The site for this project is a 32-acre abandoned plot on the northeast side of downtown Columbus. Research into the site has revealed that it was contaminated by chemicals that were stored onsite in the 1980s; any prospective developer would have to initiate a clean-up process before beginning construction. This financial and ecological impediment has prevented (and most likely will continue to prevent) any attempts at building on the site.

Rather than ignore this site condition, the project embraces the poisoned earth, and attempts to formulate a way to re-inhabit the spaces while still allowing natural processes to remove the contaminants. Drawing on the work of such architects as Walter Jonas and Paolo Soleri, the project aims to create a "stilted" society which can exist above the ground plane.

The project is made up several parts: 1)a series of folded ground plates, starting at the eastern edge of the site and continuing to 4th Street, on the west. 2)A multitude of concrete columns, upon which will be attached such programmatic elements as windmills, hydroponics tanks, and housing units. 3)A series of large-scale communal buildings which pierce the folded ground plates and make reluctant connections to the ground.

It is envisioned that this project will not be a fully controlled environment, but rather that each tenant (or group of tenants) will have a hand in constructing their own dwelling. Thus, what might ordinarily become a static structure of pre-determined spaces and relationships will take on the ability to grow and adapt as the community which it supports changes and evolves.

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