The project began with an interest in the use of steel revolving around lower Manhattan, specifically scaffolding.
Scaffolding essentially is a cheap alternative for building owners to prevent debris from falling off disrepair building’s facades onto the walkway following the birth of Local Law 11 after an accident in 1979 and has incrementally increased ever since. The most prolonged standing scaffolding lasted for 23 years, making it a “permanent” element in the streetscape as opposed to its “temporary” appearance.
In an iterative manner, my scheme envisions a different future for these “unwanted” fallen debris and retiring scaffolding materials where instead of sending them to the waste field, they can be adaptively reused in the only vacant site on Fulton Street. Ultimately, in a low carbon emission way, building a Union space for Lower Manhattan’s labor workers in providing food, medical, and physiology services; substantially contributes to one small sector of the built environment’s circular economy.
