My title is
‘A School of Conscience & Redemption – Fountain Avenue landfill cultivates
an ecological youth’. So I’m working on
a design for a special kind of school on a unique location, a landfill.
In this
presentation, I will introduce one day in the everyday life of a 14-year-old
and his 9 year-old sister. They live together with their single mom. Single
parent families is very common phenomenon in ENY, at least 28% of the families
in ENY.
Next, some
statistics on ENY.
We see that
ENY has higher proportions of black and Hispanic residents than Brooklyn or New
York City.
Also ENY
has a very young population, at least 34% of the people is below 18 years old. So
basically one third of the population is at the age of attending elementary
school or high school.
But despite
this young population, there are a lot of school dropouts. 43% of the residents
aged 25 and older, does not have a high school diploma. And only 8% has a
college diploma.
As a
result, in East New York about 30% lives below poverty line. And in some poor
areas, indicated in red, 50% of the people live below poverty line, with 32%
earning less than $15000 a year.
Back to the
school day… 7:04am.
7:05am!
Time to get up!
7:30am A
typical American breakfast. Parents in East New York usually leave early
because it takes a long subway ride to get them to their work. So the kids have
to take care of themselves, but there are always chips and biscuits at home and
McDonalds is just around the corner.
In East New
York there is 30% of obesity. This area overlaps almost exactly with the
existing food deserts in Brooklyn. Food deserts are areas with shortage of
fresh food.
Next,
7:55am. Time to take the bus to school…
… since
there are no bicycle lanes in East New York. Although in a radius of 6km, this
is the fastest transport system. So there is very much potential to introduce
bicycle lanes in East New York: the dotted line is a Studio Brooklyn
intervention by Pieter Vandenhoudt.
8:15am. The
bus reaches Fountain Avenue landfill. This is a very intriguing place. It’s a
great void in the landscape, with a misplaced road and an evenly grassed
surface. But actually, this is a huge pile of trash, 160feet high. Fountain
Avenue landfill was operational from 1961 until 1985 and received 8700tons of
waste each day.
The
decomposing waste creates methane gas. A network of pipes collects the landfill
gas after which it can be transformed and used as an energy source.
A landfill
is carefully capped with several layers and about 3feet of clean soil as a
topping. A study describes that the best way to build on a landfill is with
pile foundation, since this technique prevents the congestion of landfill gas
being trapped under the concrete floor slabs.
8:22am. The
bus arrives at the school. It is stretched out over the landscape, touching
both water and earth. This is a school of horticulture and has in its building
both an elementary school, which gives a more general schooling, and a high
school with a more colored education, such as agriculture, horticulture,
biotechnology, culinary courses, animal care, … The goal is to cultivate a more
ecological minded youth, introduce a healthier lifestyle and support the local farmers
market.
The
building is made up of 3 lobes connected by public functions, such as an
auditorium, a sports hall and a student restaurant. The first lobe in the north
includes agriculture, culinary courses and animal care. The second lobe
connects with the water and contains water biology, art courses using Jamaica
Bay and the Manhattan skyline as a source of inspiration, and central heating
and sanitary education that focuses on landfill-gas-to-energy. The last lobe in
the south houses the horticulture and biotechnology education, dispersing into
several greenhouses in the landscape.
In section,
the elementary school is situated on the top floor, letting the students
descend to the water and land as they complete their education. The building is
interpreted as a simple garage-like structure with cheap materials, such as corrugated
fiberglass and OSB.
Floorplan 0
Floorplan
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Floorplan
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Roofplan
8:30am.
Start of the lessons. The classrooms are 7 by 10m and have two glass walls for
maximum light. There are cupboards in front of the glass that can be filled
with attributes from every field of study.
Also the
configuration of the classroom shows what studies are held there, for example a
regular class configuration for elementary school, easels for the art studies,
biology lab, culinary courses, lab, animal care, …
The filled
cupboards really show the identity of the classroom. In this example you
clearly see the cupboard for culinary courses, art courses, animal care and
horticulture or biotechnology.
The outer
wall consists of corrugated fiberglass on the outside, a terrace of 1.5m and a
sliding window at the inside. The terrace functions as an intermediate climate
and can be used as a small vegetable garden with climbing plants growing over
several floors. In winter, this intermediate climate can be used as a buffer
zone for the cold, and in summer, it can be used as a ventilation area.
10:10am. A
healthy nutrition break, cultivated by the school.
10:40am.
Practical course in the greenhouses.
12:20pm. A
healthy lunch provided by the cookery school.
The goal is
to extend this school day until nighttime, providing a reflection on how a
school of horticulture can transform East New York and introducing the schools
additional function as a refuge in case of hurricanes.
