A project by the Environmental Health Clinic at New York University and the Living Architecture Lab at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation Commissioned for Toward the Sentient City, an exhibition by the Architectural League of New York.
Amphibious Architecture is a visual interface floating on the water's surface, a veritable looking glass into the aquatic ecosystem. This manufactured point of connection submerges ubiquitous computing into the one element that covers 90% of the Earth's inhabitable volume and which envelops New York City but remains under-explored and under-engaged. Installed at two sites along the East and the Bronx Rivers, this project is a network of floating interactive buoys housing a range of sensors below water and an array of light emitting diodes (LEDs) above water. The sensors monitor water quality, the presence of fish, and human interest in the river's ecosystem, while the lights respond to the sensors, creating feedback loops between humans, fish in their shared environment. Additionally an SMS interface allows homo-citizens to text-message the fish and receive real-time information about the river, contributing towards the collective display of human interest in the aquatic environment. The aim of which is to simultaneously spark a larger public interest and dialogue about our local waterways.
Distinctly moving away from the pervasive 'do-not-disturb' approach to urban environmentalism, the project encourages curiosity and engagement. Treating the river water as a reflective surface to mirror our own homo-image and architecture, establishing a two-way interface between the terrestrial and the aquatic. The project thus creates a dynamic and captivating layer of light above the surface of the river, making visible the invisible through real-time mapping of the new ecology of people, marine life, buildings, and public space.
The Environmental Health Clinic at New York University fosters diverse participation in changing our collective relationship to natural systems, using lifestyle experiments and performative actions that create measurable improvements in environmental health. The Amphibious Architecture interface not only provides a texting interface to the fish, but fish food to improve the health of the fish and augment their nutritional resources.
The Living Architecture Lab at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation brings architecture to life by making visible the invisible forces that shape our world and transforming buildings in real time based on these forces. Amphibious Architecture is one of several projects by the Lab that create a dynamic envelope to reframe life in urban public space.
Nominees
David Benjamin, Amelia Black, Natalie Jeremijenko, Abha Kataria, Jonathan Laventhol, Deborah Richards, Zenon Tech-Czarny, Kevin Wei, Chris Woebken, Soo-In Yang.
Credits
In-kind contributions for the project have been provided by Arup, Bronx River Alliance, Bronx River Art Center, J.A. McDermott Lighting Corp., New York City Economic Development Corporation, New York University Department of Art, New York University Computer Science Department, Pachube, SHoP Architects, Silver Screen Marine, Studio-X at Columbia GSAPP
