SUBNATURE
Carmel, NYC Watershed Carla Lores | Michael Yarinsky
New York City’s Watershed is a site in crisis. Not only is there a larger demand for water due to the growth of the population, but due to further suburban development in upland areas, water catchment sites are not as hygienic as once thought. Within the Croton Watershed lies Carmel. This suburban town in Putnam County has large basins for water catchment integrated into a developed suburban community. The distributed system currently in place for the dispersal of sewage, though, has a very high risk of contaminating the watershed.
Based on a topological study using sand and cavities to represent the density and area of groundwater contamination risk, a landscape was generated. The areas that are highest upland have the highest ground water capacity and lowest contamination risk, and the areas downland have the lowest capacity and highest risk. This relationship is key to the remediation strategy, by creating a topography that channels e uent water to these specific sites. The exo-landscape is then populated with components that not only allow the material flow relationship but can also be modulated to allow for varying lighting conditions and the ability to contain soil and plants. This passive system is then activated by integrated pumps that draw sewage to biogas processing sites.
Using pastoral ideas native to the development of suburban landscaping, such as the sweeping vista, winding pathway, scenic overlook and grotto, we develop the landscape to be a desirable recreation site. Overlaid, layers of sewage, air, and water flow create a new material ecology within Carmel. Since the sites of highest contamination risk are protected, New York City’s Watershed is more protected than previously. Because the system is automated to deposit and process waste into the sites of highest capacity, the system as a whole has a larger capacity for sewage.
This project hopes to blur the boundary between what is considered clean and contaminated, synthetic and natural, and in doing so foster a modified suburban desire. This, through the intensification of existing conditions of a synthetic pastoral and the gizmo begins to challenge the boundaries that enabled the development of suburbia in the first place.
Crisis Modes: Intensive Design and Grasshopper Workshop
We are pleased to announce the schedule and lineup of speakers for the upcoming Crisis Modes Summer Intensive Design workshop. For more information, visit the workshop’s site.
Crisis Modes is a one-week intensive design workshop to be held in New York City from August 17-21.
The workshop will take place in a studio setting and will be devoted to exploring relational design strategies and digital design methodologies for speculative infrastructures. New York City, with its breadth of ecological and urban complexity and in particular its urbanizing industrialized waterways, will be the primary context explored.
The aim of the workshop will be to empower designers to negotiate the complex and data-rich environments that are available through professional mapping and information systems and to develop speculative design proposals through the use of computational techniques and methodologies. Participants will develop design interventions that address emerging ecological crises and opportunities found in New York ecologies of the present and near-future.
The format of the workshop will include daily intensive workshop sessions focusing primarily on Grasshopper, Rhino’s parametric design plug-in, and evening lectures and presentations from practitioners and experts in the fields of sustainability and computational design. The workshop will cover strategic workflows for data set analysis and mapping, complex rule-based geometries, as well as techniques for digital fabrication.
The instructors of the workshop are Michael Chen + Jason Lee [Crisis Fronts] & Ronnie Parsons + Gil Akos [Studio Mode | modeLab]. They have taught design studios, seminars, and workshops at institutions throughout North America, including California College of the Arts, Columbia University, Cooper Union, Cornell University, Pratt Institute, Princeton University, Stevens Institute, and University of Toronto.
The workshop will culminate in a public exhibition and opening event on the evening of Friday, August 21.
Details :
All interested students and professionals are encouraged to attend. All experience levels are welcome.
All participants are required to bring their own laptops. Trial software will be made available.
Workshop Location : Terminal Building | 11th Ave at W 26th St. | Chelsea, Manhattan.
Workshop Hours : 9AM-6PM followed by events listed below.
*Pricing Includes Material and Fabrication Costs.
Schedule :
2009.August.17 | Evening Question + Answer : Riverkeeper | Public Event. 7PM.
2009.August.18 | Evening Screening : “The City Concealed” + “Heart of Gowanus” | Greenpont Video Project | Evening Presentation : Natalie Jeremijenko | NYU xDesign Environmental Health Clinic | Public Event. 7PM.
2009.August.19 | Evening Presentation : “Dining By Design” | Zach Downey | Applied Technology Group at SHoP + designalyze | Public Event. 7PM.
2009.August.20 | Evening Presentation : Dan Sakai | Diller Scofidio + Refro | Highline Walking Tour. 7PM.
2009.August.21 | Cocktail Hour with conversation and work on display. Public Event. 7PM.
2009.August.22 | Gowanus Canoe Trip for interested attendees | Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club | Free Event 1PM.
Dates :
2009.June.05 | Crisis Modes Workshop Announced.
2009.June.22 | Registration Opens.
2009.August.09 | Registration Closes.
Sponsors:
Crisis Modes : Protocols + Future Ecologies
Crisis Modes is a one-week intensive design workshop to be held in New York City from August 17-21.
The workshop will take place in a studio setting and will be devoted to exploring relational design strategies and digital design methodologies for speculative infrastructures. New York City, with its breadth of ecological and urban complexity and in particular its urbanizing industrialized waterways, will be the primary context explored.
The aim of the workshop will be to empower designers to negotiate the complex and data-rich environments that are available through professional mapping and information systems and to develop speculative design proposals through the use of computational techniques and methodologies. Participants will develop design interventions that address emerging ecological crises and opportunities found in New York ecologies of the present and near-future.
The format of the workshop will include daily intensive workshop sessions focusing primarily on Grasshopper, Rhino’s parametric design plug-in, and evening lectures and presentations from practitioners and experts in the fields of sustainability and computational design. The workshop will cover strategic workflows for data set analysis and mapping, complex rule-based geometries, as well as techniques for digital fabrication.
The instructors of the workshop are Michael Chen + Jason Lee [Crisis Fronts] & Ronnie Parsons + Gil Akos [Studio Mode | modeLab]. They have taught design studios, seminars, and workshops at institutions throughout North America, including California College of the Arts, Columbia University, Cooper Union, Cornell University, Pratt Institute, Princeton University, Stevens Institute, and University of Toronto.
The workshop will culminate in a public exhibition and opening event on the evening of Friday, August 21.
Details :
All interested students and professionals are encouraged to attend. All experience levels are welcome.
All participants are required to bring their own laptops. Trial software will be made available.
*Pricing Includes Material and Fabrication Costs.
Dates :
2009.June.05 | Crisis Modes Workshop Announced.
2009.June.22 | Registration Opens.
2009.July.05 | Early Registration Period Closes.
* Early Registration Period extended to 2009.July.22
2009.August.09 | Registration Closes.
Sponsors:
For more information see modeLab.