CITY OF NEW YORK, URBAN ALLOY TOWERS

Information and pictures courtesy of: amlgm towers made of urban alloy designed by an architectural practice Forging the dynamics of a constantly expanding global center is the goal of amlgm, which is the symbiotic re-purposing of the air rights over transit routes in New York City. Do we absolutely need this? Urbanists have been extolling the virtues of higher housing densities in close proximity to public transit hubs for a long time. A multi-use typology that is founded in the leftover areas around the junction of transportation infrastructure, such as elevated rail lines and freeway interchanges, is what urban alloy suggests as a strategy to promote this notion. The architects matt bowles and chad kellogg propose a plan that will draw the energy of manhattan out into the other four boroughs without disrupting existing land use. this plan is predicated on the notion that the most dynamic cities of the 21st century, such as new york, are anthropomorphic alloys that act as engines for innovation and social cohesion. Having decided to use the intersection of the LIRR and the 7 train as a test case, and working on the premise that the paradigm of “one size fits all” is obsolete, the architects play on the presumption that urban citizens would welcome diverse living situations, and would be willing to pay a premium for spaces that are tailored to their particular needs. This presumption is based on the fact that the architects are working on the premise that the paradigm of “one size fits all” is obsolete. Therefore, as a result of the vast number of programmatic alternatives, a variety of floor plate geometries are inspired. These floor plate geometries go from cylindrical to triangular as one moves from the base to the top of each skyscraper. This mix, in conjunction with the limits that are imposed by the site, provides a complicated geometry that calls for a different approach to the optimization of the facade. This skin then becomes the cynosure that physically catches the airspace, which is perhaps the only breathing room that is left in rapidly expanding cities. A composite or alloy of several flexible systems is necessary to optimize a skin in which every point has a unique environmental exposure. This is because the design of the skin, which is truly an exciting piece of design, entails that every point has its own unique environmental exposure. The system is laid up on a grid that is oriented in a way that corresponds to the geometric directionality of the surface. At each point where the grid intersects, the normal of the surface is compared to the ideal solar shading and daylight transmitting criteria for that particular junction. After that, a custom-written algorithm is used to build vertical and horizontal fin profiles that mesh seamlessly with the profiles of nearby nodes. The end product is an improved and optimized system of ornamental metal fins, each of which is tailored specifically to a different sun orientation. The algorithm makes use of deep horizontal fins along the southern exposure, and deeper vertical fins along its east and west facing surfaces. These design elements are based on the tenants of contemporary solar facade design. This method determines exact depth and direction of the fins at every spot on the surface of the water. The question that looms over everything else is, “Is this really necessary?” Please visit globalhop.indiaartndesign.com in order to see the photographs.