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.
Ecologies of Inequality
Urban Valves by Michael Chen and Jason Lee is published in Unspoken Borders, Ecologies of Inequality, published by the University of Pennsylvania.
Michael Chen and Jason Lee teach design studios and seminars at Pratt Institute. They both hold undergraduate degrees in architecture from the University of California at Berkeley and Master of Architecture degrees from Columbia University.
Michael Chen has taught design at Pratt Institute, Cornell University, Columbia University, and New Jersey Institute of Technology. He is a principal of Normal Projects, a multidisciplinary architecture and design firm based in New York and Los Angeles.
Jason Lee has taught design at Pratt Institute and Cooper Union. He is a partner at tentwenty, a multidisciplinary design firm based in New York.
COLLABORATORS
Gil Akos and Ronnie Parsons: studioMode and modeLab
STUDENTS
(2010-2011)
Gabriela Castro, Preston Church, Michael Dolatowski, Patrick Donbeck, Katherine Kania, Tai Li Lee, Younglee Lee, Carla Lores,Christopher McCormick, Vicky Perez, Arn Regencia, Hiram Rodriguez, Scott Segal, Insuk Shin, Michael Yarinsky. TA: Justin Snider
(2009-2010)
Ashkahn Bazl, Rebecca Caillouet, Zakiya Franklin, Sylvia Herrera, Mike House, Edwin Lam, Erik Martinez, Peechaya Mekasuvanroj, Victor Orriola, Roxanne Sadeghpour, Shawn Sims, Sean Stevenson
(2008-2009)
Jose Blanco, Joanna Cheung, Andres Correa, Ivan Delgado, Nick Garate, Allison Hoffman, Heidi Jandris, Kamilla Litvinov, Sebastian Misiurek, Jeos Oreamuno, Jun Pak, Anna Perelman, Cole Reynolds, Brad Rothenberg, John Seward, Jintana Tantinirundr. TA: Dorian Walther, TA: Elliot White
(2007-2008)
Katie Adee, James Baldauf, Leyla Dam, Asta Fivgas, Natasha Harper, Randall Hornung, Irene Huang, Jung Hyuck Im, Dimitris Kaprinis, Yohan Kim, Da Jung Lee, Danielle Meeks, Manny Padilla, Paul Stein, Stephanie Thomas, LeMarr Townsend
