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context

This building is considered to be a banal element of the city's landscape, so that its volumetry takes its place in the New York checkerboard.

 

Adaptable building

A new building today, whatever its program, and wherever it is located, must be able to adapt easily to future changes, because construction costs, in terms of energy, emissions and waste inevitable in the construction process, are too important to have only a building with a limited life cycle.

For these reasons the building responds to the following principles:

• A simple structure - floors/posts - which makes it possible to have large platforms freed as much as possible from any obstacle. Dimensions 22.00mx 55.00m

• Two vertical circulation cores easily adaptable to a new partition. They include a sufficient quantity of lifts, goods lifts, stairs and ducts for all fluids.

• A floor height of 6.00m: which allows both the installation of hydroponic culture towers on this height, with good penetration of natural light.

• This height of 6.00m also makes it possible to add (and therefore also remove) intermediate floors, forming two floors of 3.00m, a height more compatible with living spaces.

• Even if the project is composed of two very different programs in their nature, we propose a single envelope technique for these two parts: An outer skin made of glass louvres, which allows the building to breathe freely or on the contrary to remain airtight depending on the climate: a very simple process that can also use more complex control technologies.

The condos, which require finer climate control, are enclosed by a second interior glazed skin. They thus benefit from a buffer space which regulates the interior temperature and creates a fully habitable space at the edge of the dwelling.

 

Organization of the building

We have chosen to separate the programs vertically, for urban, functional, circulation and sunshine reasons. The condos will occupy the North-West facade while the space allocated to the farm will occupy the entire South-East facade, on 10th Avenue.

With the aim of reducing the supply chain even further, we have chosen to occupy all the ground floor available by a local market. Thus, the distance between agricultural production and distribution to consumers will be reduced to a simple hoist journey.

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The farm

The farm is organized on 8 cultivation levels and one harvesting level. The basement is occupied by the technical installations as well as part of the storage.

Each level - 6.00m high - allows the installation of 6 hydroponic culture towers composed of 20 trays each. The system is mobile in order to allow a homogeneous exposure to the light and also to allow an easier picking. Grow lights above the trays complement the natural light.

Each level also has spaces devoted to cultivation, storage areas for temporarily storing crops. The first floor is used primarily for crop management and storage.

 

Water management

A rainwater recovery system is in place to store water on the roof of the building. It will be processed, stored and put back into circulation. A gray water reprocessing system is also planned to further reduce the farm's water consumption.

By recycling urban and culture water, hydroponics allows a 90% reduction in water consumption in certain cultures.

This controlled culture also allows an almost total non-use of pesticides and therefore rejection of these in the environment.

In addition to its functionality, the spatial layout of the farm will provide the city with a truly vertical landscape.

 

Condos

The condos occupy the entire North West half of the building. They are composed of units 6.00m high. Each unit can create a single full-height studio space or develop two living levels of 3.00m. Each unit has a buffer space, a place between interior and exterior which constitutes, by its dimensions, an easily habitable place. This space also plays the role of thermal absorber because it is located between the exterior facade composed of adjustable glazed louvres and the interior facade composed of insulating double glazing elements. Glazed parts are also arranged on the farm side to offer the dwellings the landscape of neighboring crops.

The condo's main lobby is located on 18th Street, outside of market traffic.

A common space is created at level +10.00, which is the level of the Highline. A footbridge gives access to the building with access to the vertical circulations. It is also on this level that the swimming pool with the gym is located, in contact with the vegetation of the promenade.

The roof is made of several terraces accessible to residents. One of the terraces is a closed and secure basketball court, with a view of the New York skyline.

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