F.A.T-Camo-Performo

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F.A.T-Camo-Performo

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Government + Health › City Hall

We are at a moment in history where Post-War Architecture is more important than ever. Within this project, we have opened up a research effort to begin to think about Post-War Architecture and how it could potentially be re-evaluated within a new cultural model, given it has been 50-60 years. The research effort includes many of the prominent Post-War Architectural icons and from within this rich pool, we decided to select one in particular to redesign.

The UN-Headquarters in NYC, historically was a design-by-committee approach and it carries through with that tradition in its current formal proposal. We felt it is important to reach out to sustainable and structural engineers to collaborate with, because of the nature of the project. The project called for increasing the total square footage, as well as, the building to perform at higher thresholds by using its positioning in the world to collect energy. The constraint of not being able to build vertically, forced us to re-think how we can expand the building program in a different direction, in this case North^West< and East>.

By expanding the high-rise in the northern direction via air-rights, and expanded the building in the east and west via a drape from the facades onto the surrounding buildings, we are able to produce a roof that incorporates public space. Through these two basic moves, we have been able to increased the usable program for the UN building by 30 % and increased the public program by 40 %. In the process, incorporating a vital sustainable strategy, and more importantly, injecting a new iconographic presence within both the the UN Headquarters and the city skyline that is dominated by vertical axis structures.