Top-down – Bottom-up

In “‘Audi Urban Future Initiative’ and ‘Festival of Ideas for the New City,’” Sebastian Redecke wrote about ABA’s Air Rights of Way project, produced for Audi as part of its Urban Future Initiative and presented at the New Museum’s Festival of Ideas. He writes: “The most compelling project for Manhattan was “East Side/Turtle Bay” by Emily Abruzzo and Gerald Bodziak from Brooklyn. They take an obvious concept, already implemented on a small scale and quite modestly, and now aim to elevate it to a central theme of urban redevelopment: the repurposing of rooftops, with a wide range of possibilities and on an even larger scale. They propose greenhouses, arbors, large solar arrays, and integrated water reservoirs. A practical approach with ideas that are no longer so foreign to the city. Individual mobility of the future? It plays an indirect role; for example, the solar power generated on the roofs supplies the electric cars parked in front of the building. The fruit and vegetables harvested in the rooftop farm are also intended to go directly down to the shop. Underlying this is the idea of ​​local, resource-efficient food production. Regarding new roof concepts on a modest scale, a small observation might be fitting: I stayed in a hotel where chickens with well-groomed plumage live on the roof in a generously sized run and provide eggs for the guests, where tomatoes are harvested and even flowers grow for the lobby.”