Areas
Symbiohaus
In the contemporary city, urban housing places the needs of the human inhabitant above the needs of all other species. Furthermore, it looks upon the resident as a temporary visitor, rather than an agent that fuels the prolonged life of its non-human inhabitants. The human is comforted by using resources, rather than contributing to cultivating them. Guiding this project is a focus on a narrative of life cycle transformations where the inhabitant and the building components fuse together over time in a mutually beneficial structure of sharing resources for nourishment and comfort.
The project argues for a symbiotic outlook on nature and society as an interwoven collective, inviting humans to cohabitate with mycelium, a decomposing agent with air purifying properties, while supporting a local social justice initiative. Compost from the building is directed into the poche space between the housing units where the mycelium feeds. Situated on the rooftop of a functioning UPS facility in Lower Manhattan, the urban massing recalls a dense urban fabric, with public, commercial, residential, and green spaces. In collaboration with the Center for Court Innovation, the project provides space interlocked within the massing for a Mental Health court – a justice initiative which seeks to offer fair sentencing and provides social services to offenders suffering from mental health challenges.