The Suspended City
Published in SPACE Vol. 1 (Forthcoming)
2022 Evolo Competition Entry
Site: Manhattan, New York City
Team: Tianchonghui Fang
December, 2021
Published in SPACE Vol. 1 (Forthcoming)
2022 Evolo Competition Entry
Site: Manhattan, New York City
Team: Tianchonghui Fang
December, 2021
The Suspended City is a residential housing system consisting of a cable structure and wooden architectural
modules hanging from the cables. The system is levitated from ground traffic
and attached to existing skyscrapers. Overall, this proposal aims to create an
adaptive, eco-friendly system that serves as a solution to multiple urban
problems and challenges the current context.
In New York City and many other cities, the downtown area is overpopulated, and the amount of land fails to meet the growing demand. An opportunity lies in the unutilized space above the streets. The Suspended City makes use of this space while avoiding disturbing the ground traffic. It could be installed anywhere around the world with at least two supporting skyscrapers.
People who work in the existing skyscrapers could directly access their floating residence without approaching the ground floor and involving heavy traffic. Every three to six modular residential units cluster around a community hub. People accessing the Suspended City first take the cable cars to their community hubs on different levels, then use their private suspension bridges to arrive at their units. The community hubs provide large common rooms for the residents to gather. This spatial sequence promotes social interactions among neighbors.
In the renowned urban manifesto Delirious New York, Rem Koolhas described the blocks in Manhattan as isolated islands separated by the gridded network. Skyscrapers replicate the site dozens of times, and each floor becomes a distinct world. In this context, the Suspended City is a reckless intruder, breaking the gridded network and bridging the isolated island. It is not replicating the site. Instead, it spreads wooden cabins in the space above the streets, connected with suspension bridges, like treehouses in jungles. Instead of using straight-up-and-down elevators, the Suspended Cityuses a looping cable car system, usually appearing in mountain resorts. Contrasting to the “architectural lobotomy” of conventional skyscrapers, the Suspended Garden is transparent and honest, exposing its spatial organization and structure. The Suspended Garden is soft and messy rather than using rigid columns and slabs.
In New York City and many other cities, the downtown area is overpopulated, and the amount of land fails to meet the growing demand. An opportunity lies in the unutilized space above the streets. The Suspended City makes use of this space while avoiding disturbing the ground traffic. It could be installed anywhere around the world with at least two supporting skyscrapers.
People who work in the existing skyscrapers could directly access their floating residence without approaching the ground floor and involving heavy traffic. Every three to six modular residential units cluster around a community hub. People accessing the Suspended City first take the cable cars to their community hubs on different levels, then use their private suspension bridges to arrive at their units. The community hubs provide large common rooms for the residents to gather. This spatial sequence promotes social interactions among neighbors.
In the renowned urban manifesto Delirious New York, Rem Koolhas described the blocks in Manhattan as isolated islands separated by the gridded network. Skyscrapers replicate the site dozens of times, and each floor becomes a distinct world. In this context, the Suspended City is a reckless intruder, breaking the gridded network and bridging the isolated island. It is not replicating the site. Instead, it spreads wooden cabins in the space above the streets, connected with suspension bridges, like treehouses in jungles. Instead of using straight-up-and-down elevators, the Suspended Cityuses a looping cable car system, usually appearing in mountain resorts. Contrasting to the “architectural lobotomy” of conventional skyscrapers, the Suspended Garden is transparent and honest, exposing its spatial organization and structure. The Suspended Garden is soft and messy rather than using rigid columns and slabs.
