— Hongbang Chen

Invasiveness

Design Studio 602: Envelope Stuffing

University of Pennsylvania | Instructor: Nate Hume | Partner: Tuo Chen | Fall 2021

We think architecture isn’t just about function but should go beyond function and program to be more poetic for new experience. Our project is called Invasiveness testing the idea of how nature and urban invading with each can bring new aesthetics and new special experience to the building. And also discovering the relationship between city and nature in Manhattan.

No form of matter is inherently subnatural; rather, relative to architecture, things become subnatural when it makes us question the dominant social role of architecture. For us, waste does not have any fundamental physical quality. Instead, it is a social category that we assign to specific types of social relations. In the book Purity and Danger, Douglas asserts that things, people and practices become dirty when they are “matter out of place,” So here, we say architectural spaces, elements, and materials that interlock and invade each other are matter out of places. These moments are when architectural invasiveness happened.

Material Study And Program

Our building programs are designed to propose a solution to the food waste problems in the US. Programs are arranged to be mutually beneficial as a cycle; the major parts are the food bank and the fertilizer production line with secondary programs like herb gardens, soup kitchen, library, lab, and market embedded into the building as public space.

Up-cycle

The building is designed to promote the reuse cycle of food waste for local communities through rich spatial interacting moments and interlocked program allocation. The public space is for people from the city interested in food waste reuse associated with herb garden, the theme exhibition and food-fertilizer libraries. Public spaces are arranged to flow along with arch-like separate pockets.

Looking Down In The Atrium

Library Corridor

Physical Model

The cutaway physical model revealing some of the inside spaces and also exposing structures. A series of physical model closeups showing the details and the hydroponic herb garden.