UN-DETAILING
Possibility Makers – A Flexible Carrier System Design
Exhibition | 2022 SZ-HK Urbanism\ Architecture Bi-City Biennale
New York City, the US
ADV Studio V, GSAPP, Autumn 2021
Academic Work
Mentor | Andrés Jaque
Group Members*| Qingyang Yu, Yinlei Pang
What can be done publicly with limited funding of $550 million?
The Shed gives one answer: It is a cultural center in Hudson Yards. It is mobilizing a huge amount of resources – $550 million, maintenance fee every year, and 11 years of development. The Shed is full of wheels, which makes it move, but also means additional cost. Architects and the developers of the Shed argue that the movements bring flexibility, as a way to brand, architecturally and culturally, the Shed to raise the price of properties in Hudson Yard. Politically, the Shed moves as a strategy to privatize public resources. Its real attitudes against the public are contradictory to its concept of flexibility and bringing diversity to the city.
In our project, we are counter-doing and constructing alternatives to the Shed with the funding limit that was invested for the Shed. But this one is intended to be, not only fictionally flexible but actually flexible. We are taking advantage of the existing rail system, and coming up with a new design of carriers traveling on it to offer flexible public space to people who really need it. This new carrier, Possibility Maker, uses mechanical systems learning from the Shed, but on a smaller scale and are used with different proposals, to unfold publicness as a means for collective emancipation, instead of occupying and privatizing public space.
When looking at the details of the Shed, we find it is full of wheels. Moving is a big thing for the Shed, but moving is also making things complicated, it means additional cost: The dynamic conditions will lead to thicker beams and more columns of the foundation, more steel materials in the deployable frame, and a more complex structural system. In fact, the total funding of the Shed $550 million is much more than those similar art institutions in New York City.
Here is the Possibility Maker. Each of them has an engine to support its transformations, and all the mechanical systems in the Possibility Maker learn from the Shed, but on a smaller scale and are used with different proposals. Instead of occupying and privatizing public space, the Possibility Maker is unfolding publicness as a mean for collective emancipation. The bogie system in Possibility Maker is to help it break the limits of rails and travel to every corner of the city. The kinetic system helps it to extend the interior space vertically to respond to different conditions. The toothed Wheel system opens both sides of Possibility Maker to let the space flow from interior to exterior. The drive wheel and roller system enables the shutter door on the back to be rolled up to open the interior space. The wheel and track system is under the roof in Possibility Maker, which allows the lights and projection to move and reposition them for different demands.
Possibility Maker is intended to be a non-profit and organic supplement to the city, capable of four major types of programs, and aims to serve those people who are really in need. Different from the Shed, Art is not seen as autonomous products here, but instead, intersectional paradigms. And these other groups of people are also welcomed with public services like education and training, environmental quality, daycare, legal supports, etc. Following are some sample renderings for each proposed program, which are produced as references for users, instead of instructions. The invention is intended to be flexible enough to transform based on what people really need.
Taking advantage of the existing rail system, we summarized three systems, within which all rails are connected. New carriers will be traveling on the rail system, and the new invention will be flexible enough to offer different types of public space to the whole city.
The carrier systems require three different management systems: under MTA’s management, cooperates with some NGOs, and one online to respond to immediate needs. During daytime hours, the cars follow the schedule of the subway system and stop at stations. Periodically, they converge on the railroad’s dead end to host events. At night, the carriers stop at the polluted waterfront while the water purification system is activated.
In total, we are able to produce 3000 cars with only half of the budget. The Shed provides an 18,000 SF public space, which can reach 35,000 SF when deployed. Possibility Maker can offer a 160 SF public space per car, which can reach 320 SF when deployed. When multiplying 3000, the numbers become 480,000 and 960,000 SF. Putting them into the same scale, it becomes an approximately 30 times comparison. Also,the Shed is not that flexible, but our Possibility Maker is much more flexible for various functions and is able to travel around the whole city.
