Columbia GSAPP — Full Studio 2025
Site: Manhattan, NYC
Booklet – Team Work (Violeta Masttronardi & Mi Zhou)
Design – Individual Work
Instructor: Gordon Kipping
The Elements of Sustainability studio begins with a simple premise: architecture must become an active part of the climate solution. Buildings account for nearly 40% of carbon emissions in the United States, and the studio aims to equip designers with the knowledge to address this reality. Drawing inspiration from Rem Koolhaas’s Elements of Architecture, the course reinterprets traditional architectural “elements” through an ecological lens—shifting from walls and floors to sustainable fundamentals such as façades, materials, air movement, temperature control, and plant systems. Each student pair researched one element, tracing its global history and projecting its future role in sustainable design.
Within this framework, Violeta and I developed the booklet on Air Movement & Temperature Control, examining how airflow, thermal regulation, and environmental forces have shaped buildings across time. Our research examines both the historical lineage and the innovative strategies required today, laying the conceptual foundation for our subsequent design proposal at Pier 76.
Project Context & Intent
Pier 76 sits on Manhattan’s Hudson River waterfront and historically functioned as an NYPD tow pound rather than a public-facing asset, resulting in decades of underutilization despite its prime location. Following its transfer into the Hudson River Park system in 2021, the site now stands as a large, open steel-frame platform without clear long-term programming, suspended between former industrial use and future civic potential. Current planning interests emphasise public benefit, environmental responsibility, and context-specific development rather than generic commercialisation.
This atlas is created to re-read Pier 76 through data-driven urban investigation, using layered mapping of transportation networks, residential sensitivity, nighttime activity, noise exposure, and environmental vulnerability. Rather than proposing an immediate architectural form, the research seeks to identify spatial tensions, reveal hidden opportunities, and provide evidence-based direction for future adaptive reuse. The goal is to reposition Pier 76 not as a vacant leftover space, but as a strategic waterfront threshold capable of supporting new civic, cultural, and time-adaptive public programs that align with community needs, policy frameworks, and sustainable development ambitions.
Layered Urban Mapping & Spatial Findings
Data Source
• NYC Open Data — Department of City Planning (DCP)
• NYC Department of Buildings (DOB)
• NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH)
• NYC Department of Transportation (NYC DOT)
• NYC 311 Service Request Database
• Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) — Transit Network & Stations
• Hudson River Park Trust (HRPT) — Pier 76 Legislation & Site Information
• U.S. Census Bureau — Demographic & Housing Data
Fluid Pier: Civic Metabolism on the Hudson
From Analytical Mapping → Spatial Strategy & Programmatic Framework
