Client
School Design Project
Overview
The Cross Bronx Expressway, conceived by Robert Moses and constructed between 1948 and 1972, is a 6.83-mile segment of Interstate 95 cutting east–west across the southern Bronx from the Alexander Hamilton Bridge to the Bruckner Expressway. As the first large-scale urban freeway in the United States, its routing through dense, predominantly low-income neighborhoods displaced thousands and exacerbated social and environmental injustices. Carrying over 184,000 vehicles per day, the expressway is a major source of greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions burdening adjacent communities. This project explored a unique intervention advocating for a harmonious coexistence between the highway and the neighboring community.
Client
School Design Project
Industry
Urban & Architecture
Service
Architectural Design
Industrial Design
Duration
4 Months
The Challenge
The Cross-Bronx Expressway (also called the CBE) is a sunken highway cutting through urban fabric with multiple under-bridge tunnels, causing large amount of greenhouse gas accumulation and noise pollution to the neighboring community. Coexistence is not compromising one to fulfill another. The challenge was to preserve an open and safe commuting condition for highway drivers while mitigating the environmental effects on its surroundings at the same time.
The Solution
We designed a carbon sequestration cyborg developed by AirCO, a conceptual company operating autonomously at the frontline of global warming, that integrates kinetic flexible structures, pneumatic systems, and saline crystallization process for capturing carbon dioxide from ambient atmosphere. The cyborgs are designed for stacking and multiplying on site to form a sound barrier with its pneumatic membrane and the rough surface formed by saline crystals. The cyborg is manufactured, assembled and stored at the modular and deployable AirCO factories within the highly polluted areas. Automatically deployed to the site and retrieved by drones when the carbon capacity is full, the cyborgs are recycled at the factory to retrieve carbon dioxide, a valuable resource for industries like urban farming, cement production, food industry and more, fulfilling the cycle of a sustainable business model and product.
The Result
Without pouring cement over the top of the highway to protect the neighborhood, AirCO provides an option for coexistence between the CBE and the surrounding neighborhood, reducing greenhouse gas and noise pollution and recycling wasted resources for a sustainable future in the city of Bronx.
