The Mechanical Cloud

The Mechanical Cloud is a conceptual work of architecture designed to protect the residents of Manhattan from the dangers that climate change poses to the island in the not-so-distant future. The Mechanical Cloud is built upon the High Line in New York, which provides an escape from the rapidly rising sea levels caused by the melting of the Arctic. The effects and dangers of climate change extend beyond just flooding, also causing an increase in violent weather events such as high winds and powerful storms. The flooding also brings other issues too, such as the increase of dangerous particles in the air, forming of mold and water penetration into the structure of The Mechanical Cloud. The flooding also presents new opportunities for sustainability; however. The increased sea level allows for the powerful tides and flowing water to be utilized to generate electricity and for easy access to water to purify. The high sea level also allows for the community to utilize it as a means of exploring the ruins of New York with boats. The Minimum Viable Population (MVPs) of 160 for this project is comprised of meteorologists, researchers and others who believed and understood the imminent danger that climate change poses for a city such as New York City.

The Mechanical Cloud is organized in such a way that The MVPs are most protected from the rising waters and violent weather that climate change brings. The Mechanical Cloud also utilizes the existing buildings of Manhattan to further protect the structure from the strong winds that are blowing from the Hudson River. Manhattan and the High Line specifically near Chelsea Market between 15th street and 17th street was chosen due to the dense nature of the area and the preexisting conditions of the High Line as well as the other nearby buildings. An island like Manhattan is very vulnerable to rising sea levels caused by climate change due to its low elevation, but the High Line allows the entire Mechanical Cloud to be lifted 30 feet into the air, above the speculative flooding that climate change would cause. Architecturally, The Mechanical Cloud is designed to allow violent wind and rainstorms to easily flow through and around the design, minimizing the impact of rain and wind loads. Aspects such as the primary living spaces being suspended off the High Line allowing wind to pass through this gap, and the use of curved surfaces to more easily direct wind and rain away from the building. The Mechanical Cloud is primarily made of steel, due to its strength and flexibility.

The Mechanical Cloud was designed with efficiency and mechanical intent. We spend a long-time conceptualizing, designing, and implementing the various mechanical and programmatic elements of The Mechanical Cloud to conform to these ideas. Some of these elements, such as the water purification systems, the air purification systems, and the hydroelectric dam were designed to mimic modern technology but made more resistant to the extreme weather events that exist in our apocalyptic scenario and to be smaller and more efficient. The Life Support Pods serve as our novel tectonic element that is unique to the project. The Life Support Pods take the ideals of efficiency and mechanical depth to the extreme by providing a safe space for the MVPs to retreat to during the frequent and violent storms that emerge by providing small-scale water and air purification and electricity generation. Another important design aspect of The Mechanical Cloud is the dock, which provides a shielded location for the MVPs launch boats from to explore the flooded city for places to expand. The High Line reinforces this expansion strategy, as it provides a logical place to expand to as the population grows.

The final iteration of this project is our 9th. The first few iterations were spent understanding and refining our site location and disaster scenario. We felt it important to spend a long time creating a strong disaster scenario and finding a good site as these are vital to developing a great project. While the final iteration is still a highly conceptual architectural design, it has been developed significantly since our first attempts at modeling this project. In the creation of The Mechanical Cloud, we mostly used a process of digital sketching to develop the design. Digital sketching is the process of making many low detail study models instead of creating larger, more detailed models less often. Creating many, less detailed study models allows for more rapid innovation in the design of the project. Digital sketching is also a good method of project development as it fully utilizes the strengths of the computer and 3D modelling, being the ease of making changes and testing new ideas.