Special Mention – 2007 Housing Competition
Project by: Kyuseon Hong, Kyungjae Kim, Yongju Lee

The water-edge condition of Manhattan has been gradually changed from a swampy sloped wet land to a horizontal hard concrete structure. Even though we have more area for development along the hardened horizontality, the natural environmental qualities have been drastically reduced. Furthermore, the concrete edge is also limiting the boundary of Manhattan’s growth with strict lines. 

The goal of this project is to redefine new qualities for Manhattan’s edge with a new way of construction and landfill. In order to make new landfills we propose a porous structural system instead of the solid traditional methods.  These self-supported structural units could create a vast waterfront area which has the possibility to grow and provide mass housing with water front quality of living. These structures will solve the chronic shortage of housing supply and relieve some of the traffic in Manhattan.

By assembling the expandable units along the water-edge we expect more people to enjoy the water front. Furthermore, those systems can re-connect the urban fabric which has been damaged by the highways alongside both rivers.