The south face

A Resilient City Research Project

Lead: Tommy Yang • Martina Kohler • Joel Towers

Research Assistants: Bridgit Wright - Vidushi Tekriwal

There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them. [1]

The South Face asks:  If the City is finally ready to get dressed for the Anthropocene what would it wear?  How can we build on the vibrant, dynamic life of the naked city and, at the same time, prepare it for the new challenges of an age of increasing climate instability, heat extremes, cloudbursts, and increased precipitation?  What kind of PPE might we deploy in the next pandemic in response to vector-borne disease and how can we counter agricultural disruption through our ecological infrastructure?  If the buildings of the city are naked, what is the fashion of the future?  And how can we help them get dressed?

The South Face explored the transformative potential of urban agriculture, passive cooling, sun shading, solar energy production, rainwater harvesting, storm water management, super-insulation, and the social/spatial benefits of dressing the south-facing facades of NYC buildings for the Anthropocene.

[1] Dassin, Jules, Howard. Duff, Barry Fitzgerald, Dorothy Hart, Mark Hellinger, and Malvin. Wald. The Naked City. Thomasville, Ga: Roan Group, 1995.