Dongwoo Yim (MAUD ’08) of PRAUD (Progressive Research in Architecture, Urbanism and Design) received an honorable mention for their design, the Greenhouse Transformer in the Harlem Edge/Cultivating Connections competition. The competition called for redevelopment designs of the decommissioned Department of Sanitation marine transfer station located in the Hudson River at 135th Street.
The Greenhouse Transformer is a typology for urban farming with the purpose of creating environments for learning year round within the community of West Harlem. The main goal is to integrate life cycle components of food production into a building that is also a catalyst for activity in the area and allows visitors to engage in the program in a more efficient way. To those ends, PRAUD introduced a transforming system that can provide various environments as nature. One of the things that restricts farming in a city the most is climate condition. Unlike in a farm land where developed irrigation systems are, urban farming should stricktly depend on natural climate conditions. Together with mechanical means, the system allows different types of climate so that climate conditions for urban farming can be more controlled.