HBNY (Parenthetical Space) | SsD | Architecture

HBNY (Parenthetical Space) New York, NY SsD

The density of today’s urban environments is deceptive: while physically substantial, cities can be quite vacant in terms of actual occupancy. Transactions between peoples, places, and events accelerated by the internet have lent themselves to a nomadic residency that not only contributes to material, space, and energy waste but also to the spiraling cost of housing as stock is artificially diminished. HBNY posits a human-scale solution for this urban-scale phenomenon: operable parenthesis-like divisions allow 12 on-the-go users to territorialize their changing patterns of inhabitation and share the spatial resources of a single apartment.

Aluminum curtains provide parenthesis-like divisions of the open space so that users can temporarily customize their patterns of inhabitation.

Through the way lighting reflects against the mesh curtains, varying degrees of privacy can be created.

Mesh curtains can define paths as well as temporally frame spaces.

1. There are many urban areas where the residential density is apparently high… 2. However with the lifestyle of a new business-class urban nomad, such ‘high-density’ areas are only occupied less then one-third of the time… 3. With this low occupancy rate, what would happen if we created a system of residential sharing? There would be less material and energy waste and the artificial price of housing could be dropped.

As the users only touch down in manhattan briefly, the experience of the city must be maximized: the ”locker wall’ is set at a diagonal to open a wider cone of vision to the urban skyline.

More than a hotel, less than a residence: an interactive storage wall allows all the users to store personal items.

Horizontally adjustable ‘parenthetical shelving’ allows differing objects and uses.

PROJECT CREDITS:

architect Jinhee Park AIA (principal in charge), John Hong AIA (collaborating
principal), Erik Carlson, Andy Hong, Youngju Baik, Sadmir Ovcina,
Hyeyoung Kim, Anne Levallois

furniture and carpet design Jinhee Park, AIA mep engineer A&D Associates general contractor Capri Construction Management furniture design consulting & fabrication Um Project, Inc. custom carpets SHK Designer Carpets, Inc. photography Francis Dzikowski, ESTO

Big Dig House | SsD | Architecture

Lexington, MA 2006
[AIA/BSA Housing Design Award, Metropolis Magazine Feature, Boston Globe Arts Feature, Business Week Feature]

As a prototype building that demonstrates how infrastructural refuse can be salvaged and reused, the structural system for this house is comprised of steel and concrete discarded from Boston’s Big Dig utilizing over 600,000 lbs of salvaged materials from elevated portions of the dismantled I-93 highway. Planning the reassembly of the materials in as if it were a pre-fab system, subtle spatial arrangements are created. These materials however are capable of carrying much higher loads than standard structure, easily allowing the integration of large scale roof gardens. Most importantly, the project demonstrates an untapped potential for the public realm: with strategic front-end planning, much needed community programs including schools, libraries, and housing could be constructed whenever infrastructure is deconstructed, saving valuable resources, embodied energy, and taxpayer dollars

Within 2 days, the house is framed: reusing steel structure and roadway panels from the big dig has sped up this phase of construction from 2 weeks to 12 hours.

To minimize fabrication time and expense, the structural pieces were reused as-is.

Salvaged structural materials are left raw. The roof garden connects to the living room and utilizes harvested rainwater .
Window walls in conjunction with double height spaces bring natural light deep in the space while exterior overhangs shade summer sun.

 

construction sequence

PROJECT CREDITS:

architect
John Hong AIA /LEED, Jinhee Park AIA (principals in charge), Erik Carlson, Sadmir Ovcina, Chris Minor

structural design & construction
Paul Pedini, Jay Cashman, Inc.

structural engineer
Weidlinger Associates, Inc.

water management design
Cristina Perez-Pedini