COURSE: Urban Design Summer Studio I RESILIENT NEW YORK, 2023
Individual Work
INSTRUCTOR: Nans Voron, Sagi Golan
PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The Rockaway Peninsula typically utilizes only half of its coastal space for just a quarter of the year, as Rockaway Beach is home to the only two designated surfing areas in New York City.
The site is a new land created at one edge of the rockaway peninsula in New York. While the location offers significant advantages in terms of water accessibility, there is great potential to attract more tourists year-round, beyond just the summer months. This could also help generate additional economic benefits and create more job opportunities for local residents, many of whom are living below the Area Median Income (AMI) of New York City.
How can we transform the Rockaway Peninsula into a destination that serves residents and New Yorkers yearround, utilizing both sides of the peninsula?
WATER MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
system on the Rockaway Peninsula. A comprehensive water management strategy is proposed to slow and capture water throughout the site. Furthermore, the new tourist center will serve as a new public open space of the peninsula, strengthening the project's connection to tourists and residents.
CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL OF NEW EDGE
COASTAL SEDIMENTS PARKS
ACTIVATE
“In New York City, summer isn’t summer without Rockaway Beach. The beautiful new boardwalk is as strong and resilient as the Rockaway communities it serves, and it offers all New Yorkers more space to enjoy the sun and sand.”
— Mitchell Silver, commissioner, New York City Parks Department
Due to the opening of the Rockaway route of the NYC Ferry from Lower Mahattan, which brings in an average of 2,000 passengers on peak days in the Summer.
However, Rockaway peninsula is only using half of their coastal space for a fourth of the year. Here, we activate another edge, the "green edge", in order to attract a broader range of visitors year-round, not just during the summer season, and also providing locals with more open spaces. This would help mitigate the economic fluctuations caused by seasonal tourism and provide local residents with more amenities and job opportunities, ultimately fostering a more sustainable and thriving community.
Residential Area Entrance
Community Garden
Jamaica Bay
ROCKAWAY COMMUNITY GARDENS & FARMERS ORGANIZATION PREPARE FOOD RAISE FUNDS
Key Plan
This approach enables the design to integrate more seamlessly into the community while bringing benefits. Additionally, the inclusion of local vendors will help create job opportunities and generates revenue, contributing to the sustainability of the community farm.
The Scholars Academy Channel View School for Research
LOCAL VENDOR
In order to attract tourists come to the new edge. The versatility of mix-used tourism facilities ensures year-round functionality, attracting business travelers, leisure tourists, and local patrons.
Key Plan
The children's playground is thoughtfully designed to blend seamlessly with the natural beauty of the waterfront park while providing a space for children. Inspired by the coastal setting, the playground incorporates nautical and aquatic themes through its design elements, colors, and structures. Positioned near the waterfront, the playground serves as a vibrant attraction for tourists, offering a unique and family-friendly experience that enhances their visit to the park.
Mix-used Amphitheater Plaza
The amphitheater plaza will be used as a community outreach center and a major venue for gathering events such as the
When the season changes to winter, the plaza is changed into an ice skating rink . People can also enjoy the warmth of cocoa while watching the beautiful light show at Christmas.
Children's Playground
Poseidon Parade in the summer.
When the night shift in Summer, the plaza will be used to host the annual NYC Women Surfing Movie Competition and outdoor movie watching.
A SUSTAINABLE EDGE
The new edge respects local species and will be used to handle the flooding issue of the peninsula.
SERVICEBERRY
PIPING PLOVER
STRIPED BAS
FLOUNDER
Morone saxatilis
Charadrius melodus
Paralichthys dentatus
GREAT BLUE HERON
BLACK-EYED SUSAN
PENNSYLVANIA SEDGE SIGNAGE
SUBTLE PATH
Ardea herodias
Rudbeckia hirta
Carex pensylvanica
Amelanchier
From Canal to Cienega System
CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA
COURSE: Urban Design Spring Studio III WATER URBANISM, 2024
Collaborative Work as a Team of 4 Members
INSTRUCTOR: Kate Orff, Dilip da Cunha, Adriana Chavez
PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The Canal Del Dique connects the Cartagena Bay and Magdalena River. Its appearance was a sudden force that disturbed the natural balance amongst those two water bodies and interior cienegas. The canal opened the access of tremendous sediments running from the river to the bay and created edges between water and local communities.
Rather than a canal, we propose enhancing its cienegas as an ecology, culture and a thoroughfare, and we demonstrate the possibilities of this approach by working with the community of Pasacaballos at the mouth of the canal. We would apply multi-scaled cienegas composed of different urban infrastructures and vegetation to create triple-layered protection for communities and support local strength tones to combat contemporary economic extraction.
CANAL DEL DIQUE TO CIENEGA DEL DIQUE
Canal Del Dique connects Carribean Sea and Magdalena river, which is the main river of Colombia. The canal opened the access of tremendous sediments running from the river to the bay and created edges between water and local communities. The locals have been suffering from the injustice consequences of the industrial development by the Canal. To transform the canal into a cinega system again, we demonstrate the possibilities of this approach by working with the community of Passacaballos at the mouth of the canal.
Waterbody Greenland Watershed
NATURE = PUBLICNESS
In our first initiative, we believe nature contains power to enhance publicness in an area, so we are changing the water edge to the mangrove edge. The current water edge has so limited access to the public and so minimal existence of nature. More than an edge owned by private boat companies, it can be a mangrove edge. Sediment dredging from the canal will be utilized in land creation and made into local construction materials.
MANGROVE NURSERY
Mangrove Nursery
Red Mangrove
REDUCE FLOODING
Red Mangrove Typha Latifolia Pontederia cordata Manatee, Podocnemis lewyana
Wet Season Dry Season
IMPROVE ECOLOGY PUBLIC DOCK
REDUCE WAVE ACTION
After the recovery of mangrove, many local species will be re-introduced to the site such as great egret, manatee, and Magdalena turtle. NATURE = PUBLICNESS | View of Public Docks GREAT
EGRET HABITAT
MAGDALENA RIVER TURTLE
Podocnemis lewyana
MANATEE
Trichechus manatus
The mangrove nursery program allows residents learn from experts to plant and take care of mangroves, leading Pasacaballos to a more sustainable future.
Mangrove
Typha latifolia
COEXIST WITH WATER RISK
In the low ground area, residents will suffer from higher risk of flooding due to sea level rise. Therefore, our proposal aims to introduce elevated housing as an option for residents to confront the risk. The low ground area is free for mangroves to expand inward for holding tides and extreme rainfalls.
PURIFICATION + HOLDING TIDES
STREET VENDORS
BOAT TRANSPORTATION
Sediments Magdalena River
PROFESSIONAL ADVISERS
LOCAL PRACTITIONERS
OWN BRAND LOADING ZONE PROCESSING AREA
We practice on how the collective economy would contribute to the growth of local businesses. We reuse empty spaces on streets to create grids of fruit trees that belong to the neighborhood. Another concern we heard from the community is their seeking for feasible pisciculture with a low budget. And we see possibilities in a vacant land on high ground.
More than traditional pisciculture, it can be a production chain that initiates a collective production mode among community members.
FILTER CHANNEL
Oreochromis niloticus
PACKAGE
Filter Channle Drainage System
Staff Housing Fish Pond
Production
EDUCATE FUTURE
The community center will connect the ecology and preschool.Cienega here will be a book that exposes Children and their families to knowledge. They will learn how to care for the environment and themselves, and contribute efforts back to the community.
TRADITIONAL ARTS
COMMUNITY ACTIVITY
Runoff Collection
Ecological Cienega
Purification Pool
Outdoor Market Community Center
Cienega Park
Weelaunee Forest Healing Project
ATLANTA, GA
COURSE: Urban Design Fall Studio II Atlanta After Property Vol.3, 2023
Collaborative Work as a Team of 4 Members INSTRUCTOR: Emanuel Admassu, Jelisa Blumberg, Christin Hu
PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The history of Weelaunee forest dates back to the time when it was used as a plantation in the 1800s after the land of the Muskogee Creek people was taken away. The early 1900s saw the opening of prison farms, which brought back slavery through unpaid agricultural labor performed by inmates. has recently been the site of protests against what has become known as “Cop City.”
The proposed $90 million, 85-acre police training center is set to destroy parts of the forest and disproportionately affect residents of nearby majorityBlack neighborhoods. This has sparked widespread dissatisfaction among the community, who view the forest as an essential part of Atlanta’s green infrastructure.
The project's purpose is to give back the land to the community around and restore the deforestation area to forest again...
CAUSES OF DEFORESTATION IN ATLANTA
Suffered from brutal treatements and several abandonment, Weelaunee Forest has become a symbol of resistance, with activists camping on the site, organizing protests, and advocasting for the lang to be returned to the community for public use.
RECLAIM AND REIMAGINE
By repurposing reclaimed materials and natural pigments from the Weelaunee forest, this design strategy creates a temporary, community -driven space that honors the site’s history, ecology and empowers residents to reconnect with the land through art, education and shared experience.
Ensure that all interventios are temporary and reversible, leaving the forest largely undisturbed; Use hand tools instead of heavy machinery avoid chemical treatements and prioritize renewable resources.
Reuse Plantation for Farming : Learning Essential Skills for Sustainable Living
Collaboration for Ecological Restoration : Cleaning Creek and Picking Garbages
ART SALON
FAMILY OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES
Living in Harmony with Forest : Restore Trees Shelter for Camping and Site Tourists
