The future of land use: re-imagining and re-purposing landfills

This project is a series of various architectural typologies designed to introduce living on the Newby Island Landfill site in Santa Clara County. It is a phased proposal, which aims to transform the ignored and avoided wasteland into a place where people might want to live in the future. 

The project challenges two misconceptions present in our society. 

Misconception # 1: Recycling will save the planet. Recycling will not solve the problem, as it has a very limited capacity at the moment. The majority of waste is not recyclable, including some types of plastics. 

Misconception #2: Landfills are filthy. They cause ecological disasters and diseases in humans. For the past – yes, but not at the moment. The situation is now handled by equipped and educated professionals, who constantly monitor landfill sites.

Surrounded by the abundant natural beauty of Northern California, it is quiet and completely safe to stay there: the by-product of the landfill - methane, is captured and used to generate electricity . And because of the above mentioned misconceptions, local government can take advantage of the former landfill site and turn it into social housing with benefits in a form of low land cost and methane-generated electricity for the benefit of the local community in context of the Bay area housing crisis.

Design development experimental models. Adjusting to unstable and constantly changing environment.

Project type: Academic (Architecture Summer Intensive, Pratt Institute), Group project

Date complete: Summer 2022

Software/skills: AutoCAD, Rhino, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign