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epidote
epidote
waste to energy/
recycling center/
mushroom farm
project with paola bokobsa
professor dylan baker-rice
pratt institute
spring 2021
The site gave an opportunity to create an industrialized nature by breaking down the dichotomy of human-built and natural habitat. The reinterpretation of sea caves as natural environments to architecturalized spaces created various moments of speculation. How can natural spaces be reshaped through architectural means?
Epidote aims to create a retreat from the city while being conscious of the constraints of time and environmental change. It is a space for reflection and introspection.
The mushroom farm located at the north end of the site serves as an allegory for the program at large. This farm acts as a contained ecosystem for Wallabout Bay while also being a part of the on-site production of mycelium panels.
The transitions between the masses, symbolize the link between the fragmentation in materiality and their volumes and connect back to a singular massing, shaping unique circulations.
Through overlapping of material fragmentations, a passive ventilation system was generated by these conditions in the enveloping walls. A lumber mill to the north of the site became a significant construction material source. Channel glass reveals the movement and activity through each programmatic space.
By using the program’s destructive and regenerative qualities, the project investigates the different conditions of architectural space and, or within, its natural habitat. In other words, the edifice instrumentalizes the intangible lighting and materiality of the sea cave. Public energy infrastructure intimately cohabits with Wallabout Bay, that which welcomes people into these new hybrid spaces and architectural formations between the ground and the water.
