Huge Icebergs May Be Floating In Downtown Manhattan

Woods Bagot is currently in formal discussion with owners and potential users in New York and other cities and hopes to have the first Iceberg constructed within a year. Photo: Woods Bagot

On his way to work every day for the past year, Woods Bagot New York Principal Jeffrey Holmes pondered the remnants of the abandoned construction projects halted in his city. They were reminders of unfinished business.

With more than 100 boarded-up construction sites in Manhattan alone, Holmes often wondered if there was a way to make these spaces more useful and pleasing to the eye until developers could resume their projects.

That’s when he dreamed up the recycled urban ‘Iceberg,’ which has been in its planning and proposal stages at Woods Bagot for about a year.

The architectural wonders, composed of a reusable steel frame, polycarbonate panels and the newly-developed lightweight polymer Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE), are designed to be versatile and functional placeholders until developers can complete their work.

Ideal locations are construction sites that have been cleared or excavated, but where construction never began.

“The entire structure is reusable and recyclable,” says Holmes. “That was one of our first conceptions. We knew that if we wanted to do something temporary on these sites, the component pieces should be reusable when their effective life is done.”

Many of the materials in the iceberg’s design are not only recyclable, but recycled. Between 80 and 90 percent of the versatile structure’s steel frame is made from post-industrial recycled steel, and the super-light polymer ETFE is primarily composed of post-industrial plastics.

The innovative materials make the structures lightweight and easily moved. An Iceberg can be used in one location for as long as it’s needed, and then easily taken apart and reassembled someplace else in a matter of days.

“The issue is that the financial condition isn’t ideal for large scale construction at this minute,” says Holmes. “In ten years it might very well be, and developers and owners don’t want to tie up the site if something more permanent and could be put there.”

To ensure ultimate mobility, Holmes has worked with Woods Bagot engineers to make sure that every component, down to fans and plumbing, is entirely modular (and recyclable, too).

Each modular construction is built around a 1,000 square-foot module. A given location may have one modular or eight, depending on the size of the site and the owner’s specific needs.

“One can imagine the icebergs kind of ‘floating’ into cities around the world as a direct response to local economic conditions,” says Holmes.

The awe-inspiring spaces attract local vendors or can be used for a variety of other purposes, while encouraging developers to resume construction. A special lighting system can be used to project logos or advertisements on the icebergs’ peaks.

The structures also feature solar-powered hot water systems and natural and active ventilation for heating and cooling, giving it about half the embodied energy of a typical small-scale placeholder building.

Icebergs also use about a third of the energy a conventional small-scale building uses on lighting and about a quarter of the cooling energy.

Woods Bagot is currently in formal discussion with owners and potential users in New York and other cities and hopes to have the first Iceberg constructed within a year.

“We haven’t done some of the detailed design work,” says Holmes. “But we’re far enough along to be able to speak very precisely about what the opportunities are.”

And with the state of the economy and the number of abandoned urban construction sites growing, the opportunities appear great.

“I could easily see several of these in major cities that are facing this particular challenge,” says Holmes. “They are perfect for temporary structures. They are reusable and recyclable, and they add vibrancy to the street at the same time.”

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