housingfall 2020, GSAPP Core III Studioprojects
HOUSING AND TRASH INFRASTRUCTURE
NYC produces 22,000 tons of garbage every day, and has a complex network of trash collection, from the supers who haul garbage bags from the basement to the sidewalk, to the people who collect cans and bottles curbside to tender for money at collection centers. How could the infrastructure of waste management be incorporated into the architecture of a residential building
THE SOUTH BRONX
The department of sanitation (DSNY) mainly handles the residential waste from buildings, while private contractors handle much of the commercial waste in the city. The South Bronx has a disproportionate number of commercial waste carting sites, where commercial garbage is brought, consolidated and reloaded onto trucks to take out of the city. This increased traffic has often been cited as a contributing factor to high asthma rates, particularly in children, in the South Bronx.
THE TRASH ROOM
The project proposes a multi use housing project where the recycling process is at the center of the communal spaces of the building. Residential trash rooms and chute rooms are shared by everyone in a building, yet they are typically dark, dirty, poorly ventilated, and associated with odors and vermin. The chute room occupies prime real estate in the building, on the corner, a bright, well ventilated and maintained shared space where residents encounter one another while disposing of, sorting, exchanging, and reusing materials.
REUSE RECYCLE REDUCE
Shelving integrated into the glass façade displays objects produced at the recycling makerspace on the ground floor. The space breaks down, melts and reprocesses materials collected from the building into new objects and artwork. These objects return to the building, occupying the shelves of the chute room for display.