robotCity  August 2010

The increase in the power of technology has already changed the way in which we inhabit our surroundings. It will continue to impact our lives as it increases in complexity at an exponential level. robotCity seeks to discover possibilities of this transformation and its potential to impact the lives of those who occupy it.

Set in the near future, and located in the Hudson River, the project's goal was to imagine how to utilize the site and create a connection between the expanding zones of Manhattan and New Jersey. Based off the article, "Filling in the Hudson," by Alfred Albelli [1935], the proposal sought to divert the water from the Hudson in order to gain access to the land underneath.

Technology was projected to be something converging on biological patterns and behaviors. An analysis of the growth of plants, such as weeds and grasses, was the metaphor employed in the distribution of these highly interactive robotic buildings. The cellular composition of a plant's individual elements were transformed into a series of living pods that would remain independent, yet work together to support the larger structure.