Urban Voids
Image Credit Ted Ngai
Role: Designer - Team Partner: Ted Ngai - Location: Philadelphia, PA
Prosperity and Growth: Our proposal is about a community effort to regenerate prosperity and growth. This is a low cost solution to the larger city-wide problems of vacant land. These greenhouses are sustainable through water and energy and can solve issues such as stormwater management and soil degredation.
Identifying Issues of Vacant Land: Cities with large amounts of vacant land are continually searching for ways to redevelop the area into more vibrant zones. The problem that Philadelphia has faced over the years is a lack of funding rather than a lack of vision. Our proposal attempts to create a small growth engine that only requires minimal initial investment.
Stormwater and Sewer: Philadelphia has faced problems with Combined Sewage Overflow. Our proposal accomodates this issue by collecting neighboorhood graywater into basement storage and using it for irrigation thereby reducing the load in sewage treatment plants.
Tax Generation: The biggest problem with vacant land is that it drags the real estate value of neighboorhood down and is non-tax generating. This becomes a big problem for the city and is unattractive to investors. By building greenhouses in these vacant lots, we can produce food for the community and generate energy.