Research + Design Advanced Studio
Growing + Living
This project extends my previous research on quantifying farmland and developing minimum square footage housing, from the Chester Home prototype at the Chester Agriculture Center to studies of urban food production like Brooklyn Grange Farm. Each examined how systems of growing and living overlap, yet a question persisted: where does it all go? Food waste remains a lingering challenge within these networks. This proposal addresses that gap by tracing the diverse streams of food resources and waste originating from Fulton Street’s restaurant corridor, an artery of Brooklyn’s cultural and culinary identity. Through collaboration between local businesses and the new facility, food gains a second purpose via a year-round compost lab. Integrated residential compost spaces and communal kitchens replace isolated systems with shared rituals of reuse and gathering. Finally, the growing tower and adjacent park act as bridges, connecting public green space with an interior hub for sustainable community life.
This project establishes two distinct yet complementary towers to demonstrate how food production, waste regeneration, and everyday living can coexist within a single urban block. The left tower, the Growing Tower, hosts a compost lab and regenerative community kitchen, creating a vertical system that makes the neighborhood’s food cycle visible and accessible.
Across the courtyard, the right tower serves as an independent residential building with a ground-floor food market. Their separation is intentional: by keeping the residential tower structurally and programmatically apart, the project prevents the garden and productive systems from becoming privatized. Instead, the landscape remains a public, community-driven resource rather than an amenity exclusive to residents.
The courtyard acts as a shared civic ground that connects, but does not merge, the roles of each building, demonstrating how urban communities can support food systems collectively while maintaining open access and spatial equity.
GREEN_Garden Space
BLUE_Access Path
ORANGE_Library + Storefronts
PURPLE_Residential Units
