Symbiopia

New York, New York | 2012 | 200,000 sf | Competition | AIA Emerging New York Architect Award

Symbiopia is a prototype for urban areas where food can be hydroponically grown year-round in local self-sustaining facilities and distributed through existing networks of farmers’ markets, grocery stores, and community supported agricultural pick-up areas. In many cities around the world a community’s access to their waterfronts is interrupted by large infrastructure supporting regional transportation networks. Symbiopia attempts to address this issue by, not only using the networks to distribute the food being produced, but also by providing a multifaceted landscape offering access to the waterfront and a diverse array of programmed activity directly serving the adjacent community. The neighbourhood is a low income area with limited access to fresh food and economic opportunities. This proposal would symbiotically serve the residents, local economy, and environment by increasing access to fresh food and job opportunities while concurrently reducing the fossil fuels and need for large tracts of land associated with traditional farming methods.