Project by Xiaoyu Zhang
This project positions depaving as a deliberate architectural act by transforming the former runway at Floyd Bennett Field into a long-term agricultural infrastructure. Rather than removing the runway as obsolete ground, the project works through the cracking and selective reuse of its concrete slabs, treating fragmentation not as failure but as a productive condition. Broken concrete pieces are reassembled on site to construct terraces, retaining edges, paths, and working surfaces, preserving material continuity while avoiding the environmental cost of full demolition and replacement.
Farming is not introduced as a finished program, but as a process that unfolds gradually through use, maintenance, and seasonal change. Depaving occurs incrementally, allowing soil, cultivation, and collective occupation to expand over time. Situated near an oversubscribed community garden with multi-year waiting lists, the project frames agriculture as infrastructure rather than amenity, proposing a model where heavy remnants of aviation are redirected toward sustained, collective production.
