Afterlives of North Brother Island
// architectural project
end of life care complex + multi-sensory memorial hall
Graduation Thesis Project, Spring 2022
Supervisors: Yigit Acar, Ezgi Isbilen
This project aims to be the treatment for a more than human community in the isolated jungle inside the dense cosmopolitan of NYC. In the eras of environmental and climatic crises, architecture should not only be about the immortal approach of the buildings but the consideration of the humble approach intending to provide habitats for more than one entity, in the cycle of life. The aim of the project is to bring necessary memorial value of this post traumatic island while proposing a safe environment to nature and human until the inevitable but not to be feared sinking of the island that will further become the starting point of the new urban infrastucture of underwater life. North Brother Island is among New York City’s most extraordinary and least known heritage and natural places.
_the site
North Brother Island is among New York City’s most extraordinary and least known heritage and natural places. It is located in the East River, east of Manhattan,south of the Bronx and north of Queens. The island is currently uninhabited and is owned by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Preserving the island presents a unique challenge. The site contains significant remnants from 150 years of human occupation along with a distinctive environment that has become an important nesting area for wading birds. NBI is located in a flood zone and expected to be underwater in 100+ years due to the drastic sea level change as a result of the climate change.
1885 - 1900
Quarantine Island: The Riverside Hospital
1901- 1906
Addings to the hospitals, The sinking of General Slocum
1909- 1923
Second era of modern hospital planning, Arrival of Typhoid Mary
1946- 1951
Drug Rehabilitation Center for Juvenile Addicts
1952- 1963
WWII Veteran’s Housing: The Riverside Campus
_the issue + program
The proposed main architectural program considers the candidate as a life form in conjunction with its visitors. In this approach, the island serves as a host, completing its own life cycle in close proximity to visitors afflicted with fatal diseases. Throughout this process, it exhibits a hybrid approach that deviates from the traditional typology of health institutions focused on “fighting disease” providing visitors with a nurturing environment resembling a home. Alongside site-specific monuments that appeal to multiple senses, the design pays homage to the losses throughout the island’s history, contributing to the creation of a community environment where the final stages of life are lived with dignity and acceptance of mortality in every aspect.
Negative Memory Interpretation, Site Specific Multi-Sensory Memorials
Palliative Cancer Care Center
Grief, Loss, and Bereavement Rehabilitation
Educational Ecology Camping
Recreational Activities: birdwatching, walking, kayaking, canoeing
- Adaptive reuse, collaborative management planning
- Recreational and health benefits from additional green space.
In the chosen design approach for creating a new structure on this delicate ecology, the method involves repurposing existing buildings suitable for accommodating the island’s residents through small stabilization interventions. Additionally, it proposes the use of deconstruction methods to reclaim building materials from existing structures, along with suggestions for environmentally friendly, biodegradable materials. After the island’s submersion over a 100-year period, the skeletal remains of the building, mingling with nature as these materials dissolve, provide a new underwater habitat.
This method transforms the decay of the built environment over time into an architectural quality, utilizing the forces of nature. The reuse of materials through deconstruction for new compatible functions adds a regenerative interpretation specific to the island in terms of its history and culture. Apart from reclaimed materials, systems such as carbon fiber mesh, mycelium, naturally degradable materials, and hygienic designs compatible with systems like titanium dioxide and ceramics establish the fundamental tectonic framework of the new construction. The pursuit of monumentality and immortality is not the right solution for every case; this island embodies a physical response to that notion. Ultimately, this project envisions the diverse life cycles of a community beyond human, transforming the inevitability of death and negative memories into a design that fosters peace and respect.
...This island takes a step into life after death alongside its patients, not merely for individuals but to be reborn into a community beyond human existence.
