Infrastructural Voids in congested cities [New York]
photographs by joaquin mosquera
Infrastructural Voids in congested cities [New York]
photographs and text by
joaquin mosquera www.impresionesdearquitectura.com
Contents
Exhibition dates Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Madrid COAM January-February, 2011 Copyright Photographs by Joaquin Mosquera Cover Illustration Red frame - Greenpoint Avenue, John Jay Byrne Bridge, Newtown Creek, between Brooklyn and Queens, November 2010
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Differentiation
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Superposition
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Contrast
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Foreword joaquin mosquera
THE RESEARCH: ARCHITECTURE AND PHOTOGRAPHY
This publication is about some specific spaces. Architecture and photography work in paralell to give different visions of their possibilities and sometimes, they coincide. In the case of Infrastructural Voids, the goal has been working together, architecture and photography, to provide a better understanding of their reality, spatial and projectual, making a research about present and future, about complexities and possibilities. This part of the research is the representational, using photography as a way to talk about a reality, being conciouss of its importance and wishing to cause a public discussion.
1. WHAT’S AN INFRASTRUCTURAL VOID?
Infrastructural voids are empty spaces inside city congestion that have the peculiarity of having enough scale and proximity with dense city to be extremely relevant and, at the same time, that are completely underused as places of chaos, disorder and general infrastructures. They are the symbols of present congestion, precisely because they are some of the only existing remaining free spaces in high-dense cities. This paradox is used as the tool for working, and their most important characteristics are: -their intermediate scale between architecture and urbanism. -their position within a network that affects many fields outside architecture. The representation of these elements is then fundamental for understanding their complexities and common characteristics. This work, then, will become a study of the uncertainty of urban forms, being about looking inside cities, and understanding that even the cities that seem congested are not completed. It’s no more about architecture but about what architects or urban planners haven’t usually thought about.
“Where there is nothing, everything is possible. Where there is architecture, nothing (else) is possible” Rem Koolhaas, S,M,L,XL 6
2. WHERE ARE THEY?
The two most relevant things about their situation is the proximity or even their insertion in city centers and the surprising surface that they affect to the city. This research is focused in the study of New York. Last big voids are placed in situations where infrastructures, mainly transportation, plays a fundamental role. Once the city is congested, and growth seems impossible, the market seeks new spaces for opportunity. These spaces will become, sooner or later, the object of development. These spaces are being right now the Infrastructural Voids.
TOTAL ESTIMATED: 617 ha
QUEENSBORO AREA SURFACE - 100 ha
CENTRAL PARK: 341 ha
2 miles (3220 m)
GREENPOINT SURFACE - 116 ha
2 miles (3220 m)
HUDSON RAIL YARDS SURFACE - 72 ha 0.7 miles (1150 m)
NORTH DUMBO SURFACE - 132 ha 1.3 miles (2,000 m)
0.5 miles (830 m)
ATLANTIC RAILYARDS SURFACE - 6.75 ha
GOWANUS SURFACE - 190 ha 1,5 miles (2,400 m)
Map showing estimated surfaces of closest Infrastructural Voids to Manhattan Almost twice the surface of Central Park is occupied in New York by Infrastructural Voids
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1 DIFFERENTIATION
Borden Avenue, Queens. November 2010
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Thomson Avenue, Queens Plaza area, October 2009
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Greenpoint Avenue, John Jay Byrne Bridge, Newtown Creek, between Brooklyn and Queens, November 2010
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Honeywell Street, Queens Plaza area. November 2010
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Thomson Avenue, Queens Plaza area, October 2009
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Queens Boulevard and Northern Avenue, Queens Plaza area. November 2009
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Hunters Point Avenue and 30th Street, Greenpoint area. November 2010
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Provost Street and Green Street, Greenpoint area, Brooklyn. November 2010
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Thomson Avenue and 44th Dr, Queens Plaza area, October 2010
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Thomson Avenue and 44th Dr, Queens Plaza area, October 2010
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2 SUPERPOSITION
Queens Boulevard, Queens Plaza area. October 2010
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Pulaski Bridge, Queens. November 2010
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Greenpoint Avenue, John Jay Byrne Bridge, Newtown Creek, between Brooklyn and Queens, November 2010
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49th Avenue and Skillman Avenue, Queens Plaza area. October 2010
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Skillman Avenue and 47th Street, Queens Plaza area. October 2010
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Honeywell Street, Queens Plaza area. November 2009
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Down Queensboro bridge, Queens Plaza area. October 2009
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Pulaski Bridge, Newtown Creek, between Brooklyn and Queens. November 2010
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Honeywell Street, Queens Plaza area. November 2009
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Honeywell Street. Queens Plaza Area. November 2009
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Honeywell Street, Queens Plaza Area. November 2009
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Columbia Street, Gowanus Canal, October 2010
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Court Street, Gowanus Canal, October 2010
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3 CONTRAST
Northern Boulevard, Queens Plaza area. November 2009
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Washington Bridge, Manhattan. September 2010
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Skillman Avenue and 34th Street, Queens Plaza Area. November 2009
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Skillman Avenue adn 34th Street, Queens Plaza Area. November 2009
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Davis Street, Queens Plaza area. October 2009
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Davis Street, Queens Plaza area. October 2009
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Riverside Park, Manhattan. October 2009
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Riverside Park, Manhattan. October 2009
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Infrastructural Voids in congested cities [New York]
photographs by joaquin mosquera www.impresionesdearquitectura.com