Hamilton architects DPAI have proposed a futuristic green tower at the intersection of a six-lane highway and the Niagara Escarpment. The conceptual project?called Fibroblast Tower? imagines an intervention whereby architecture is used to heal physical, urban, environmental, and socio-political wounds from the past. “This is one of our efforts to create and elevate a better public dialogue about design in Hamilton,” says DPAI Principal and CEO David Premi.
The Fibroblast Tower is a prosthetic intervention that is designed to begin the healing process of a natural ecosystem, the Niagara Escarpment. Seen as a barrier, the residents of the City of Hamilton have attempted to conquer this World Biosphere Refuge by scarring its surface with roads, paths, and funicular railways to overcome travel challenges. The result is a dysfunctional relationship where the escarpment has become a symbol of the City?s political and environmental shortcomings. The tower functions both as a vertical public park, and as an extension of the escarpment?s natural ecosystem.
The Niagara escarpment
The Niagara Escarpment was the result of unequal erosion. Over time, the soft rocks weather away or erode by the action of streams. The gradual removal of the soft rocks undercuts the resistant caprock, leaving a cliff or escarpment that runs predominantly east/west from New York, through Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois.
The escarpment is both a connector and a divider. It connects la...