VertiFarm+
Part I: In the near future, automata and machines are expected to take over most of manual labor. In a future where production is at the mercy of artificial intelligence, Production+ Studio posed the question: now that there's more leisure to perform other activities, how will architecture shape a new program? Here, the designer tackled agricultural production in Newtown Creek, a highly industrialized waterfront zone between Queens and Brooklyn. The building is devised as a set of vertical, automated, circular farms that pack together into a carved mass. Conveyor belts transport seeds into its facilities, where packaging is made from organic material. The packaging serves the green products sold which span different types of crops and seeds. Production is maximized and carbon footprint is minimized through the use of LED lighting that provides only the necessary energy to speed up farming, hence the pink light. In the intersection between automatic production and the surreal experience of walking through a pink artificial forest, a new program of cultural, educational and recreational activities is proposed, surrounded by the machinist sublime.
Newtown Creek: A Post Sea-Level Rise Generative Speculation
Part II: As part of a Grasshopper workshop titled "X-Information Modelling", an urban design space was proposed for the same site, speculating on the future of the waterfront and how it would affect adjacent urban density. The design space model was proposed with an initial offset of Newtown Creek, which would subtract constructed area from the site. This area was then assigned in different operations to other parts of the same site, but considering density emerging around existing subway train stations. After automatically generating possible designs, the iterations were evaluated using Ladybug's Daylighting evaluation tool to measure performance.