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Plunz

Case Studies within the Modern Urban Fabric

This seminar uses New York City as the catalyst for questioning the cannons of architectural and urban historiography which tend to overemphasize isolated monument and heroic designer. The history of New York is scrutinized as an evolution of anonymous urban fabric, created by the often uncelebrated architect or builder, and which comprises the major building volume of New York and all cities. The focus is on the culture of housing with an intent to grasp the political and tectonic devices which lead to specific fabrics in specific urban contexts.

LISTED UNDER: Courses Plunz Urban Design

Urban Design Studio VI: Urban Concentration/Sprawl/Infrastructure: Bucharest and Brisbane

This third and final semester in the Master of Science in Architecture and Urban Design sequence took up questions of urban development related to two rapidly evolving urban connurbantions: in Bucharest, Romania and Brisbane, Australia.

LISTED UNDER: Baratloo Conard Orff Plunz Urban Design Studio VI

Comprehensive Studio V: Gowanus Eco-Retrieval: Public Place Site

This studio is second in a series which contextualizes the environmental remediation of the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. Long one of the most polluted micro-regions within New York City, it is none-the-less located at a crucial public interface between Carroll Gardens, Red Hook and Park Slope. The canal has been the focus of an on-going Gowanus Canal Ecosystem Project begun by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection in 1999. We are interested in maximizing the public benefits of remediation - that is, exploring how remediation can reinforce a new public presence for the canal; and how the remediation process itself can engage longer-term strategies for economic and spatial development. Last year's studio worked directly with the Gowanus Community Development Corporation in exploring several canal sites through invention of possible development programs which can act as catalysts for maximizing the public space potentials of the canal ecology while positing "triggers" for the growth and diversification of the local economy. This year's studio will address similar goals and concerns while focusing more exclusively on the Public Place site, which is framed by the Smith Street and Canal corridor, between Fourth/Fifth and Huntington Streets.

LISTED UNDER: Comprehensive Studio V Orff Plunz Urban Design

Urban Design Studio III: Re-Centering Barcelona

Why Barcelona? For two decades urban development in Barcelona has been regarded by many observers as the unchallenged model in Europe (or elsewhere) for intelligent urban redevelopment and growth. In the 19th century, Barcelona was the first of the Spanish cities to industrialize, and in the late 20th century it also became the first to "post-industrialize." The circumstances of this recent Renaixença are well-known - an economic transformation beginning in the '60's with the urban in-migrations and the coastal touristic developments; followed by the liberating end of the Franco government in 1975. These circumstances became the catalyst for the extraordinary physical transformations of the city in the '80's, preparatory to the 1992 Olympic Games. The successes of this initiative remain a significant model for addressing similar circumstances in cities everywhere.

LISTED UNDER: Conard Orff Plunz Urban Design Studio III

Urban Design Studio III: Center/Edge Transformations: Rome & Seoul

The subject of the studio is the symbiosis between urban center and edge; in particular on the problematic of “peripheralized” densities at the center and “centralized” densities at the periphery. The sites are located in Rome and Seoul. A dialogue will be established between the two cities and cultures through the exploration of the issue of center and edge.

LISTED UNDER: Conard Orff Plunz Urban Design Studio III