(Drawing via GSAPP Studio-X NYC)

Last night Juliette Spertus, architect and curator of the exhibit Fast Trash, and Benjamin Miller, author of Fat of the Land: The Garbage Of New York-The Last Two Hundred Years, presented preliminary findings from two new New York state-funded research projects into pneumatic tube trash systems at Studio-X NYC.

The presentation chronicled Roosevelt Island’s existing pneumatic tube trash system and speculated about ways to expand the system and implement it elsewhere in Manhattan.  The new Roosevelt Island Cornell University Campus is expected to produce about 4.4 tons of trash per day, according to the researchers.  If the system were to be used in the new campus design, it could simplify the waste management operations of the campus significantly.  The panelists and researchers agreed that the ideal place for instituting new pneumatic trash systems would be large new developments in densely populated areas in NYC.

Panelists included:

Marcia Byrstryn, President of the New York League of Conservation Voters and former Assistant Commissioner for Recycling, NYC Department of Sanitation

Vishaan Chakrabarti, Professor of Real Estate at Columbia University and former senior adviser to the Office of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the New York City Planning Commission

Benjamin Miller, author of Fat of the Land: The Garbage Of New York-The Last Two Hundred Years

Juliette Spertus, architect and curator of Fast Trash

Claire Weisz, Co-Executive Director of The Design Trust for Public Space and founding partner of WXY Architecture + Urban Design