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What if the armory was a farm? Our F-Armory proposal aims to feed the surrounding community with year-round fresh, locally and sustainably grown produce. Located in the neighborhood of Kingsbridge Heights in the northwestern Bronx, our project reinvents the armory as the ground for the meeting of the urban farm and the “social condenser”, creating an economy, ecology, and event engine.
The farm’s goal is the creation of a circular, community-owned economy. Hydroponic towers distributed along elevated platforms in the drill-hall connect to an underground aquaponic system to support the growth of lettuce, tomatoes, and tilapia year-round. The distribution of tomatoes and lettuce to grocers and local businesses will constitute the main source of income for the farm while seasonal soil greenhouses on the top levels of the platform will help create a community supported agriculture program. In the basement levels, a Cannabis farm with material research labs will complement the F-Armory program above.
The social condenser programs are reinterpreted to unfold, interact, and superimpose as much as possible attempting to act as amplifiers of the site’s already vibrant urban fabric, as well as to support farm’s economy. The overlaps operate between the different programs, setting the groundwork for and enabling unexpected events to arise.