Hy-Fi is a cluster of circular towers formed using reflective bricks, designed for and commissioned by the MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program for construction in New York City. The structure uses recent advances in biotechnology combined with cutting-edge computation and engineering to create new building materials that are almost fully organically grown and compostable – a new paradigm for design and manufacturing. Beyond the use of technological innovations, the tower assembly ultimately touches the senses, while challenging perceptual expectations through unexpected relationships of patterns, color, and light.

If the twentieth century was the “Century of Physics”, then the twenty-first century is the “Century of Biology”. The structure utilizes a new method of bio-design that is almost 100% grown and 100% compostable. Hy-Fi temporarily diverts the natural carbon cycle to produce a building that grows out of nothing but earth and returns to nothing but earth. This “low-tech biotech” method offers a new vision for society’s approach to architecture and physical objects. It also offers a new definition of local materials, and a direct relationship to New York State’s agriculture and innovation culture, New York City artists and non-profits, and Queens community gardens.

The structure is a circular tower of organic and reflective bricks. The bricks are designed to combine the unique properties of two new materials. The organic bricks are produced through a revolutionary combination of corn stalks (that otherwise have no value) and living root structures. This process has been industrialized by an innovative new collaborating partner company called Ecovative that is co-developing a custom process for the project.

The reflective bricks are produced through custom-forming of a new daylighting mirror film invented by 3M. In collaboration with 3M, novel uses for this material have been developed. The reflective bricks are used as growing trays for the organic bricks, and then incorporated into the final construction before being shipped back to 3M for use in further research.

The structure inverts the logic of load-bearing brick construction and creates a gravity-defying effect: instead of being thick and dense at the bottom, it is thin and porous at the bottom. The structure is calibrated to create a cool micro-climate in the summer by drawing in cool air at the bottom and pushing out hot air at the top. The structure creates mesmerizing light effects on its interior walls through reflected caustic patterns (refracted rays of sunlight). The structure offers a familiar-yet-completely-new structure in the context of the glass towers of the New York City skyline and the brick construction of the PS1 building. And overall, Hy-Fi offers shade, color, light, views, and a future-oriented experience that is refreshing, thought-provoking, and full of wonder and optimism.