The Cross Bronx Expressway (CBE) has long been disputable for entailing air and noise pollution to the surrounding neighborhood. This project follows Professor Peter Muennig’s (Columbia Mailman School of Public Health) proposal that the most cost-effective way to solve this long-term problem in the Bronx might be to cap the below-ground CBE. Intending to restore the balance and vigor both commercially and culturally between the north and the south Bronx long separated by Cross Bronx Expressway, this project offers a walkable surface that both encloses and supports a weaving string of local commercial activities. This surface is set back from major public destinations, morphing into the neighborhood on top of the below-ground CBE while stitching both sides of CBE with flowing taxes and community activities on public playgrounds. These locally generated taxes can be used for the imminent neighborhood to renovate major public grounds and utilities.

This surface is made with noise and pollution absorbent materials and supported by a tensegrity structure especially chosen for manifesting a precarious life condition here.