Archinect
David Flecha

David Flecha

New York, NY, US

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Entry Board
Entry Board

R.I.D.G.E.

HARLEM R.I.D.G.E.
Reprogramming Infra-Structurally Damaged Grid Extensions

Codex:  Instructional Manual for the Harlem Edge
Harlem has been defined through cycles of ethnic and urban shifts of the community to what is known today.  The evolution of Harlem has affected how we use public spaces to how the area should be developed; influencing how we utilize the urban grid. 
Using the historic grid of Harlem, RIDGE creates organization. The grid is taken into account, as well as public spaces, infrastructure, contours, adjacent neighborhoods, and the Harlem Edge.  Utilizing the grids, RIDGE creates a Codex, seeking connections with Harlem's history and culture. 

Connecting Harlem to the Edge
Existing Infrastructures have deprived the Harlem edge from effective development.  RIDGE establishes a visual connection, by utilizing the surrounding conditions, which converts the grid to the site, in the form of a codex, creating a visually extended grid. 

Component
The codex is manipulated in three ways, based on program insertion and location, creating architecture unique to Harlem edge. These manipulations symbolizes how Harlem renewed itself throughout the years.  RIDGE becomes the last layer of the site's dense infrastructure, a new idea of public activity intertwined with landscape, agricultural development, where the view and connection with the water is the main event.

Part I:  Transit Hub
The once abandoned Sanitation building will be refurbished and gutted creating a transit hub for the public.  Maintaining the facade creating a connection with the past and use of the site, and an interior which will create a similar language that can be noticed in the rest of the RIDGE.

Part II: Nourishing Community Center
The Nourishing Community Center provides programs to the neighborhoods to support environmental outreach.  Members of the community will be able to promote urban agriculture and advocate a green lifestyle with seasonal feeding and growing programs (in compliance with the Farmscape).   The center is made up of three areas.  The Nourishing Headquarters, which creates space for Junior Chef Programs, produce selling, and educational programs for the community.  The boardwalk provides connection between the Transit Hub and Farmscape.   The garden, which is a growing area in the form of a courtyard.

Part III: Farmscape
The Farmscape is the part of the RIDGE which creates public greenhouses controlled by Nourishing NYC.  They're one of the main features of the site for their members that go through their education.    Farmscape also creates breaks in the land which will have recreational activities creating a connection with Riverside Park. 


 

 
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Status: Competition Entry
Location: Harlem, New York