Environmental Care: Bio-based Material Education Room

The project proposes collaborative engagement of a Bronx-based Community Organization – Mothers on the Move (MOM), and Pratt Undergraduate, the School of Architecture faculty, and students to co-design a community and education space and a public exhibit in the space to build community awareness on the potential of bio-based building materials to improve the well-being of residents in the Bronx.

Conventional building materials are globally sourced, carbon-intensive, often have minimal performance, and toxic effects, accounting for approximately 11% of global carbon emissions. New York City's construction sector produces approximately 5.7 billion tons of CO2 annually.

At the same time, the challenges of poor air quality are pervasive in the Bronx owing to a disproportionate burden of heavy industrial facilities, locally unwanted land uses, and aging multi-family housing buildings. Residents have long endured indoor air quality issues, all of which have had detrimental impacts on the community’s well-being. In 2016, the asthma-related emergency department visit rate among Bronx children ages 5 to 17 years was more than two times the rate of all other NYC boroughs combined.

Mothers on the Move, the project's community partner, has deep roots in the Bronx community and is organizing to bring locally sourced, carbon-sequestering, non-toxic, and healthy bio-based building materials to improve the community’s well-being and housing. In an Advanced Architecture Studio, students will collaborate closely with Mothers on the Move through workshops to explore and design possible community and education programming scenarios for the Material Education Room.

The public exhibition will also include building large-scale 1:1 bio-based material wall mock-ups, such as hempcrete walls —a breathable, healthier, bio-based construction.