James Pressly

New York, NY USA

C L U S T E R S

We got to the site expecting to see the shell of the brick structure, a stoic icon of the industrial revolution, still intact.  Instead it had been demolished and its material components separated and piled around the site.  Bulldozers cleared paths between the clusters of timber, brick and steel.  This act of destruction and the subsequent organization of the detritus gave a radical new potential for the site and how it relates to its surroundings.  We took this surprising find as inspiration for this proposal. 

We decided to draw paths through the site and organize housing, retail, storage, gardens and parking into shipping container ‘clusters’ along these paths.  These clusters respond to environmental conditions, views and circulation through the site.  Below ground we create a level of parking and storage which serve the various dwellings above.  Stacked above the storage containers and piercing the ground level are ‘bioremediation garden containers’ which remediate some of the soil excavated for parking.  

Above ground, three distinct clusters emerged throughout the design process.  One provides housing for students of nearby Rutgers University, supplemented by communal bathrooms, laundry facilities, study rooms and common areas.  The second cluster accommodates multi-family dwellings and retail.  The third cluster includes hotel, retail and office space.