The Metals in Construction magazine 2021 Design Challenge will award a $15,000 Grand Prize to the entry deemed best at creating an environment for affordable housing by overbuilding NYC’s Sunnyside Yard—a complex of critical railroad infrastructure whose development potential is the subject of the Sunnyside Yard Master Plan Handbook. The Challenge is to submit your idea for a viable, efficient solution for constructing Phase 1 of the master plan, envisioning the decking, rental housing and community services it entails.
Decking over an active rail yard to gain urban space adds costs that test near-term financial feasibility. As a plan centered on human needs and public good, initial return on investment is not a primary concern. But finding funding for even a portion of the project under the current economic conditions means optimizing the cost of both platform and superstructures without compromising design integrity, all while enabling ongoing rail yard operations.
Specific Design Guidelines for Metals in Construction Design Challenge
Your challenge: Present your concept for overbuilding the rail yard to utilize this Phase 1 portion of the site identified in the SYMPH to create an environment for affordable rental housing, envisioning the type of housing, services, institutions and establishments most suitable to make this portion of the site a viable community.
About the site: Sunnyside Yard is a publicly owned 180-acre site located in Queens, New York that is the center of a rail network connecting people across the Northeast corridor. It is the only centrally-located, transit-accessible site of its size remaining in NYC. It is situated amidst one of the most ethnically diverse urban areas in the world.
Submission requirements for Metals in Construction Design Challenge : Submissions must meet the following requirements to be considered:
- Submissions must envision the construction of an optimal number of affordable housing units on a platform above the portion of Sunnyside Yard situated between Queens Blvd and Honeywell Street within the North and South Corridors identified in the Sunnyside Yard Master Plan Handbook. Your concept must envision a mix of unit types appropriate for the Queens community, as well as ancillary services, institutions, and establishments. No building shall exceed 15 stories in height measured from the surrounding Queens street grid.
- The challenge requires that entries be based on using structural steel for building both the platform and the structures atop it. This is in recognition of steel structures’ significantly lighter weight than other building materials and its ability to cover extremely long spans, allowing less extensive foundations.
- Submissions must plan for assembly on site of all structural steel components. Proposals for the housing that use modular, fully pre-assembled components with inherent redundancies of double wall and floor construction, and with dimensional requirements determined by transportation restrictions, will not be considered.
- The deck must accommodate a variety of different outcomes without substantial changes to the deck structure. Loads will be determined by the superimposed structures.
- During the proposed sequence of platform construction all trackage must remain in place and in operation, although submissions may assume coordination with the operators is possible to allow temporary closures.
- Entries must also elaborate on how the carbon footprint associated with its proposal is reduced, optimized or neutralized when compared to use of other construction materials. Designing for structural components to be recyclable, targeting high energy efficiency for the superstructures, actively generating clean energy, minimizing material waste during the manufacturing process, will be considered as contributing to this goal.
- Assume Sunnyside Station as located in the SYMSH has been constructed.
- Assume Infrastructure below grade is in place so that you may focus on the structural requirements.
- Your solution must create a cityscape that feels as much as possible like an extension of the surrounding area.
Submissions are due February 23, 2021. The $15,000 Grand Prize will be awarded to one of six finalists selected by a multidisciplinary jury of recognized, experienced architects and engineers who possess the knowledge and insight to evaluate the submitted entries. Registration is open now.
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Awards:- The $15,000 Grand Prize will be awarded to one of six finalists selected by a multidisciplinary jury of recognized and experienced architects, engineers and academics who possess the knowledge base and insight to evaluate the submitted entries.
Deadline:- 23-02-2021
