DEPAVE: An Ecological Repair of the Ground
YEAR: 2026
TYPE: CFA Lab residency and exhibition May 7 - September 2, 2026. New York
DESIGN TEAM: Friends Making Work (Amelyn Ng, Christine Giorgio, Gabriel Vergara)
COLLABORATORS: Tanvi Ashok, Elise Cloutier, Arissara Reed, Esther Su + Jonathan Liboyi
PHOTOS: Asya Gorovits
The built environment is in need of an ecological repair of the ground. Cities not only experience an overwhelming frequency of heatwaves, storm surges, and floods due to climate change—their hot, impervious surfaces also often compound these effects by design. Asphalt, concrete, and compacted urban soil covers parking lots, playgrounds, industrial edges, and floodplains; a “carbon form” that must be addressed in a green transition. In NYC, the long-range need for resilient urban surfaces is apparent, and, we believe, begins with reframing ground conditions.
This exhibition examines depaving as an act of social and ecological repair. DEPAVE prompts us to imagine new regenerative futures and collective participation, in the construction of a shared ground that extends beyond private property lines. What would it take to depave a portion of sidewalk, a parking lot, a freeway, an entire city?