2022 COTE Competition

The Connected Farm is an intergenerational communal housing project which impacts it­­s residents by implementing self-sustainability through agriculture and the efficient utilization of resources. The Connected Farm is situated 15 miles off the coast of Maine on the island of Vinalhaven which is largely undeveloped and has a vast range of ecological diversity. The project site sits on 5-acres which acts as a connection point between this undeveloped land and the dense downtown district. This area is categorized by a humid climate with cold winters and heavy snowfall. It has temperatures ranging from 19 to 71 degrees. Some of the largest economies on the island are farming and fishing which brings the community together during their productive seasons.

The Connected Farm aims to address the opportunities present on the island such as shortage of sustainable housing, seasonal job instability, and insufficient resources such as internet access which leads to island flight for young individuals and generational disconnect for those aging in place. The solution is to create a community that is 100% self-sufficient to reduce housing costs, supply year-round income opportunities through agriculture and technology-based jobs, and provide a one stop-shop that promotes community and connection among all generations.

The farm connects to the existing grid which creates blocks on the site that are allocated based on the connection to the surrounding area and how production or people would circulate around the site. The buildings are placed on a grid designed for integration to facilitate socialization and agricultural production. 75% of the site is dedicated to agriculture which allows for 41,000 pounds of total food production and generates a 300% annual surplus. Each component within the agricultural system has a purpose and is designed to create a holistic cycle.

The farm creates a thriving community that promotes human connection among all generations by providing access to social spaces, technology, and a live-work environment. Throughout the site, there are multiple means of income opportunities through technology and agriculture which provides year-round food production and incentives to stay on the island.

The inspiration for this project came from the regional New England Connected Farmhouse. It was originally designed for agrarian reform and allowed New Englanders to have home-based industries while continuing to work on a centralized farm. With this concept, we designed a site which encourages a work, home, and play environment. The buildings are designed to be all-encompassing and are capable of producing income along with providing the comfort of home. The site accommodates housing for 96 residents with 24 ADA accessible rooms. Each building utilizes sustainable strategies to reduce energy consumption and water demand. Local materials are also used for affordability and reduction of the overall carbon footprint.

This site integrates agriculture and technology to foster a sustainable future for the residents of Vinalhaven. The Connected Farm plays a vital role in providing an end to social isolation and building a sense of community by bringing generations together and providing social and economic opportunities through the power of food.

The project is a 61-level megastructure (tower) with a primary program of food waste processing and food production. It is situated on Manhattan’s Gansevoort Peninsula, which protrudes into the Hudson River. Alongside other ancillary programs, the tower acts as a project that can mitigate social issues within the site and the Meatpacking District. 

Through the vehicle of a high-density mega-structure on a site that was formerly an incinerator and waste transfer station, the design project explores the role of human waste in addressing social justice, economic, and environmental challenges that face cities today and will become even more critical in future urban development.

As a site of industrial advancement and rich social culture, the Gansevoort Peninsula has allowed for the concept of food to bring together people of different age, culture, and sex. In an attempt to revive the authenticity of the Meatpacking District, the project hinges on food as a driving force to reestablish the lost connection between the locals and the neighborhood. To better support the role of food waste within a neighborhood, the project contains a mixture of potential programs that are split into three main components: food, infrastructure, and social.

Design Intention:

Gentrification and public ignorance are major driving forces behind the rapid changes that occur within the Meatpacking District. By locating a food waste center on site, we begin to question the efficiency of our food cycle and the waste byproducts. Instead of shipping off our waste, the project tests the feasibility of treating and processing our food waste within our own neighborhood.

By designing for waste, a relatively undesirable product, the project offers programs that encourage people into understanding the various issues at hand. Cross pollinating relevant programs gives occupants a chance to directly interact with the waste cycle. By providing food and entertainment, occupants would be able to fully understand their role within the food cycle and how they can further contribute. 

Within each of the six modules, various food related programs are integrated for occupants to experience various cuisines, entertainment, and food productions. By offering a centralized space for these interactions to occur, locals would establish a sense of connection and identity within the food waste cycle. The southern atrium acts as an anchor point for the occupants to enjoy their activities, while the architectural components of structure and building envelope support helps reinforce a more dynamic environment.

System of Net-Zero:

As society calls for decrease in food waste, and efficiency in food production/transportation, the main sustainable objective of the project is to design a building that achieves zero waste. Each level and module consist of various systems (wastewater filters, bio-digesters, hydroponics, and industrial farming) that play a role in creating a net zero food loop. Leftover food from restaurants would be distributed to local food banks for locals, in an attempt to lower the amount of wasted “food scraps” that restaurants won’t serve. Not only would the building strive for net-zero, but also contribute to creating a net-zero Meatpacking District.

As an integral part of the food system, water is a valuable commodity. By collecting rainwater and creating a greywater system, the water can be filtered through a cycle of irrigation and hydroponic system for food production. Greywater which turns into blackwater would be filtered into the wastewater system and directed into biodigesters, where energy and fertilizers would be generated. The usage of food waste and bio-digesters help implement net-zero beyond just the building. The in-house electrical and methane productions help alleviate the need of outside energy and overall operation cost. By taking in food waste from all of the Meatpacking District, the building would serve as a local source of electricity and methane production.

In addition to the energy produced by the bio-digesters, biodigester innately produce large amounts of heat to process the food waste. Heat from the digester can be captured for centralized heating. In addition to the bio-digesters, the operable facades also offer opportunities of controlling solar heat. Capturing solar heat gain from the southern atrium helps alleviate the heat loss throughout the rest of the module

Social Incubator:

Designing performance chambers within each module allows for occupant to participate in various performing arts. Each chamber with its own stage configurations allows for greater flexibility in entertaining the occupants. In addition to educating the occupants on the food cycle, providing a source of local entertainment attempts to improve on the general well being of the locals and visitors.

Tumi is a proposal for an Arctic greenhouse in Ikaluktutiak, designed for the Inuit community of 1700 inhabitants living beyond the Arctic Circle, at 69 degrees of altitude, in the extreme climate of Nunavut. Tumi, footprints that evoke the traces left by everyone among the vast tundra of the Canadian North. Like small accumulated and textured deposits, each occupant leaves marks of their passage, creating a real tactile network evoked by small spaces in the village, as close to the public and gathering spaces as they are to the industrialized and less frequented areas. Moving toward the downtown area, each occupant can gather in adaptable shelters designed from the abandoned containers in the four corners of the community for protection from the wind, cover from the rain, gather with neighbors, share traditions, and store meat after hunting and fishing. By adding to this the reuse of materials present on the territory of the city, we minimize the ecological footprint of the project while allowing a respectful insertion in the image of the Inuit culture.

The residues left by the maritime importation are gradually densified to form a community pole of 5200 square meters in the old ice arena in the center of the city. Like an accumulation in the environment, the containers are humbly integrated through the existing metal structure, bringing back the playfulness to the abandoned arena. Painted in the biophilic colors of the village, these livable textures bring joy, curiosity and light to this very cold climate. Proposing a program to achieve food independence while improving community well-being, the project creates spaces for sharing and learning about healthy, agricultural and traditional Inuit food using recycled containers.  Through addition, superposition, inclusion, and interpenetration, containers from across the city positively alter the purity of a pristine building to form a huge greenhouse. Both conventional and confined, it will allow local food autonomy to integrate healthy consumption habits, to compensate for the decrease in hunting, to increase the resilience of the Inuit people while fighting the food insecurity that is present in this Nunavut community.

The reuse of existing materials, the flexibility of the spaces designed by the recycled containers, the possibility of spatial and formal appropriation and the various transitions between the exterior and the interior, Tumi becomes a centralized place that allows wonder, sharing and transmission of knowledge. Inside this pole of exchange and transmission of knowledge, a huge greenhouse occupies most of the space, offering occupants the possibility to actively participate in all stages of healthy eating. A kitchen, a dining room and a rest area are available for citizens to prepare and share various meals. The project also contains a butcher shop with associated spaces near the main entrance for cleaning, butchering and storing meat. The integrated functions focused on agriculture, hunting and fishing and local culture and complementary to those of the community promise a temporal sustainability of the site’s use, both on a daily scale as for years to follow.

The design is aimed at creating safe shelters and rehabilitation for the homeless under the Flyovers of Austin. The chosen site covers one such portion of the unused area under the flyover of over 68,000 square feet. In Austin, Texas incoming tech companies have led to many workers moving into the city leading to rising real estate prices and thereby rendering many people from the lower-income homeless.

Another overarching problem that the country is dealing with is the amount of plastic that is being dumped in the oceans. The floating mass of plastic that is twice the size of the state of Texas in the Pacific Ocean led to the research of using plastic as a building material.

Plastic panels and used steel scaffolding are hence used as a building material in the project. Apart from shelters for the homeless, pop-up clinics, cafeterias, workspaces, volunteer kiosks, a public gallery showcasing the history of the city, the country’s struggle with plastic and its use in the site, and small-scale recycling plants make the project self-sustainable. It also serves as an important education tool not only to the inhabitants but the visitors as well. Workspaces with required infrastructure serve the educated sections making up the homeless as useful resources while seeking jobs. Volunteer kiosks can be used for goodwill distribution of goods, to organize free workshops for the users, and various other purposes that will help bring the public and the homeless together. This is an important step in instilling trust in the homeless and giving them a role in the betterment of society.

The borders of the site are mounted with small billboards which serve the dual purpose of maintaining the privacy of the homes from the roads but also as an important source of revenue from the advertisers to maintain the site. Plastic from the neighborhoods is collected from the surrounding neighborhoods by the homeless and brought back to the site to segregate and either recycle to sheets on a smaller scale or distributed to larger recycling sites.

Numerous energy-saving strategies like heat pumps, kinetic tiles, water recycling, solar panels, solar tubes, and passive cooling methods are used to further the self-sustenance of the site. At the neighborhood level, ATES (Aquifer Thermal Energy Systems) is proposed at various spots to save heat underground. This can be used during the winters to power not only the site but the neighborhoods as well.

This project’s goal is to transform what is considered waste into useful elements in society. It is an attempt to transform the derelict into desirable.

Anuri, wind. A force coming from the north that guides and sculpts the landscape by its continuous presence in the arid territories of the Arctic. A linear flow, by its constancy, shapes the soft and enveloping curves of its environment. Uqumuujuq, which translates to travelling with the wind, is a tribute to this organic beauty by exploring the complementarity between regularity and irregularity, linearity and organicity.

The project uses the elements of this extreme climate to contribute to the food sovereignty of the community of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. The program of approximately 5300 square meters combines the production of agricultural and local products, promoting the exchange of new and traditional knowledge, mainly transmitted by the elders. The local inhabitants are invited to participate in the creation of a fresh, healthy and diversified food offer through greenhouses, cooking, butchering and sharing spaces.

Uqumuujuq gently and warmly surrounds the preserved skeleton of the Cambridge Bay existing arena and retains its vocation as a gathering place for the community’s inhabitants. The addition consists of an angled structure that, through the repetition of its elements, creates a curve following the path of the sun to optimize its capture while creating areas sheltered from the wind. The food system, the mechanical and recovery systems, and the circulation through the project are all designed around the loop thus created. It accompanies the user through the various stages of greenhouse production, from germination to sharing a meal, from preparation to recuperation. Uqumuujuq guides the residents of Cambridge Bay along this loop of sharing and enrichment.