Lower East Side Resilient Design Center

UVA SoA | ARCH 3010 | Fall 2020

VERTICAL MOBILITY Learning Through Working at the Lower East Side Community Trade School

Section [Ripple]

[Oliver Church]

The terms resilience and sustainability are often talked about, and for good reason — climate change is an increasingly important factor affecting the built environment, particularly with sea level rise threatening coastal cities around the world. However, despite the strong evidence that these threats will only become more significant and widespread, they are often disregarded in the design and construction of buildings, especially in areas that are not already deemed “high risk” This project proposes a prototype solution to this design challenge, through a modern-day adaptation of the traditional trade school in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The trade school both teaches methods of resilient construction and provides a living example of those methods in action — in it, the students can be an active part of the process as the building adapts and is adapted to changing environments.

Oliver Church [3]

01 A NEW YORK CITY ATLAS I was interested in examining the relationship of NYC to its extensive coastal areas through the lens of the past — How have patterns of construction and new development been located near the coast? The present — How are these coastal areas used and how do they relate to the transportation networks of the city? And the future — How are we expecting this coastline to change over time as climate change and sea level rise are increasingly vital concerns? These factors were considered at scale of the larger NYC region and two specific neighborhoods: first the Sheepshead Bay area of Brooklyn, and then the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

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Projected Sea Level Rise in the Sheepshead Bay area of Brooklyn, NY

(NOTES) Initial studies were conducted for an assigned atlas “tile� in Brooklyn, and then moving forward I applied the same framework to our final site in the Lower East Side

Oliver Church [5]

02 AN ALMANAC OF CONNECTIVE TISSUES Using the previous mapping exercise as a starting point, I layered geographic information, precedent images, and grids, experimenting with three types of drawing simultaneously: Map, Section, and Plan.

I was intrigued by the diagonal “cut� through the regular urban fabric formed by the Manhattan Bridge, which extends directly towards my site at the intersection of Bowery and Canal St. I began to explore how this idea of a diagonal cut might be translated into the section of my building.

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Inset of my final collage, showing the layering of Map, Section, and Plan in one drawing

(NOTES) I looked Weiss + Manfredi’s Diana Center at Barnard College in Manhattan as a precedent for this concept of organizing a building sectionally around a diagonal “cut.” This precedent section (taken from LTL’s Manual of Section) is in my collage above.

Oliver Church [7]

03 FROM FRAME TO PLANE I began experimenting with how I could incorporate a diagonal cut in section with other elements of the building: structure, circulation cores, street access, facades, etc.

I imagined the diagonal cut as a form of both visual continuity and circulatory access between levels, connecting the subterranean subway station to the rooftop.

I tested multiple iterations of how the vertical circulation cores could interact with the diagonal cut, and began to explore how I could create the illusion of a building “lifted� off the ground by keeping the street level largely open.

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View from the NE, showing early ideas for the Bowery facade, locations of cores, and positioning of strategic lightwells to bring natural daylight into the more enclosed northern side of the building.

Oliver Church [9]

04 GRAVITY + LIGHT(NESS) Continuing my focus on the idea of a diagonal cut organizing the building in section, I explored areas of solid and void in the structure, using both casting and additive modeling methods. I experimented more with “lifting� the upper floors off the ground to create an open plaza at the street level, and considered how the diagonal space could bring light to the center of the building.

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Above: Final cast model At left: Sketched section perspective overlaying floorplates, facade membrane, and programmatic ideas

Oliver Church [11]

05 LOWER EAST SIDE RESILIENT DESIGN CENTER—a project at the (inter)section of culture, public enjoyment and community After focusing on coastal conditions and sea level rise in the initial mapping exercise, I was interested in pursuing a programmatic focus for my trade school that would help address this threat of climate change. This issue is increasingly important for our time; however, many of the potential design solutions for creating resilient buildings, neighborhoods, and cities are underfunded, underused, and underexplored — in both NYC and cities all around the world.

This goal led me to the trade of resilient construction, training students and workers in how to practice design and construction methods that are sustainable and enable structures to withstand the threats posed by changing environments around them. The building is divided into two major programmatic areas: the trade school itself, and an education center for the general public to come and learn about issues of resilience and sustainability. These two areas are mediated by an exchange space which separates and connects these halves as it forms a continuous diagonal cut from the street entrance up to the green roof terrace. These programmatic areas have a symbiotic realtionship, as the education center provides additional resources to the trade school students, and the trade school workshops provide the visitors to the center with a live look in on work that is being done in the field.

Beyond just teaching resilient and sustainable construction methods, the building itself is imagined as a living example of

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those practices. The trade school’s design incorporates a number of resilient strategies — in its approach to the management of stormwater on the site, its facade, its structure, and the programming of spaces at street level and below. However, the design also recognizes that part of resilience is designing for adaptation: we cannot know how conditions will change in the future, and thus must be prepared to change in response.

Thus, this project is more than just a place for the training of future workers in resilient construction. Even though this site between Bowery, Canal St, and Elizabeth St. is not in imminent danger from the threat of sea level rise, much of the rest of NYC (and other coastal cities around the world) is. This project is intended as an example — and hopefully part of a larger movement — of how design can be more effectively used to address this challenge.

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2 At left: The two major programs mediated by the diagonal exchange space Above: Situated in the site At top: Isometric in context

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Oliver Church [13]

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(NOTES) Underground levels (not shown above) contain additional workshop and storage space, as well as subway station access to the proposed 2nd Ave. line extension. Lowest level contains collection reservoirs for stormwater overflow (explained in more detail on pp. 18-19)

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1. Atrium 2. Auditorium 3. Library 4. Cafe 5. Kitchen 6. Workshops

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7. Classrooms 8. Meeting Rooms 9. Faculty + Administrative Offices 10. Workplace Resource Center 11. Exhibit Space 12. Green Roof Terrace

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Above: Single-story parking garage adjacent to the Elizabeth St. frontage is turned into a public plaza + park, extending the retention pond system at ground level

Diagram showing permeable areas on the ground floor and on the green roof terrace. System of retention ponds at ground level use natural wetland plants to filter water, helping slow the flow of water into the city’s storm drain system.

When dry, these recessed areas become places of pause and gathering.

(NOTES) For more detail on the operation of this water retention + filtration system see pp. 18-19

Oliver Church [15]

(NOTES) For more detail on the facade system see p. 20 Section cut marked as Section D-D on site plan on p. 15

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Section looking North The diagonal cut provides a circulation route and natural light access into the center of the building, as well as engaging the two complementary programs.

The facade louver system is detached from the floorplates and extended beyond the curtain wall envelope, providing protection in the event of a hurricane or other major storm

Oliver Church [17]

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2 This diagram sequence details how the building is designed to deal with flooding and water management for weather events of varying severity [18]

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4 (NOTES) These strategies for future adaptation are discussed further on p. 21

Oliver Church [19]

Elizabeth St. Elevation

Bowery Elevation [20]

At left: proposed current isometric is proposed as a starting point in the lifecycle of the building — not the final destination

Imagining a future for the Lower East Side where these principles of resilient design begin to spread throughout the urban fabric

(NOTES) Resilience strategies that don’t take into account the possiblity of ADAPTATION in the future will ultimately be ineffective. Two examples of these adaptive strategies are incorporating structural redundance — to the extent that would allow for future vertical expansion (as shown above) — or designing for disassembly, allowing materials + components to be reused if the current site becomes unoccupiable. Which of these strategies is used should depend on what environmental threats the site is projected to face.

Oliver Church [21]

Above: View from Elizabeth St, looking across the public park — retention ponds doubling as a place of gathering At right: Approach from the Manhattan Bridge, looking across the Bowery

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Above: View out onto the rooftop terrace At left: Looking up through the exchange space Below: View from the main entrance, showing the open expanse of the building at ground level

Oliver Church [23]

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VERTICAL MOBILITY Learning Through Working at the Lower East Side Community Trade School JosĂŠ Ibarra Seth McDowell (Coordinator) Charlie Menefee Jeana Ripple Peter Waldman University of Virginia School of Architecture ARCH 3010 | Fall 2020

UVA SoA | ARCH 3010 | Fall 2020