This project combined research into three areas of interest:

1) new computerized fabrication techniques,

2) building information modeling (BIM) and construction

3) innovative approaches to creating the organization of an architectural design project.

The larger ambition of these three research topics is to reposition architects in a more strategic place to actually participate in the design of the conditions under which they operate, to which we refer as Expanded Alliances. This specific submission is for a new slide library for the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University.  It was completed both as a prototype to test the premise of the research and to fulfill the immediate program needs of the client as the first phase of a longer-term master plan.

The Premise of Expanded Alliances

Schools of architecture are a vast resource for innovative ideas about all aspects of architecture ranging from history/theory to technology and design.  They combine the enthusiasm and originality of students with the experience and reputation of faculty, who are typically leaders in their respective areas.

Universities typically have extensive capital building projects managed by a facilities department that hire architects, consultants and contractors on behalf of various schools or departments who act as clients and who generally fund the projects.

The premise of this project was to form alliances between university clients, facilities departments and architecture schools that would achieve significant benefits for each and be a win-win arrangement.  This would become a workable model for universities around the country.

This research and test project set out to develop a sustainable model to use university funded capital projects as a full scale testing laboratory for architecture schools to conduct research into:

1.  applied new material and fabrication techniques

2.  building information modeling and construction

3.  designing the organization of a project

There are currently 1,041 schools of architecture in the United States.  In 2004, $12,186,636,000 was spent on construction by colleges around the country.  If colleges and universities with architecture departments work with this new model of expanded alliances, significant opportunities would exist for innovative design and new forms of collaboration that would benefit all participants.

Applied New Materials and Full Scale Fabrication Techniques

The abundance of new materials being introduced both within and outside of the building industry has reinvigorated the interests of architects in material technology.  Fabrication and assembly techniques are also becoming a major interest of architects as design and manufacturing merge into the common language of digital information.

Building Information Modeling and Construction

CAD/CAM has initiated an historical transformation of the building industry but is limited to linking design and manufacturing.  Building Information Modeling (BIM) extends this to encompass the organization and management of all attributes of a project.  This process is currently in its infancy and is only feasible on very large projects with fees to support the time necessary to input the vast amount of data associated with a BIM.  This project set out to test alternative versions of BIM applicable to a wider range of projects.

Expanded Alliances

The practice of architecture has always been about managing information.  Architects produce documents that coordinate the efforts of multiple constituents with  the goal of designing buildings.  With the availability of ubiquitous communication technologies, the rapid transformation of the building industry through these technologies and a new entrepreneurial spirit among a younger generation, architects are now in a position to leverage their expertise to actually design the organization of a project – to creatively and strategically assemble new alliances among owners, clients, builders, fabricators, consultants, etc. that lay the groundwork for innovative architecture.

The University has two models of capital project developments – those done with an in-house design team from the Department of Design and Construction within the facilities department and those done with an architect hired by the university.  The test project proposed and implemented a new model for campus projects.  It required communication networks and exchanges that were well beyond those currently used in campus project development.  It utilized both existing resources and expertise as well as new resources and expertise that were currently untapped by facilities.

As a first case study of New Alliances, the test project was created around the following conditions:

1.  The school of architecture developed a fabrication lab (FABCON) to expand the ongoing interest in digital design and production tools & techniques. The lab consisted of a CNC mill and water jet machine backed up by a fully equipped work shop.  The mandate of the lab is research new fabrication and assembly techniques at full scale.

2.  The architects / professors utilized their established relationship with multiple constituencies in the university to gain support for a new organization to the structure of a capital project forming a new type collaboration between the client (the Department of Art History and Archaeology), the Department of Design and Construction within the facilities department, the School of Architecture, and the FABCON lab.

3.  A master plan by the architects / professors for the client was in its early stages of implementation with one project complete and several others planned over the next few years.  The test project became phase one of the master plan.

Site

The Department of Art History and Archaeology undertook a space analysis and subsequent master plan to maximize its space utilization relative to current teaching trends.  As part of this master plan, it was determined that the slide library, which has an extensive and notable collection and uses one of the largest rooms in the department, could be relocated.  Although reduced in size to 1000 square feet, its importance within the department was still significant and required a well-designed space – this became the test project.  The new location is on the top floor of a 9 story Beaux-Arts building, a space without windows but with a very large skylight that will act as a lantern on the interior.  It is surrounded by faculty offices and will also function as an informal conference space.  The area where the slide library was located will become a future test project and house a new multi-program “social hub”.

Slide Library

The slide library operates as both a didactic tool, describing the fabrication process through the information inscribed on its surfaces, and as a metaphor for the projector that illuminates the slides.  The east wall is also curved to allow the skylight to directly light the hallway and the front of the slide library.  Glass pieces embedded in the wall further transmit light from the interior of the slide library to its exterior.  The captured light from the skylight is registered on and transmitted through the surfaces of the slide library in patterns that continually shift.

A large existing skylight was uncovered and integrated into the design, bringing light into this otherwise completely interior space that is surrounded by faculty offices.

The east wall is made up of 435 layers of ″ thick ultralight (lightweight MDF) sandwiched together.  Occasional viewing portals are formed by carved layers on opposite sides of the wall with two 1/2″ thick glass panels sandwiched between them.  The drawing shows how the toolpaths that were used to mill the layered (east) wall were laid out and milled into north, south and west walls.

Several full-scale prototypes of the portals were fabricated and assembled. Different milling techniques were tested from straight cuts to curved profiles on each of the 1” layers to study the effects of the light and the experience of viewing through the wall. The geometry of the curves was flipped around the axis of the glass panels to form an overlap that allowed views through the wall.

A continuous curve was selected over stepped options – testing the precision of the mill to generate smooth curves over multiple layers of the 1” ultralite.  This also required some of the layers to be milled on both sides due to the limitations of 3 axis CNC mills to undercut.  Techniques were tested to calibrate the precision of alignments when flipping the panels.  During these tests, it was also determined that the existing floor structure would not support the wall so cavities were milled inside the wall to reduce the overall weight.

As part of the rigor to digitally draw, fabricate and manage the entire project, every component of the design was milled regardless of its complexity to enable the walls to be assembled like furniture.  A material limitation was imposed to control the variables – mdf was used for all components.  The structural columns on the north, south and west walls were designed as interlocking components with coordinated slots to receive all glass.

A 3-axis mill was used for all components.  Because the project was relatively small and one of the goals of the test was to simulate the complexity of building information management on a larger scale, the intricacies of the walls were exaggerated.  Another goal of the project was to test the agility of digital information to adapt to unforeseen circumstances.  When the milling for the components was calculated for a single machine and found to be longer than the duration of the project, instead of simplifying the design, the network of fabricators was expanded to increase the workflow with little impact on the coordination.

Material management: Related to individual components making up a larger component along with the sequence of assembly was coordinated through a comprehensive labeling index that went from design through final installation.

Many of the typical construction drawings become redundant with a building information management project.  Drawings for this test project existed only for the purposes of describing the sequence of assembly.  Minimal notes and no dimensions were used as emphasis was placed on communication through graphic clarity.

The assembly of the east wall was kept as simple as possible relying only on a linear numbering sequence for each of the layers and an attachment method of staggered 18” long threaded rods connected with threaded couplings.  The glass was held in place with the compression from the rods and required no adhesives.  A top and bottom track held the wall in place.  Students assembled the east wall in one week.

Workflow

University projects typically take place over the three months of summer break requiring a well-coordinated and expedient workflow.  Through a close interactive collaboration between architect, fabrication team, project manager, general contractor all entrusted by the client, this test project fulfilled all of its goals of design, prototyping, fabrication and assembly on time and on budget.

The Future

Schools of architecture pioneered the first digital revolution through exhaustive formal experimentation and elaborate visualizations of these new forms.  Many architecture students trained during this time were hired by digital animation, web design, advertising companies because of their unique skills to think, visualize and model complex form.  While this was occurring, the construction industry was focused more on streamlining the manufacturing and building processes through CNC technologies with little or no emphasis on innovation beyond efficiency.  The core goal of Expanded Alliances is to foreground the potential and urgency of a younger generation of architects to begin pioneering the second digital revolution in architecture.  Because this revolves around actual building itself, the only effective way to do this is to build…at full scale.  More importantly is the application of digital technology as a tool of communication to generate the organization of projects, to form networks of collaborators to realize projects and finally to design, manage, fabricate and assemble innovative architecture.

Tenrikyo Mission New York is a new 7,000 sf house of worship in Flushing, Queens for members of Tenrikyo, a religious organization founded in Tenri, Japan in 1838.  The religion has since expanded with representation in many countries worldwide, and this building is to be its regional center for New York City and the surrounding area.  Having previously designed two of their cultural outreach centers in Manhattan, Marble Fairbanks was asked by Tenrikyo to design this building for their religious ceremonies.

The organization of the church centers on the Jodan – the stage for performances and the location of the shrines for offerings.  There is seating for 150 members in the worship hall, with the ability for that space to open to the outside for additional seating.  The religious service is followed by community dining, which takes place on the lower level.  The dining hall is directly below the Jodan and opens out to a garden along the north side of the building for extended seating during nice weather.  Other programs include office space, meeting rooms, a nursery, translation booths, and storage and preparation areas.

The worship halls of all Tenrikyo Missions around the world orient towards Jiba, the main sanctuary in Japan.  Because of the site condition, the New York Mission is placed parallel to the street with the main entry on the side.

Once inside, the orientation is emphasized by the geometry of the ceiling and by clerestories on the north and south walls and low windows on the east and west walls.  Clerestories above the shrines on the Jodan allow the audience to simultaneously watch the performances and see to the outside in the direction of Jiba.  Clerestories in the lobby allow visitors to simultaneously view outside toward Jiba and inside to the worship hall.

The worship hall and the dining hall are on separate levels due to the site constraints.  It was determined that the worship hall needed to be on grade, allowing for direct access to the outside and design opportunities for the ceiling.  The dining hall is located below grade, and a courtyard is inserted between the building setback and the lot line to bring light into the hall.  A stair connects the courtyard with the rear yard adjacent to the worship hall.  Through sliding glass walls, the dining hall can open to the outdoor courtyard, and the worship hall can open to the adjacent landscape.

The monthly ceremony combines short sermons and musical and dance performances. The performers often approach the Jodan from their seats in the audience, which reinforces the intimacy and interactive quality of the ceremony. The worship hall was designed to bring the audience close to the performance by compressing the depth and extending the width of the seating area. The interlocking ceiling geometry reinforces this by suggesting a strong exchange between audience and performers.

The project is located in a residential neighborhood and is adjacent to two existing houses also owned by the church. The exterior skin is a cement board panel rain-screen that alternates in tone and gradates in scale from four inch strips on the south side, relating to the scale of the adjacent clapboard houses, to four feet strips on the north side enclosing the Jodan. The graphic pattern of the facades also alludes to the interlocking geometry of the roof structure that defines the interior space of the worship hall.

The Fashion Institute of Technology is about more than fashion.  With over 30 degree programs, FIT is a comprehensive design, business and liberal arts school surrounded by one of the most vibrant metropolitan centers in the world.  The new extension to FIT’s campus has the unique role of both reorienting the campus with a stronger connection to the city and revealing the diverse curriculum of the school.  Our proposal focuses on making the new building a productive interface between the school and the various constituents it serves.

Currently, the buildings at FIT mask much of the formal and informal activities of the academic community from the city.  We propose to turn this activity inside out, displaying it to the exterior.  Classrooms and circulation are placed behind a glass wall that transforms from nearly opaque to translucent to transparent, encouraging one to approach it.  The predominant use of a single material, glass, creates a sense of unity, while the modulation and variation of densities generates a complexity that reflects the multifaceted curriculum and diversity of programs at the school.  Approaching the building from Seventh Avenue, one senses that FIT is constantly re-fashioning itself, continually transforming and adjusting.  From the street corner, the pattern of vertical and sloped glass appears as a blur, gradually coming into focus as one approaches the building.  The alternating pattern flattens on the middle floors to allow a direct view from Seventh Avenue to the circulation corridors within.

Interface 2: Thickened Facade

Our proposal re-frames the facade through visual and occupiable depth, rather than purely through surface.  We have expanded the facades of the extension to programmatically connect to Building C – engaging and transforming the existing building.  The facades are also utilized to expand the learning environments with informal outdoor seating.  Strategic transparencies permit viewers to see through multiple layers of inside and outside spaces, and between the new extension and Building C, creating a dynamic visual field.  Outside and inside boundaries collapse as one enters and looks through the facade from inside to outside or inhabits the space of the facade while in the belly.  Traditional academic boundaries begin to be challenged as the city, building and campus merge into a continuous occupied zone.

The Belly – City / Campus Interchange

Our proposal combines a direct connection from 28th Street to the future campus commons on 27th Street.  The entry sequence up into the new building has the unique condition of moving through, under and then over the facade resulting in a continual reversal of inside and outside.  Teaching areas, display, movement and informal gathering are all clustered around this interchange presenting a density of social and academic activity to passers-by on the street and the school population as they enter the campus.

Urban Attractor

From Seventh Avenue, one can see the facade slip under a floating glass presentation room (the lobe) at the corner of the building.  Similarly to the belly, this presentation space projects the goal that learning at FIT is inextricably connected to being in New York City.

Weave / Thick Facade

While the new building is freestanding, it’s relationship and impact on Building C is significant.  The front and rear facade of our proposal wraps back to link into the fourth floor of Building C forming an exterior balcony off existing studios.  Through a series of vertical layers, the new building is conceived as a thickened facade that is threaded together physically by vertical circulation and visually through views between studios and classrooms between the buildings.

Lung / Breathing Facade

The 28th Street facade is conceived as an urban lung that allows the building to breathe.  The climate in New York City allows for unconditioned ventilation for up to 6 months out of the year, resulting in a significant reduction in energy consumption.  The long length and relatively narrow depth of our building sets up an ideal proportion for a highly effective passive ventilation system.  Air is admitted through an alternating pattern of operable windows and louver-controlled intakes at each level of the building.  The facade varies from an even pattern during the winter to a more random pattern during the spring, summer and fall when operable windows are selectively opened.

Interface 3:

Learning Organizations

Initially founded as a school of fashion design, today FIT offers over 30 different programs, reflecting the increasing specialization and complexity of the design industry.  With specialization, however, comes a need for interdisciplinary work that combines ideas from various fields to generate innovative new forms of design and production.  New spatial organizations can facilitate this move towards collaborative working processes.  Our proposal promotes new learning paradigms that foreground integrated, non-hierarchical forms or organization and rethink established boundaries of knowledge.

Soft Boundaries

Our proposal rethinks the separation between classrooms where students “learn” and labs or studios where students “do”.  Studios and classrooms are grouped together, and can be combined into integrated learning environments.  What are the potential outcomes when AC271 – Audiences and Media has a class adjacent to PL 431 – Philosophy: Ethics, and the space between the rooms holds an informal discussion between students and faculty one day?  Or if TT – 471 Technology and Marketing of Printed Textiles spends a semester in the classroom adjacent to the studio for FS 451 – Color Combinations and Repeats?  Can one course influence the direction of another – can new territory emerge from this adjacency?  As disciplinary and spatial borders within FIT become soft, teachers will increasingly becomes facilitators of knowledge in informally organized, student-centered spaces.  The social discipline and singular focus of the hermetic classroom will give way to a dispersed interactive environment.

Smart Classrooms

Smart classrooms are learning environments that extend access to information beyond the limitations of physical space and the knowledge base of the teacher.  The ability to access information anywhere and at anytime challenges the individual classroom structure and the traditional student/teacher relationship.  With this shift, the informal social spaces of hallways and gathering areas outside designated classrooms become a potential new space of learning.  Learning organizations combine technology-driven smart classrooms with a reorganization and spatialization of circular and physical boundaries.

Organizational Flexibility

The infrastructural systems of the new extension allow the building to adapt easily to change.  All mechanical, electrical, and communication systems are accessible through a raised floor that provides considerable flexibility for responding to shifting teaching requirements and the evolving organizational possibilities offered by new technologies.  Wireless zones will be instituted in the belly and lobe in the first stage of the integration of this technology into FIT’s campus.

Interface 4: Display

Display is intended to show both products and process, revealing the depth of curricular disciplines and teaching methodologies at FIT in formal and informal ways.  It is used to link the work studios with the instruction of classrooms and to emphasize the relationship between curated and circumstantial work.  A linear display system is proposed along the existing hallway of Building C that continues across the bridge into the new building negotiating classrooms and studios with hallways.  The system is designed to allow for four types of display: student work  (final products and in process design work); FIT’s permanent collection; students and teachers in classrooms and studios; students and/or faculty interacting informally around the building utilizing the expanded  circulation and pin-up spaces.  Display variables include 2-D and 3-D display areas, work surfaces, seating areas, open shelves for impromptu display/discussions, and projection surfaces that create a visual continuity between classrooms and circulation spaces.

The primary design challenge for this new restaurant was to transform a basement location into an open and light dining space.  Given the short time frame for completion and limited budget, an integrated design and fabrication approach was taken to produce a unique result.  The focus of the design was a custom graduated perforated ceiling and wall panel system which had the general effect of forming a delicate surface to alleviate the sense of being below ground and the specific effect of forming acoustical zones within the dining room through variable sound absorption.

The integrated design / production process reduced costs and facilitated a streamlined production process allowing the project to be designed and built in two months.

Integrated Design and Fabrication

This project is an early example of the work our office continues to research in digital fabrication and the management of information in the design process. This project applied this research with the design and fabrication of a ceiling and wall system to surface an existing interior space for a new restaurant in New York City.

To simplify the installation process, the new metal panel ceiling was hung 2” – 4” below the existing drywall ceiling with an inexpensive and low-tech hanging system.  Continuous wood furring strips were first anchored to the drywall ceiling and roughly leveled.  A 1”x1/2” steel tube substructure was then attached to the furring strips with 4” screws that could be tightened or loosened to allow for precise leveling.  The steel tubes were pre-drilled for the hanging screws and CNC machine tapped holes at 9” o.c. to receive the aluminum panels.

The acoustical perforation pattern and all light holes, sprinkler cutouts, and the screw holes for hanging were laser cut into the aluminum panels directly from the design files.  Utilizing digital information as a control source, the panels were cut and shipped from Boston, MA, the substructure was machined in Brooklyn, NY and the two components were successfully installed with zero tolerance.

Panel Fabrication

Because of the quick schedule, the panels were laser cut, bent (if necessary), finished and delivered to the site in three stages to fast track with other site specific work.  The fabrication and installation sequence was driven by site constraints which lead to clusters of panels being installed in three different areas instead of working from one end of the ceiling to the other.

Reflection / Illusion

Several design techniques were used to alleviate the feeling of being below ground.  Most important was the overall effect of lightness resulting from the ceiling panels.  A floor to ceiling mirror was placed on the wall opposite the entry to visually connect the below grade bar to the space of the street; guests at the bar could also view the reflection of the city above.  Once guests arrive in the restaurant, the pattern on the back wall panels opposite the stairs creates the illusion of receding space.

Dining Scenarios

Although the Client requested that the dining room be open and flexible, there was also an interest in being able to divide the room for various sized events and to close off areas during less busy times.   Several sheer, lightweight curtains can be drawn throughout the dining room to form smaller, more intimate areas.  The curtain tracks are located in relation to the highest density of perforations in the ceiling to supplement the acoustical separation between zones.  In addition to the grid of downlights set above the ceiling panels for general lighting, small lights follow the curtain track to highlight the curtain fabric when closed.

Few development sites are positioned so literally between natural, legislative, infrastructural, and social extremes as Arverne in Far Rockaway, New York.  Public subsidized housing slabs line the beach to the west; the elevated NYC subway line defines the northern boundary; Ocean Village, a self-contained social condenser from the 1960s, rises out of the almost pastoral landscape to the east; and the Atlantic Ocean is to the south.  These boundaries combined with the fragile ecology of the landscape below and the JFK flight paths overhead establish the immediate context for this architecture and urban design project.

With over 300 acres, the Arverne Urban Renewal Area is one of the largest developable tracts of land in New York City.  Since the area was cleared in the 1960s, and despite numerous proposals ranging from high-density housing to a multimedia gaming park and hotel complex, the site has remained undeveloped.

In 2001 the city identified 100 acres of the renewal area as a site for market rate housing, with a target density of eight units per acre.  Marble Fairbanks (Housing Ecologies), together with Michael Bell Architecture (Stateless Architecture) and Mark Rakatansky Studio (Urbia), formulated a collaborative urban design proposal, with each group developing a sector of the site at densities ranging from the requested eight units per acre on the east end of the site to 28 units per acre on the west end.  The variable densities and their planning strategy as well as the specific architectural design for each sector were developed to respond to the intricate social and urban conditions surrounding the site.

Several natural ecological processes are continually impacting the condition of Rockaway and the adjacent Jamaica Bay wildlife refuge with each additional building on the peninsula further distorting the natural processes. Without intervention, environmentalists have observed the eastern seaboard disappearing at a rate of 1’-2’ per year which directly affects the ocean side of the Arverne site with the runoff from JFK Airport continuing to adversely affect the northern shore. The other constant threat at Arverne is the more sudden but less frequent issue of flooding during tropical storms.

Streets / Sidewalks

The hierarchy between streets, sidewalks and blocks along the east west axis of the site is rearranged to allow for varied, even conflicting uses within each.  The proposed east/west streets extend under the housing bands and lead to parking for the residents.  Sidewalks are extended across the blocks to form east/west passages through the site between the housing bands and correspond to ecological rifts – changes in ground material from sand on the ocean side to scrub trees on the land side.  The main north/south through-streets are maintained to link the adjacent community through the new development to the beach.

Unit / City

The internalization of the city street as domestic parking initiates a sequence of shifting expectations of interior and exterior; unit and city.  In response to the condition of interior anonymity and the prevailing design strategy of planned, demographically determined, housing communities, the unit is reasserted as a generator of the city.  Both the architecture and the landscape are conceived from a sequence of moving from the inside out – through the interior of the unit to the site.

Negotiated Territory

The policy shift of almost all government housing agencies from publicly subsidized rental units to public/private partnerships based on home ownership is largely driven by the premise that ownership will introduce a process of individual commitment and propriety that will overcome the digressive economic conditions of past housing projects.  The flip side of ownership, and one which is very likely on this site due to its being surrounded by one of the largest concentrations of subsidized housing in NYC, is the protection of property by closing off access to surrounding communities.  Housing Ecologies proposes discrete scales of ownership that attempt to link to public zones on and around the site to form overlapping boundaries.

The problem of how to transmit our ecological reasoning to those whom we wish to influence in what seems to us to be an ecologically “good” direction is itself an ecological problem. We are not outside the ecology for which we plan – we are always and inevitably a part of it…Herein lies the charm and the terror of ecology – that the ideas of this science are irreversibly becoming a part of our own ecosocial system.*

*All quotes from Gregory Bateson, “Ecology and Flexibility in Urban Civilization” (a paper presented in October, 1970 to urban planners from the Lindsay administration in New York City, the year after Arverne was originally cleared for development)

The areas surrounding Arverne, the site of the proposed new housing development, are communities comprised in large part of families relocated from areas around the city obtained for development. They are communities of lower income populations financially unable to voluntarily move elsewhere and brought together as a result of urban redevelopment. The ambition of the new Arverne development is to bring market rate homebuyers into an area with the largest concentration of subsidized housing in New York City and simultaneously avoid exacerbating the already displaced and isolated condition of the existing communities. Our proposal, Housing Ecologies, alludes to the simultaneous realms of material and social organizations of housing – housing as a place (noun) and an activity (verb), understanding them as concurrent processes that in their interrelations, allow them to behave as an ecology.  As such, architecture is proposed here as flexible, collective infrastructure that allows the individual actions of housing to generate up in response to specific organizational anchors (parking, generative voids, circulation cores) finding a place between the reductive efficiencies of market forces and the remaining traces of domestic subjectivity. Ecological processes are utilized here to constructively navigate between aspects of pre established productive forces and occupational desires of housing with the premise that housing communities, as ecologies, can perform most effectively when conditions exist for a degree of self generation and the ability to reorganize over time.

Flexibility – Processes of Movement

The ability of architecture to adequately respond at the speed with which the criteria for its production changes is unlikely – the 35 year delay in development on the Arverne site, was due in part to the continually changing programming needs in response to rapidly evolving market demands and subsequent public reactions. While “Housing Ecologies” proposes a target density of 28 units per acre over approximately 30 acres of land, it is driven by an organizational logic of flexibility. The proposal anticipates density fluctuations up or down in response to factors ranging from changing household structures (family size) to the frequency of homeowner relocation (approx. every 6 years) to the economic ability and desire of owners to expand or reduce their unit size. Flexibility is intended here to encompass not just the action of change but also the systemic processes that influence change.  Ross Ashby, an early cybernetic theorist, suggests that systems can be understood as being made up of interrelated variables, each having a range or supply of adaptation or flexibility within its own identity that facilitates links to other variables. As variables interact, the supply of flexibility of one expands or contracts in response to pressure from another. If kept within a tolerable range, this fluctuation promotes a productive system (ecology). If the supply is exhausted in any one variable, distortions can occur affecting all others and jeopardizing the stability of the system as a whole. “Flexibility may be defined as uncommitted potentiality for change”.*  Housing Ecologies embraces these processes of change by asserting architecture as an integral part of a social and natural ecological system.

Degrees of Territory – Processes of Negotiation

In an effort to expand the established domains of public / private from an oppositional relationship to a more affirmative, generative gradient, Housing Ecologies is structured around degrees of territory: organizations in which there is a range of spatial and temporal flexibility in the precise location and definition of territorial boundaries. In allowing these territorial boundaries to evolve over time, (architectural) parameters structure flexibility such that public and private coexists. As such, architecture is proposed as a system that structures potential for interrelated desires and tendencies of individuals, communities and the continual play of social and economic forces – in effect, architecture that houses ecologies.

By allowing degrees of territory, the project anticipates a process of territorial negotiation that can construct communities as productive ecologies. This process of negotiation as an active and dynamic variable is integral to the ability of communities to establish and sustain self identity. If territory is a flexible variable within a productive ecology it is the process of territorial negotiation, an exercising of flexibility, that promotes the health of communities and the lack of exercising this flexibility that threatens to destabilize the ecology. Assumed and passive territorial stability will ultimately lose its ability to adapt when inevitable pressures from other variables begin to impinge. Public or private, while giving the impression of clearly defined boundaries and legal jurisdiction, could be seen to contribute to a systemic imbalance between the individual and the collective. Resistance to market forces has become ineffective as a means for architectural production. The quasi-socialist public housing policies of the past have given way to forms of subtle but real market driven programs. What is proposed at Arverne, while being private market rate housing, is in fact, a public / private venture as the city and state will provide land and infrastructure. Being optimistic, this strategy of private ownership within partially public territory will succeed due, in part, to the acknowledged interdependency and negotiable shades of gray between public and private realms, yet in proposing territory as dynamically part of a housing ecology largely driven by market forces, it leaves the question open as to whether these forces can be ecological.

Programs:

1. Four to five story residential, parking below
2. Three to four story residential, parking  below
3. Two to three story residential, parking below
4. Two-story commercial
5. Charter school, residential above
6. School yard
7. Elevated subway, retail below
8. Retail below, cinema above
9. Outdoor recreation platform, parking below
10. Community center
11. Galleries, residential above
12. Daycare center, residential above
13. Mobile retail, residential above
14. Common residential amenities
15. Recreation street, overflow parking
16. Ecological learning center, residential above
17. Beach parking along street
18. Boardwalks to beach

Unit Flexibility

The base number of units within a 26-foot wide bay ranges from four units in the ocean side building to six units in the furthest land side building and ranges from studios to two bedroom  units.  The prefabricated concrete frame structure and wall panel system allow unit expansion both vertically and horizontally.  The stair core, which serves two bays, also contains vertical shafts for all utility risers with short distribution runs to bathrooms and kitchens.

Generative Voids

Given the base distribution of units which are oriented either ocean side or land side, cross ventilation and light to each room is achieved by voids within the mass of each housing band.  The floor of the voids is owned and occupied by the adjacent unit while the space above is common to allow light and air into upper units.  The voids are a space of negotiation between neighbors.  For larger configurations, the voids can become the sole domain of a single homeowner.

Split Horizon

The horizon has a powerful presence at Arverne.  The stepped section of the housing bands allows the upper units to view over the roofs of adjacent units toward the expansiveness of the ocean and simultaneously into the immediacy of the voids.  From within the void, the sky is framed by the units above.

While Housing Ecologies proposes a target density of 28 units per acre over approximately 30 acres of land, it is driven by a logic of unit flexibility. The proposal anticipates the possibility of an increase or decrease in density in response to factors including fluctuation in household size, the frequency of homeowner relocation (approximately every 6 years in the US) and the economic ability and desire of the owner to expand or reduce their unit size. The prefabricated concrete frame structure and interchangeable wall panel system allow unit expansion both vertically and horizontally.

Considering the increased mobility, both social and physical, of the modern dweller, it becomes ever more difficult to determine who are the intended subjects of the standard unit of housing in contemporary Europe or the typical tract home in the United States. In either case, these dwellings are usually designed for a phantom “next resident,” someone who statistically conforms to the demand for housing, which is programmed by either the state or the market. The resale value of the American house regularly takes precedence over other priorities. Thus, the bedroom, rather than belonging to its current occupants, always pertains to some statistical “other” who will enact seductions there in the future.

– Richard Ingersoll