class room Class room

Design Studio

Textile Workshop (sewing & weaving)

Plant

Private access

Common room

Textile Workshop (dyeing & printing)

Common room Student Dormitories

Common room

Garden/ Courtyard

Biofab lab

Prep

Bush Terminal Piers (outdoor textile fibre experimentation)

P RO J ECT SU M M ARY

The new textile academy and recovery facility aims to facilitate the intersection of fashion design and biotechnology, as part of FIT’s initiatives to expand their textile design curriculum into the Sunset Park industrial zone. For the longest time, consumers have been shielded from the grave consequences of their purchasing habits. While recycling and more sustainable fabrics will be a key part of the solution, consumers too will need to change their behaviour in hopes of partaking in a more sustainable fashion ecosystem - buying less, knowing where their clothes were made and ideally the conditions under which they were made. A joint institution for students, educators, practitioners and community members as proposed will steer the destructive industry in favour of longterm sustainability and circularity.

IM AG E C I TATIONS

Fig. 1: Chris Payne, 2010. Made in USA: Textiles. Available from: http://www. chrispaynephoto.com/textiles-2-1 Fig. 2: Bloomberg, 2015. Available from: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/ features/2015-02-13/new-york-city-sgarment-district-photos Fig. 3: Author’s own diagram. Fig. 4: Bloomberg, 2015. Ibid. Fig. 5-7: WXY, 2013. Available from: https://www.6sqft.com/tag/made-innyc-campus/ Fig. 8: Brooklyn Eagle, 2019. Available from: https://brooklyneagle.com/ articles/2019/09/11/industry-cityhistory/ Fig. 9: NYC Parks, 2014. Available from: https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/ bush-terminal-park/photos Fig. 10: Sunset Park Chronicled, 2010. Picturing Sunset Park: Winter Afternoon. Available from: https://sunsetpark. wordpress.com/2010/01/19/picturingsunset-park-winter-afternoon/ Fig. 11: WXY, 2013. Sunset Park BOA Study, pp.100-103. Available from: https://issuu.com/wxy_studio/docs/ sunset_park_boa_study_2013 Fig. 12: Sunset Park Chronicled, 2010. In Sunset Park, Affordable Housing is in the Eye of the Lease Holder. Available from: https://sunsetpark.wordpress. com/2010/01/19/picturing-sunset-parkwinter-afternoon/ Fig. 13: Google Earth, 2021. Precedent Images:

SOM, 2013. University Center - The New School. Available from: https://www. som.com/projects/university_center__ the_new_school Herzog & De Meuron, 137 Dominus Winery. Available from: https://www. herzogdemeuron.com/index/projects/ complete-works/126-150/137-dominuswinery.html Klein, K., 2019. Herzog & de Meuron’s Dominus Winery photographed 20 years after completion. Dezeen. Available from: https://www.dezeen.com/2019/11/19/ new-photographs-herzog-de-meurondominus-winery/ Alison Brooks Architects, 2017. Exeter College Cohen Quad, Oxford. Available from: https://www. alisonbrooksarchitects.com/project/ exeter-college/ Srivathsan, A., 2017. Ganga Maki Textile Studio by Studio Mumbai: ‘Craft is not a story of stagnation but of sensible emergence’. Architectural Review. Available from: https://www. architectural-review.com/buildings/ ganga-maki-textile-studio-by-studiomumbai-craft-is-not-a-story-ofstagnation-but-of-sensible-emergence Iwan Baan, 2017. Ganga Maki Textile Studio Mumbai. Available from: https:// iwan.com/portfolio/ganga-maki-textilestudio-mumbai/#23579 Sean Godsell Architects, various works. Available from: https://www. seangodsell.com/ Nagakawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum of Art, Building Guide. Available from: http://www.hiroshige.bato.tochigi. jp/english/about_en

Selldorf Architects, Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility. Available from: https:// Clients & Partnerships Images: www.selldorf.com/projects/sunset-parkSlow Factory Foundation, 2020, One material-recovery-facility x One: A Conscious Design Initiative, Available from: https://onexone.earth/ 34

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