PLATH. ARCHITECTURE

2035 WINNER OF THE URBAN LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AWARD

This is the space to introduce visitors to the business or brand. Briefly explain who's behind it, what it does and what makes it unique. Share its core values and what this site has to offer.

THIS IS THE SPACE TO INTRODUCE VISITORS TO THE BUSINESS OR BRAND. BRIEFLY EXPLAIN WHO’S BEHIND IT, WHAT IT DOES AND WHAT MAKES IT UNIQUE. SHARE ITS CORE VALUES AND WHAT THIS SITE HAS TO OFFER.

OUR EXPERTISE

LEARN MORE

ECOLOGICAL DESIGN

PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE

RESIDENTIAL LANDSCAPE PLANNING

GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE & PARKS

OUR PROJECTS

VIEW ALL

URBAN GREENHOUSE

SKYLINE GARDENS

CENTRAL TRAIN STATION

WESTSIDE RESIDENTAL COMPLEX

WE PLAN, WE BUILD, WE DELIVER

This is the space to introduce visitors to the business or brand. Briefly explain who's behind it, what it does and what makes it unique. Share its core values and what this site has to offer.

Farms Feed Cities

New York is ringed by a vital ecosystem of farms that feed markets and restaurants. Rural production is braided to urban consumption. Treating farms as infrastructure means seeing growers, soils, water, and homes as one connected system of public health and resilience.

Energy, water, and extreme climate events stress both fields and neighborhoods. Thin margins meet gaps in safe, dignified homes for the people who keep food moving. If farms are critical infrastructure, then farmworker housing, and the materials we build it with, must be too.

Our studio treats farmworker housing and bio-based materials as critical food infrastructure. We focus on two linked sites: the Chester Agricultural Center and urban farms across NYC, reading them as one foodshed.

About

To act, we first had to understand...

What is a Farm?
How do farms vary by scale, income, workforce, and output?

Who is a farmworker?
Who grows our food, and how do migration patterns, ownership models, and funding systems shape farmworkers’ housing and health?

Can we measure farm patterns?
Can farm configurations be quantified to build a flexible tool that identifies successful patterns and supports adaptable farm housing models across varied environments?

What do soils indicate?
What attitudes and agricultural strategies are most appropriate for managing the soils in both rural and urban settings?

Can byproducts build better spaces?
To create a circular system, how can farmers use their agricultural byproducts to enhance their built spaces?

How do we turn waste into building?
Is it possible to make a toxic side effect of agriculture under capitalism a sustainable building solution?

Case studies of current models helped identify prevailing materials/assemblies and the forces behind them: policy, climate, labor/migration, ownership/funding, culture, health, and logistics.

1. Vivienda Rural Digna
2. Hoa Phong House, Vietnam
3. Little Catalogue of Horrors
4. Farmworkers of NC