3-Quarter Review

Project Statement:

The orthogonal, grid-based organization of Manhattan is both derived and caters to an outmoded transportation paradigm - one that favors the automobile over carbon-neutral forms of travel. Our project aims at elevating these other modes, inclusive of their infrastructure, to the architecturally-generative position that the automobile maintains today.

Building a Prototype:

As a habitable transportation hub, our site has potential far beyond merely shuffling different modalities. Accepting that would lead to a one-dimensional preoccupation with efficiency. How many of what come in and how do we get them out?

But what if we could encourage a change in behavior? What if we could combine the pleasure of riding a bicycle with the efficiency of mass transportation. The speed of train travel with the tranquiltity of the casual stroll? Can we leave behind our automobiles? Can our site be a filter?

Foundation:

"The private automobile has brought many benefits to city dwellers, but also many negative externalities. The effect of these externalities increases with automobile density. Streets become congested and slow to travel, noisy, polluted, and dangerous, and increasing proportions of valuable urban real estate must be devoted to car parking."

     - William J. Mitchell in "Mobility On Demand: Future of Transportation in Cities."

1. Buildings that respond to the ambivalence emoted by a society to the automobile and the automotive industry.

“Carchitecture has been a long, slow evolutionary response to the problem of accommodating the inherent contradiction of the car; the car will set society free, an automotive society creates traffic, traffic enslaves society.”

     - Jonathan Bell in "Carchitecture."

2. Buildings designed to be seen from cars.

“We are living in a carchitecture age, an era in which most buildings are designed to be seen and appreciated from moving vehicles.

     - Charlene Rooke in “Scenic Drive.”

Preliminary Studies

The diagrams below describe the connectivity of the site at various scales of transportation infrastructure. On the regional level, interstate highways, interregional railways, and two major airports exist. At the scale of city, subways, waterways, and streets connect Queens to the other boroughs. And finally, at the neighborhood level, our site plugs into Long Island City via pedestrian and bicycle paths, in addition to local streets.

Below, the transportation profile of New York City is compared to other cities. Notably only 10% of residents use cycling and walking as a means of commuting. By identifying and profiling individual residents, we can begin to develop an organizational strategy at the level of site. If we can change the behavior of the individual by catering to carbon-neutral modes of transportation, then we can affect the overall profile of the entire city.

The ultimate goal is for our site to be both prototype and catalyst - an entry point to Manhattan that filters out the personal automobile. A gesture we hope to be repeated.

Redefining the Grid

Our initial response was imaging a freedom of movement in and through the site that dispelled the organizational principals associated with fast-moving, vehicular traffic. To journey from one point to another, one needn't travel only north, south, east, or west. Varying angles would create unique intersections, with "blocks" defined by their adjacency to paths of interest.

Paths of interest are in turn defined by points of interest. With the site being both a transportation hub and an affordable housing development, these points fall into one of two categories: transportation node or venue. The former facilitates movement and connection between the various scales of transportation, on or near the site. The latter provides areas for residents and other members of the public to congregate. 

Site Development: Preferencing Carbon Neutrality

The following diagrams illustrate how we've treated the different transportation modes on the site.

Automobile roadway: Subterranean, hence separated from the other modes. The point at which the road converges with other modes is at a building.

Bicycle paths: Elevated to allow for uninterrupted travel and prominent views. All of the paths rise to a height of 16' and arrive at a plinth level at the base of each building. This is where an interaction takes place between pedestrian, cyclist, and building.

LIRR train station: The path from the existing train station and water taxi must be maintained and facilitated to be a direct and easily accessible route. 

Subway route: The closest subway station is to the east and the most direct access point is at the northeast corner of the site. Much of the projects infrastructure will "plug in" to this point.

 The objective is not only to facilitate movement at a functional level, but also appeal to the psychology of the inhabitants as they journey from place to place. The swath above was chosen to detail our intentions at the building and unit scale.

Towards a New Transportation Paradigm

What is envisioned is a reversal of the Manhattan street. Previously, the mass extruded out of the void spaces of the orthogonal grid formed an imposing trench-like feeling for the pedestrian and cyclist. In our conception, the buildings peel away from the inhabitant - almost as if the inhabitant is imposing his or herself on the architecture.

 The initial formal gesture was firstly based on the bicycle paths "carving" through the mass of the site. In essence, the street, which conventionally forms a perimeter around a building, now becomes integrated with the building bases to allow for a seamless integration of living and commuting.

The resulting two masses of Site B (the eastern portion of our swath) are then "peeled" away from the base in order to foster a sense of movement and facilitate views to the sky.

The Ecotect analysis above confirms that staggering the masses, with the shorter buidling to the south, increases the amount of  light both buildings receive. Furthermore, peeling the northern building back and the southern building forward also increases light levels and solar gain.

In addition to issues of light and solar gain, a combination of the climatic conditions of the site and our building form creates a unique opportunity to capture wind energy. The above Ecotect analysis illustrates the high and low pressure areas created by the building form.

The creation of a wind tunnel not only facilitates the capture of wind energy, but also alleviates the high and low pressure areas in the previous analysis. It is also an opportunity to bridge the two towers and create a garden area and common space.

The above Ecotect analysis confirms the alleviation of the previous high and low pressure situation. At the level of the wind tunnel a stream of air passes through the building, producing power from a sustainable source.

Cluster and Unit Development

In developing units and clusters of units, the desire was to foster a sense of community through grouping different sized units with each other around common areas and circulation paths. The lower levels of the building are devoted to ancillary public spaces, with semi-private and private spaces in the floors above.

The five-floor diagrams above illustrate the adjacency of different unit sizes. While each unit type maintains a similar square footage, their arrangement and placement within a cluster is unique.

The "skip-stop" arangement of units is described in the above diagram. Every five floors, a common space floor is sandwiched between two skipped floors. These are floors that have no circulation corridor between units and are used to create two-story units, with opportunities for cross-ventilation.

The top and bottom levels in this cluster are stop levels where there are corridors and access points to the vertical circulation cores.

Commercial and Transportation Level

The base of the building is where multiple transportation modes intersect and overlap. It is also a place where residents and vistors can access ancillary retail and storage areas. The elevated bicycle and pedestrian pathway carves through the podium and continues at the height of 16 feet above grade where it connects to other building podiums at that established height.

The ground level contains public, private, and semi-private parking, as well as various types of retail. It also is a unique viewing area as the bike and pedestrian path carves through and divdes the space. It can be accessed by pedestrians and motor vehicles.

The second floor or plinth level connects the towers with a pair of footbridges that arch over the bike and pedestrian pathway. The majority of spaces on this level are public: restaurants, big-box stores, a bicycle shop, library, cafe, supermarket and various other types of retail. Bicycle storage lockers for residents are located near the elevators, and are the only private areas.

The third floor contains a combination of private, semi-private, and public areas. Public spaces are mainly retail but also includes the second storey of the library. A recreation room, fitness center, office, and study area make up the private and semi-private spaces.