Fall 2022 | ARCH 305 - Architecture Design III | Professor Marcelo López-Dinardi | Rhino, Illustrator | Team: Ekaansh Kalra
FOREIGN TRADE ZONES
A Foreign Trade Zone or a Free Trade Zone (FTZ) is a secured trade zone near international ports of entry. In the FTZ, the usual tariffs and duties are not required on foreign merchandise. These operations are conducted in a public utility basis. Foreign exports and domestic merchandise can be moved into the zone for operations (storage, exhibition, manufacturing, assembling and processing). Custom taxes and duties are due only when the goods are transferred from the zone. There is also duty elimination on waste, scrap and yield loss. The governing body of the FTZ is the Foreign-Trade Zones Board that administers from Washington D.C. The zones are a mechanism to encourage foreign commerce within the country. There are 193 active FTZ’s, employing 460,000 people in the United States. Many FTZ’s have subzones, in which companies don't have to physically move into a FTZ general purpose site in order to enjoy the benefits of a FTZ. Subzones are located outside the general purpose zone (within 60 miles of the port).
Bryan, Texas
The Foreign Trade Zone located in Bryan, Texas—a small city 100 miles away from the city of Houston, is called the Texas Triangle Park (TTP). The TTP is the 26th out of the overall 70 sites that serve as subzones from the Port of Houston. The Port of Houston is connected to over 16 different global ports. The two largest industries that utilize the Port of Houston FTZ are petroleum and electronics (83rd Annual Report of the Foreign-Trade Zones Board to the Congress of the United States).
This manufacturing site was chosen by the Port of Houston because it is significantly cheaper than the subzones nearer to Houston. The TTP is connected to the freight rail network through various parts of the site. Additionally, it is also linked to the Easterwood Airport and Highway 6.
The site is part of a larger initiative (Brazos Valley Target Advancement) in which the City of Bryan is spending on building infrastructure for manufacturing, defense, bio life sciences and housing industries. The TTP is focused on heavy manufacturing. Kait Jones and Madison White, Business Development Managers at the TTP, expressed that the majority of the labor force would be from recent college graduates, or people that have gone out into the workforce and come back to the TTP later in their career. Furthermore, The TTP is relying on the CTE training programs from community colleges and high schools to expose the industries to numerous different age groups.
There is only one active industry that has membership to use the FTZ (Axis Pipe and Tube). However, Rina Lawrence, Manager of Economic Development at the Port of Houston, claimed that Axis Pipe and Tube hasn’t activated the FTZ operations in order to utilize the benefits. She stated that this could potentially lead to a status of a ‘sunset zone’, in which the Foreign Trade Zone status is revoked.
A big disadvantage of the Foreign Trade Zone is that it is essentially a parasitic bubble. The way an FTZ operates is a slippery slope to being a completely independent entity that has no care for its nearby community. They often are taking resources from the community, such as water and power, completing the parasite paradox. The activities within an FTZ are not fully disclosed from the public, thus creating a barrier of transparency and sense of mystery. Furthermore, the TTP specifically operates under the Port of Houston, which adds another degree of disconnect with Bryan.
Research Question
This project investigates Bryan’s FTZ’s products and protocols, longevity, and opportunities by examining the impact of changes in global macro-trends on local micro-trends. Additionally, as the economy constantly changes, it asks, how does the function of the FTZ adapt to global trends while maintaining a symbiotic relationship with the local territory they seat on? In order to understand the implications of these trends, the project proposes the design of a scenario in order to analyze the potential transitional effects on the Free Trade Zone. In an era of climate change and rapid globalization, the project proposes a scenario where a policy like the Green New Deal is passed by the United States Congress.
The Green New Deal is legislation that was proposed by Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio Cortez of New York and Senator Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts. This federal legislation focuses on tackling climate change through reducing fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions through “economic transformation”. This policy enforces economic mobilization through creating millions of high paying jobs and developing sustainable infrastructure and resources”. While the resolutions in this policy tackles climate change at a state and a local level, there are less instances of the specific examples of changes implemented at a state and local level. Therefore, this project picks up where the policy leaves off.
Rather than proposing to design the TTP after a hundred years, the project implores the transitional period of the policy’s implementation. This further develops the scenario at a more complex level, in which it examines industries as they transition into a sustainable future.
Components within the Scenario
The specific components included to puzzle piece together for this FTZ scenario are primarily driven by transition industries and economies in the wake of our climate crisis. As such, they evolve around principles of cleaner industries and the transition to green energies. The project proposes a cross-laminated timber plant and semiconductor fab as a trial to develop fields that touch on sustainability. These examples are not intended to limit what can be developed, as there is space left for other industries to come in if they fit within the progressive theme of the area. Community elements and temporary housing serve to ground the area to its specific location. The project offers opportunities for education at different levels to open the typical transparency barrier that FTZ’s often have.
Cross-Laminated Timber
Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is an emerging sustainable building material. It grew in popularity in Europe, originating in Germany and Austria in the 1990’s. It eventually moved to the United States and became incorporated into the International Building Code in 2015. Essentially, CLT is a large panel of solid wood, made up of several layers of kiln-dried lumber that are stacked and glued in opposite directions. This manufacturing process generates low waste and is very fast and easy to install. The panels have exceptional acoustic, fire, seismic, and thermal ratings.
Considering all of these benefits, and its increase in use in the United States, CLT was a perfect industry to develop in the TTP. The new site has access to both the railroad and the highway. The existing railroad has been given a deviation to cater to the docking needs of the plant. Along the deviated track, cargo can be loaded and unloaded onto a system of conveyor belts, which transport it to the correct point in the process. There is a loading/unloading space for semi-trucks as well. Three main buildings house the primary steps of CLT manufacturing, and a network of underground conveyor belts transport materials between the stops. In order to keep up with trends and developments, there is space to research and test the wood on the site. This will be in conjunction with the Texas A&M Forest Service, to provide a university research link in the developments.
Semiconductors
Semiconductors are another emerging technology in the transition to renewable energy. This industry is a bit of a counterproductive oxymoron to sustainability, but the specific new site on the TTP seeks to fix these weak areas. Semiconductors are like a nervous system - essential in any instance of modern computing, from air conditioning to laser medical technology to smart phones and computers. Semiconductors are very innovative in renewable energy because they are able to harness and store renewable energy into their electric grid and use this electricity in efficient response to its supply and demand. Solar panels, wind turbines, and electric vehicles and charging stations are very reliant on this technology.
The irony of this industry is that the production is very environmentally costly. It uses such a large amount of energy and water, that this industry produces the most carbon of all electric device manufacturing. As semiconductors are essential for progressing green technology, it is equally essential to fix the environmental impact of their production. Keeping with the transitional theme of the TTP developments, this issue won’t be fixed all at once before the semiconductor site is developed. The new development will implement some specific ways to try to combat the problems, and improve as
In order to regulate the water overuse, rainwater is filtered for use, as is greywater from the city, and water from Lake Bryan if needed. Throughout production, sensors regulate water use so that it is not wasted. So that the process is not relying on and overusing the power grid of Bryan, wind turbines are positioned over the TTP as a whole to power the semiconductor fab. These serve a dual-purpose, as they are also used for research to advance the technology.
Community and Farming
FTZ’s are known for having a “bubble” effect and lack of transparency, since they typically operate completely separate from their nearby community. This is even described as parasitic in instances. This project breaks that barrier by inviting members of the community to interact and see what is going on. A community center is positioned near the road entrance that houses offices for the TTP as a whole and informs and educates the public on various aspects of the inner-workings of the area.
There are multiple scales of farming that promote interaction with the land itself. Micro-farming of different sizes and greenhouses scattered between provide a variation of opportunities. Overall, this allows both workers within the site and members of the surrounding community to come and feel ownership and connection in the area. Next to these farms, there is a pavilion for a farmers market and a dining hall so that the food being grown can be utilized to facilitate a public event.
Axis 2.0
Axis Pipe and Tube is currently the largest industry in the TTP. They pride themselves on quality products that are mainly supplied for the oil and gas industry. While this is an important industry in the current economy, it is not known for being the most sustainable. In order to promote more reliance on renewable sources, a research facility that serves as a sub-branch of Axis has been placed adjacent to the existing Axis facility. This facility tests various means to implement the pipe industry into sustainable and renewable energy production options. This way, Axis can eventually utilize its existing assets to transition into these renewable outlets.
Temporary Housing
Housing on the site enforces the transitional theme at a personal level. It is not meant as a permanent bubble for the industry workers, but as a place where people can stay when they are transitioning to work in the area, or if they are receiving a short period of training within one of the sites.
Examples of temporary housing include work study and internships. These structures are the perfect opportunity to show off the CLT that is being manufactured in the TTP, and they are organized in a dynamic way to accentuate the common areas within.
Buses Network
In order to connect the City of Bryan and College Station with the Texas Triangle Park, there are two public transportation networks proposed within the overall site. One network is a TTP bus service which connects all the different zones of the site together. The other network is through the Brazos Transit District, which has bus routes to and from the city’s downtown. The goal is to make working and interacting in the TTP more accessible for the community.
Conclusion
Overall, the function of the FTZ has been redeveloped into a network that exhibits what could happen if FTZ’s followed a more sustainable, inclusive transition.