Testbeds is giving discarded architectural mock-ups new life in New York's community gardens

2022-12-08T12:13:00-05:00

A new project from New York-based duo New Affiliates is making headlines in the Queens neighborhood of Edgemere, where architects Ivi Diamantopoulou and Jaffer Kolb have invented a radical new way of reusing one of the design processes’ most wasteful customs – discarded architectural mock-ups.

With the help of Columbia GSAPP doctoral candidate Samuel Stewart-Halevy, the pair have begun a pilot program called Testbeds that takes the temporary structures and repurposes them as toolsheds for community gardens around the city.

Previously on Archinect: The Founders of NY-based New Affiliates Discuss How Their Love for Arguing Betters Their Work

Beginning with the generally underserved neighborhood located on the Rockaway peninsula, Testbeds has been experimenting with a new way of adapting the notion of a “circular economy” into the built environment. The program got off the ground in 2018 with the blessing of officials from the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation's GreenThumb program, u...

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Testbeds is giving discarded architectural mock-ups new life in New York's community gardens