Resilience and Recovery: Horticulture by Charlie Verni

Pratt Institute

Graduate Architecture and Urban Design/Master of Architecture

Project Name: Resilience and Recovery: Horticulture
Project Website: https://www.instagram.com/verni.design

COVID-19 brought NYC’s inequities into the spotlight, and class of 2021 designers are addressing the injustices with projects that invest in communities, prioritize sustainability and food justice, and focus on economic development for underserved populations. Charli Verni, in Pratt’s Graduate Architecture and Urban Design program, is exploring a potential alteration to Sunset Park’s Brooklyn Army Terminal that localizes food production in response to pandemic-related supply chain shortfalls and helps cut greenhouse emissions due to food import. It would yield hundreds of pounds of fresh produce for NYC weekly, while teaching smart urban agriculture methods. It would also incorporate oyster and algae farming to clean NYC waterways. Considering the community’s vocal opposition to gentrification, the vertical farm would be invisible and profound, sourcing labor from the local community and serving as an education facility for surrounding schools and the next generation of urban farmers. Tags: @verni.design, @prattgraud, @prattsoa, @brooklynarmyterminal