Poughkeepseed-Modular Bioremediation
New York State
Fall 2016 I Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, I New York City
Instructor: Lee Altman
Name: Poughkeepseed-Modular Bioremediation
Team: Wanpeng Zu, Yanyan Xu, Jinbao Liu, Linshu Huang


FA16_UD Studio-Assign6_Poughkeepseed_LiuXuZuHuang from Wanpeng ZU on Vimeo.


In the Hudson Valley, there is a higher density of Superfund and brownfield sites compared to the rest of the country. Poughkeepsie has 25 superfund or brownfield sites. Polluted sites create environmental, health and economy injustice in both the neighborhoods and the region. Also, the river water quality is low in part because of these contaminated brownfields. Besides that, the unemployed rate in Poughkeepsie is high in the New York State.
Our project reframes the problems of the polluted sites as opportunity for resolving the unemployment problems. We create a process of bio-remediation which remove toxins from the soil without second pollution. This process involves multiple actors and stakeholders, it involves various both training programs and job opportunities for the Poughkeepsie community due to time based process.
We specifically examine one site in Poughkeepsie as a core which are adjacent to important institutions and a large scale so that the remediation of these places begins with already interested partners and can contribute to their growth. Because of the scale of the large industry site, one way to remediate it is to modularize the entire site and use landscape strategy to clean up. Also, we hope to let community participate into our program by providing hand-built wagon which costs little to transfer the contaminated soil and productive plants. By doing so, we could effectively train a work force to do other sites and also mobilize unemployed people with skill training both here and in Poughkeepsie.
Our strategy is based on the time of the bio-remediation process which divides into three periods: remediate, monitor and sustain. At first, we focus more on the temporary flexible design. As the decreasing of the contaminated level, we would gradually add more functions, such as training center, nursery and workshops. Finally, after cleaning up the sites and providing job opportunities, our strategy could create more possibilities for the future development of Poughkeepsie.
We consider Poughkeepsie as a seed of our program. Once its run successfully in the city, the similar strategy could extend to other contaminated sites in Hudson Valley even the county and the state.