6. The Right to Air

This project takes the form of a diptych. The first phase of the research documents the quantity and estimated value of air rights created in a new zoning plan for East Harlem in 2018. This half is put forward as an investment proposal. The second half is a design proposal for programs to build on the roofs of buildings that have sold all of their air rights. Thanks to a zoning law loophole, if 90% of an area’s air rights are sold, the city can then reopen the air under its control. Our project took advantage of that loophole to utilize this empty and “unusable” space for affordable housing, urban agriculture, green energy, public recreational space, and extensions of institutional projects such as schools or kids sports programs. The project operates as a critique of both the capitalist condition that currently dominates real estate as well as the ability of “architecture” to affect real change on that system.

A Collaborative project with Matthew Liu and Jackson Lindsay.