Hamilton Ave Footbridge, Striving for Urban Resilience

The Hamilton Ave Footbridge Striving for Urban Resilience

The Making of a Regenerative and Lively Connection Beyond Infrastructure Architecture for a restless environment. Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York City

MASTER DISSERTATION PROJECT ELIAS BEY

Transforming Infrastructure This project aims to improve the existing urban network and develop a vivid bridge that extends beyond infrastructure to become a destination as part of a new urban fabric. By looking for a new type of architecture and urbanism it unlocks the potential of a pedestrian bridge located in Brooklyn, New York City. Through a critical investigation, a multilayered urban intervention grafts its position on this bridge. Exploring the different modes of movement through the disrupted street patterns of Red Hook, it becomes clear that a neighbourhood on the southern tip of Brooklyn is ruptured and cut off by the 287 Gowanus Expressway Interstate. Its confined nature and ability to strengthen pedestrian and cyclist routes question adaptability for its users. All this is about how the bridge can be extended as cultural and social components of the city by incorporating all linked scales in its design. A better functioning public transport network, provides the scalable connectivity of the growing interest in development and subsequent densification, It answers to the needs of local stakeholders and it’s dealing with the rising threat of flooding near the waterfront. Following the eclectic character of its surroundings, this project shapes itself around the existing highway infrastructure and pushes it to its boundaries. The link imposes a new culture which dodges the way this neighbourhood will advance in the near future. Meanwhile, the existing layout should be respected as a prime directive.

s project aims to improve the existing urban network and elop a vivid bridge that extends beyond infrastructure become a destination as part of a new urban fabric. By king for a new type of architecture and urbanism it unlocks potential of a pedestrian bridge located in Brooklyn, New k City. ough a critical investigation, a multilayered urban ervention grafts its position on this bridge. Exploring the erent modes of movement through the disrupted street ELIAS BEY terns of Red Hook, it becomes clear that a neighbourhood eliasbey.com the southern tip of Brooklyn is ruptured and cut off by the contact@eliasbey.com 7 Gowanus Expressway Interstate. Its confined nature and +32 477 89 49 96 ity to strengthen pedestrian and cyclist routes question aptability for its users. All this is about how the bridge can extended as cultural and social components of the city by orporating all linked scales in its design.

Master of Science in Architecture Campus Ghent better functioning public transport network, provides the Ku Leuven, Faculty of Architecture, Campus Ghent, Belgium lable connectivity of the growing interest in development d subsequent densification, It answers to the needs of local keholders and it’s dealing with the rising threat of flooding ar the waterfront. lowing the eclectic character of its surroundings, project shapes itself around the existing highway astructure and pushes it to its boundaries. The link imposes ST-Group Ghent 2017 - 2018 Master of Science inwill Architecture Campus Ghent ew culture which dodges the way thisST-Group neighbourhood Ghent 2017 - 2018 Published inFaculty the spring of 2018 Ku Leuven, of Architecture, Campus Ghent, Belgium ance in the near future. Meanwhile,Published the existing layout in the spring of 2018 uld be respected as a prime directive.Master Disseration Project Spring 2018 Master Disseration Project Spring 2018 With prof. Kris Scheerlinck With prof. Kris Scheerlinck Editing by Carol Eckman & Erika Van Holme Editing by Carol Eckman & Erika Van Holme

Hamilton Ave Footbridge Striving for for Urban Urban Resilience Resilience Striving

The Making Making of of aa Regenerative Regenerative and and Lively Lively Connection Connection The

Beyond Infrastructure Infrastructure Beyond

Architecturefor foraarestless restlessenvironment. environment.Red RedHook, Hook,Brooklyn, Brooklyn,New NewYork YorkCity City Architecture

ELIASBEY BEY ELIAS MasterDissertation DissertationProject, Project,Spring Spring2018 2018 Master

INDEX

6

FOREWORD

8

1: RED HOOK AND THE HAMILTON AVE FOOTBRIDGE

12

1.1: Engagement in this complex setting: Hamilton Av. 1.2: Three topics applied, the narration as a reading of space: 1.2.1: Segregation as a design tool: 1.2.2: Vacancy as iconicity 1.2.3. Location as a discriminatory disadvantage or as a future of hope

2: HICKS STREETS X NELSON STREET: PRESENT ENTITIES

24

3: CREATING CONTRAST, RED HOOK MAPPED

28

3.1: The current state of the Hamilton Avenue footbridge 3.2: The intersection of Nelson-street and Hicks street: 3.3: Red Hook mapped. Social dynamics, demography, etc. A reading of its complexities.

48

4: GENTRIFICATION AS A MIXED BLESSING 4.1: The allocation of people with money 4.2: The theorists vs. the policymakers vs. developers and architects.

5: HOW ROADS KILL CITIES AND THE NEED FOR CHANGE AFTER 40+ YEARS OF SEPARATION IN RED HOOK.

56

6: A MULTILAYERED DESIGN AS THE SALVATION FOR THIS LOCATION AND ALL ITS CONNECTED SCALES

60

7: ECONOMIC, ECOLOGICAL AND INFRASTRUCTURAL RELEVANCE TROUGH DATA (and some maps)

64

7.1: Traffic 7.1.1: Taming the beast 7.1.2: Future plans discarded 7.2: Commuters 7.3: (Unfortunate) Events 7.3.1: Participatory design 7.3.2: Communal programming: 7.4: Power 8: REDEFINING LEVELS OF COLLECTIVITY

84

9: UTOPIAN FORMS, VISIONS OF THE ALTERNATIVE

90

9.1 references

96

10: MAKING WAY FOR TECTONICS, ALL LAYERS INCLUDED 10.1: Creating space considering the presented theorethical framework 10.2: Photos of the local environment 10.3: A series of static schemes and drawings leading to initial design proposals.

11: PRELIMINARY DRAFT

112

12: INITIAL DESIGN CHOISES

122

13: PLANS, SECTIONS AND FINAL LAYOUT, CONSTRUCTION AND DETAILS

138

14: BUILDING PERFORMANCE, STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS AND SUSTAINABILITY

158

15: STAKEHOLDERS REVISED, WHO CONTROLS WHAT AND IN WHICH WAY

166

16: THE INTERVENTION AND ITS SETTING

172

17: EPILOGE

176

18: BIBLIOGRAPHY AND READING LIST

178

19: CREDITS

180 7

FOREWORD

8

The The initial initial approach approach of of my my investigation investigation isis aa reflection reflection on on the the ambivalent ambivalent nature nature of of architecture. architecture. AA theme theme resulting resultingfrom fromthe theever-changing ever-changingway wayof oflooking lookingat atthe the‘métier’ ‘métier’as asaamaster masterstudent studentand andnovice. novice.

Spending Spendingmuch muchofofmy mythe time time asas aa master masterstudent studentaround aroundthe theworld; world;Aarhus Aarhus in in Denmark, London, New New York York City Cityand andSantiago Santiagode deChile Chilerevealed revealedaalevel levelof ofcomplexity complexityand andintertwining intertwiningeffect effectbetween betweenurban urbandesign designand and architecture. architecture.Design Design(architectural (architecturaland andurban) urban)as asIIlearned learnedit, it,must mustbe beseen seenas asaagreater greatercultural culturalenterprise, enterprise, an anexperience experiencedealing dealingwith withthe thecomplex complexnature natureof ofpeople peopleand andplaces. places.In Inaalarger largercontext, context,design designand andspecial special practices practicesare arean anappropriation appropriationof ofwell-being, well-being,solidarity, solidarity,and andinhabitation. inhabitation.But Butnot notsimply simplyby byforms. forms.In Inrecent recent times, times, itit came came to to mind mind that that to to neutralize neutralize architectures architectures regulating regulating forces forces by by making making itself itself available available for for free free and andfor foreveryone, everyone,ititshould shouldinfluence influencethe thepublic publicrealm realmin inaamore moresensitive sensitivemanner. manner. Defined Definedby bybarriers barrierswhich which are are the the result result of of unforeseen, unforeseen, faulty faulty designs designs or or the the culture culture of of appropriation appropriation of of shared shared spaces spaces less less forced forced behaviour behaviourof ofusers userswould wouldbe bethe theoutcome. outcome.By Byapplying applyingrules rulesor oractors actorswith withcertain certainfunctionalities, functionalities,the thepresent present engagement engagementthrough throughthe thecreation creationof ofdifferent differentmindsets mindsetswithin withinits itsforce forcefield fieldwould wouldhelp helpdiversify diversifyand andactivate activate the theplatform platformon onwhich whichititisisfixed. fixed.This Thisis, is,by byno nomeans meansaacall callfor foraanew newway wayfor fordesigning designingaasocial socialproject, project,nor nor does doesititrefer referto todifferent differentforms formsof ofsocially sociallyrelevant relevantpractices practiceswhich whichare aredoing doingso sowell wellin inrecent recentyears. years.Neither Neither isisititaaform formof ofdesign designactivism activismthat thatbrings bringsback backthe therole roleof ofthe thearchitect architectand andrenewed renewedinterest interestin inthe theagency agency of of architecture architecture users users nor nor simply simply aa creative creative discussion discussion on on the the act act of of communing communing of of ‘do-it-yourself‘ ‘do-it-yourself‘ tactics. tactics.

(Boano (BoanoCamilo, Camilo,2014) 2014)My Mypremise premiseisisto toallow allowarchitecture architectureto tobecome becomean anagent agentfor forfree freeuse useand andaccess accessto tothe the amenities amenitiesof ofaapublic publicrealm, realm,and andneutralize neutralizethe theconfining confiningforce forcethat thatarchitecture architectureand andcity cityplanning planningimposes imposes on on the the inhabitants inhabitants of of aa small small city city or or neighborhood. neighborhood. II propose propose to to apply apply these these concepts concepts that that recognize recognize the the necessity necessityfor forfree freemovement movementwithin withinaasmall, small,gentrifying gentrifyingarea areasuch suchas asRed RedHook Hookin inBrooklyn.

Brooklyn.

This This paper paper isis aa recognition recognition of of the the need need to to include include architecture architecture as as aa force force within within the the remaking remaking of of aa neighborhood, neighborhood,allowing allowingititto tofunction functionas asaasocially sociallyrelevant relevanttool. tool.This Thiscould couldbe beconstrued construedas asaaform formof ofdesign. design.

Activism Activism returns returns architecture architecture to to an an ethical ethical and and creative creative practice practice to to open open new new uses uses and and possibilities. possibilities. This This would would allow allow development development to to become become aa potentially potentially transformative transformative tool, tool, with with the the responsibility responsibility for for social social intervention. intervention.“This “Thisendeavour endeavoursketches sketchesthe thepossibility possibilityof ofdefective defectivearchitecture architectureto tocreate createan anethical ethicalshift shiftto to capture capturethe theenactment enactmentof ofarrogance arrogancewhich whichrelies relieson oncreative creativepower powerto toproduce produceand andcontrol controlspatial spatialrealities. realities.

The The rhetoric rhetoric and and grounded grounded superiority superiority of of enforcing enforcing ‘the ‘the right right solution solution for for the the future’ future’ and and the the reduction reduction of of politics politics by by translating translating them them into into production production will will simply simply not not be be enough enough or or won’t won’t even even work work at at all.” all.” (Boano (Boano Camilo, Camilo,2014) 2014)IIsuggest suggestthat thatall allelements, elements,from fromthe theconfiguration configurationof ofbuildings buildingsand androads roadsto tothe therelationships relationships between between the the inhabitants inhabitants be be taken taken into into consideration. consideration. Looking Looking at at the the projects projects in in my my portfolio, portfolio, II frequently frequently encounter encounter practical, practical, concise concise and and otherwise otherwise practical practical design design solutions solutions that that do do not not consider consider the the agency agency of of its itsstakeholders. stakeholders. Developing Developing aa proposal that counteracts what is is accepted acceptedas as“natural “naturalexpansion” expansion”isisatatthe the

9

heart of this complex proposal for a paradoxical area such as Red Hook. I am grateful for the intelligence and guidance from my outstanding professors Martin Hurtado, Luc Reuse, Hugo Vanheste, CJ Lim, Chris Thurlbourne etc.

Although the objective of this project is to connect and counteract upon both large scale, and the local scale issues, it would possibly be hard to change the course of the inevitable future expansion of Red Hook. As New York City is primarily driven by capitalism and private interest, little room is spared interact upon the public sphere. There is no way to stop the unfortunate hunger and search for new frontiers of families and developers or other new settlers and their way of living in existing cultures. Snaking behind the fashionable appropriation of old or abandoned buildings and spaces recreated by artists and creative minds which step by step alienate the look and feel of whole neighbourhoods. In a way, a project like the one which will be showcased in this book, might not even change at any apparent scale viewed from the already fancy lives near the waterfront. But on a local scale, where the crossing of Nelson-street and Hicks street is situated, its oil-tank sanitizing company and small similar industries, its occupants and families in the surrounding houses, its schools (on both sides of Hamilton Ave) and the non-engaging nature in which it is connected with the surrounding streets, is depending on the uses of all individual elements.

An act of inclusiveness to connect separated urban elements and surrounding stakeholders might be the answer to spatial urban issues far beyond the local disconnection made by highway infrastructure. This can be a chance to start over, to re-link streetscapes and local borders. In places where locals have been living next to a terrain but never had the chance to enter it in their entire life.

Hereby, establishing new standards of dealing with cases of whole neighbourhoods separated by highways in the near future. To fight against painful decisions made by a previous generation of city planners and important people. Being a leading example to step back on ancient actions of urban renewal projects or call it ‘former ethnic cleansing’ without needing to cover up highways or make huge masterplans. The scope of issues this project tries to deal with lay far beyond Red Hook, Brooklyn, or Manhattan. It is entering a discussion on a global level. In the light of this, from the visual perception to the level of accessibility or permeability. In this location, the collaboration of factors like proximity where living environments and adjacent urban programs coexist, the relation with these large-scale infrastructures verifies a transformation of the urban fabric that depends on how the inhabitants interact with it. A pivotal scale presented as a combination of highway infrastructure and pedestrian pathways is a narration of the relation of single users and a close impact of local infrastructure. Considered this is the only way in which we can quantify insights or

10

research over the present qualities of spatial elimination. If levels of proximity, or the adjacency of buildings act as agents of transformation of the urban landscape, the spatial reading of the Hamilton footbridge and its threefold closure is in that sense a profound case to elaborate upon the topic. The Streetscape Territories framework offers a compelling yet elaborate way of looking at spatial bodies and how they perform in their setting.

The present access control which exists because of applied building codes and ownership by city management associations in this location conflicts with the way space can be improved for all linked actors.

Who gets access to which spaces and when or how it happens is defined by (un)intentional crossing of layers upon layers of borders. Some more subtle than others. Duty-bound, because of private interest or preference or simply growing over time. The amount of conformism which is involved over decades of acceptance and silent appropriation of locals by using vacant spaces and curbs to extend their businesses here is in that sense striking. There is no rapid growth nor extreme change in conditions of territory in which actors or cultures transform them and while real estate pressure and land value are building up near the waterfront, this dead corner of Red Hook is left out. But simultaneously, it could be a primer landmark of reconfiguring future growth and important access points for all vulnerable road users that include areas which are currently omitted by tourists or visitors.

The change of scale of its constituent infrastructures generates a change in the intensity the landscape is programmed and is experienced. The fragile and narrow connection of both sides of the highway forces a particular way of use which can only be described as the transition of scales. A set of relative distances viewed from the pedestrian’s mind is first created by the complete cut off of passages that relate to the orthogonal street pattern and secondly by the applied strategies, or a thorough execution of distance regulations of the building code. The present nature of openness on both sides of the footbridges might rise opportunities for multiplicity of functions which add value to its current state. Vacancy can, for instance, be a way to enforce the power of in-between spaces, and the level of functional specificity they bring forward in the afterlife of the touchdown infrastructure in the streetscape. Once building programs change after decades and local development made some leaps into changing into a dense area, open spaces can become a gift from the past.

Openness can certainly play a structural role in the urban flow when connecting multiple scales. So can voids and gaps, narrowed pathways and seemingly ‘forced’ routes help to create urban sequences and rhythms that could not exist and help create a non-programmatic specification that enforces sudden abundance of activities versus unplanned uses in the area. (K. Scheerlinck; Y. Schoonjans; H. Van Damme, 2016)

11

1. RED HOOK AND THE HAMILTON AVE FOOTBRIDGE

12

1.1: Engagement in this complex setting: Hamilton Av.

“The idea of design is not static but interpretative. Participation is an encounter, an exchange between the people who live in the direct proximity and far beyond. The exclusivity of architecture seen within the urban fabric together with its conservative specialized language and representation are far away from the agenda of people who actively want to engage in a project.” (C. Boano, 2014) For Giancarlo de Carlo, thinking, planning, taking action, theory and practice were keywords he resembled as ‘reflective practice’. (D. Schön, 1983) In which participation is conceptualized as a realistic utopia. A practice that inhabits architecture as a tool that listens to the real and somehow suggests aspects of the practice to be reconsidered within the cycle of production. Intent, role of stakeholders and product included.

Without adopting a ‘beyond-expert culture’, he implies not completely dismantling architectural knowledge and practice but to displace it, to reposition it and re-situate it in a larger context. A larger context that in this case contains the notion of hard complex borders and everyday life actions. He implies first of all that there is no need for a theoretical framework for participation, but the need and energy to escape autonomy.

Secondly, the answers of a ‘good architect’ to participatory questions are always personal and require a set of transgressions. (C. Boano, 2014) The architecture he creates, known as ‘autonimía’ should engage with some central territories.

The terrain where an alternative narrative of resistance becomes the symbol of a new urban struggle, which is present in Red Hook, a neighbourhood where so-called ghetto characteristics are present. “The new

13

demographic form of the epicentre and the global appetite of urban renewal make this part of the city a sweet spot for the recreation of the paradigm of dysfunctional consumed modernity. An incubator for future plans where only the vertical space allows for an innovative design strategy.” (M. Ghandy, 2005) A trend that will soon repeat itself just like it did in New Jersey or Williamsburg. The possible future for Red Hook is in that sense partially written and upcoming innovations can either embrace this trend or radicalize and call for a halt by altering this linear trajectory.

The fluid social drift and quick development of large cities cannot be taken lightly nor can it be understood as a simplistic act of expansion or justification (theoretical or geographical) but as recognition. “A starting point and a re-situation of urban conditions. There is at first: the production of forms, spaces and constructed environments and secondly; spatial processes and its political forces. Both recalibrate a narrative of urban design. But, the aim is to avoid the reductionist approach of its preoccupations with space determinism, special fix and neoliberal corporate aesthetics.” (C. Boano 2014)

1.2: Three topics narrated as a reading of space

As a pleading for the right topic or keywords to depict this location I selected three key components which transformed into phrases to inject as design strategies, and an initial layout for this discourse to later learn about more profoundly. All responding to the elaborate framework provided by the Streetscape Territories in which this reflection paper finds its roots.

1.2.1: Segregation as a design tool

“For the constitution of the extreme spatial organization which takes place in New York, it shows an evolution of sorts. The present urbanism was founded on the principles of exclusion by welth and growth within a fixed pattern. Phenomena which alternate between exclusion and control at the same time, are a modification of how city councillors picture the city with its inhabitants, and in the process conceiving a politically charged urban charter where the metropolis lives in an enlightened stateof confusion.” (G. Agamben, 2009) What I argue, is that Agamben’s theory can support more than an identification of the fence or the wall.

Instead, it can explain the border –as being physically present in this location- within a larger panorama where the ruptured space becomes not just a symptom to be addressed with a critical intervention, but also a systemic representation with a high proximity in the reach of urbanism. It is for a fact, that these stacked up platforms are the result of highly logical thinking. To improve connectivity from point A to point the highest

14

velocity, the present structure –in whatever shape or form- must make way. The created severance, in this case, made the sudden eruption of gloomy drowsiness that is present on the street corner of Nelson Street and Hicks Street a part of the identity with an impact that reaches for many blocks towards the waterfront. I does not stays within the perimeter of only a few houses. It would be a shame that the suggested intervention solely depends on the arrogance and creative power of an architect to produce and control special future realities. The spatial character that is present now should not be improved, but should rather be taken into account or even included in the design. In order to do so, the intervention has proved its relevance to the community of Red Hook.

1.2.2: Vacancy as iconicity

The Hamilton Ave Footbridge is for many inhabitants and users the only conceivable confined connection for their commute and at the same time an unwelcoming place to be. This place is a representation enacted, by its way of use, as a creation of a stratified vision of the city.

The seemingly vacant but fenced ‘urban brownfield’ where the footbridge touches down is the theatre of the whole urban exceptionality. Currently, dedicated to allocating transportation and construction equipment, the fenced piece of land becomes a symbol of this place in its own right. As it is enclosed, it remains sealed for use for all the inhabitants and users using its adjacent infrastructure, though they must look at it every day. After all, a ’security fence’ is a tool to repel those who do not belong there. From an architect’s view, it remains at odds on whether to call it a ‘barrier’ of separation. Crucial here is not to just the fence but the spatial and temporal distribution and regulation of the space as what Foucault called ‘productive ordering’, showing that things need to be intelligible to be manageable and manageable to be productive. (M. Faucoult, 2007) The theory of the vacant land being conceived as a deadly architectural code of the corporation for referents, places and meanings in multiplicity of functions performed over the simple functioning aesthetic.

1.2.3: Location as a discriminatory disadvantage or as a future of hope

What is rendered inoperative, is an activity directed towards a goal, to open it to new uses.’ Hereby it does not remove the old activity, but rather exposes and exhibits it. (F.V. Perucich; C. Boano; F. de Ferari; D. Grass, 2016) The spatial attitude accomplished by the scenery of the Hamilton footbridge and the uniqueness created by its parts is in a way the only factor of the initial fondness. Its absence of any activity seen as an action rather than a destruction of active modes.

Within this location does not lay the potential to change the course of future development in the light of the

15

flood hazard that Red Hook must cope with in a while or even right now. Rather, because of the fragility of the connection, the small pedestrian bridge might help to think about what the programmatic agency of this place can be. Does it even disserves this at all? In short, currently, it does not. What would another layer of complexity add to this urban obstacle to improve the situation?

The relevance off making this project part of a larger discussion on the urban scale is closer and more pertinent than one could think. Big development with a strong focus on the transformation of warehouses into lofts, or the implementation of a layer with corporate economies into the newly a built ‘resilient and sustainable’ environment is how neighbourhoods like Red Hook silently crumble.

In the light of this, it takes a few steps from the visual perception to the level of accessibility or permeability.

The collaboration of factors like proximity where living environments and adjacent urban programs coexist, the relation with these large-scale infrastructures verifies a transformation of the urban fabric. It depends on how the inhabitants interact with it. A pivotal scale presented as a combination of highway infrastructure and pedestrian pathways is a narration of the relation of single users and a close impact of local infrastructure.

Considered this is the only way in which we can quantify insights or research over the present qualities of spatial elimination. If levels of proximity, or the adjacency of buildings act as agents of transformation of the urban landscape, the spatial reading of the Hamilton footbridge and its threefold closure is in that sense a profound case to elaborate upon the topic. The Streetscape Territories framework offers a compelling yet elaborate way of looking at spatial bodies and how they perform in their setting.

The present access control which exists because of applied building codes and ownership by city management associations in this location conflicts with the way space can be improved for all linked actors.

Who gets access to which spaces and when? How it happens, is defined by (un)intentional crossing of layers upon layers of borders. Some more subtle than others. Duty-bound, because of private interest or preference or simply growing over time. The amount of conformism which is involved over decades of acceptance and silent appropriation of locals by using vacant spaces and curbs to extend their businesses here is in that sense striking. There is no rapid growth nor extreme change in conditions of territory in which actors or cultures transform them. While real estate pressure and land value are building up near the waterfront, this dead corner of Red Hook is left out. But simultaneously, it could be a primer landmark of reconfiguring future growth and important access points for all vulnerable road users that include areas which are currently omitted by tourists or visitors.

The change of scale of its constituent infrastructures generates a change in the intensity. The landscape is programmed and experienced. The fragile and narrow connection of both sides of the highway forces

16

AN APPARATUS OF NECESSITY An ‘almost’ impenetrable barrier of separation. Stubbornly eager to maintain its identity.

17

a particular way of use which can only be described as the transition of scales. A set of relative distances viewed from the pedestrian’s mind is first created by the complete cut off of passages. It is relate to the orthogonal street pattern. Secondly, it is also related by the applied strategies, or a thorough execution of distance regulations of the building code. The present nature of openness on both sides of the footbridges might rise opportunities for multiplicity of functions which add value to its current state. Vacancy can, for instance, be a way to enforce the power of in-between spaces, and the level of functional specificity. It brings it forward in the afterlife of the touchdown infrastructure in the streetscape.

Once building programs change after decades and local development made some leaps into changing into a dense area, open spaces can become a gift from the past. Openness can certainly play a structural role in the urban flow when connecting multiple scales.

So can voids and gaps, narrowed pathways and seemingly ‘forced’ routes help to create urban sequences and rhythms that could otherwise not exist and help create a non-programmatic specification that enforces sudden abundance of activities versus unplanned uses in the area. (K. Scheerlinck; Y. Schoonjans; H. Van

18

Damme, 2016) So if the exclusion, regarding its current state of connectivity is a bad thing in this case, Is there ever a way of making sure an intervention to improve its current state tackles the right issue with the right answer. The tension of spatial segregations as referred to as a border - in this case it is made by the present colossal infrastructure of the 287 and 478 highways to New Jersey- is perhaps a more traditional reading on the spaces of exception and a tool of urban development. The segregated part of the Red Hook neighbourhood is the result of an institutionalized practice of control and probably necessary under the current logic of

SEGREGATION AS A DESIGN TOOL VACANCY AS ICONICITY LOCATION AS A DISCRIMINATORY DISADVANTAGE OR AS A FUTURE OF HOPE

PRESENT HARD BORDERS MAKE UP FOR A CONFINED CONNECTION

THERE IS AN AGENCY WITHIN A VACANT SPACE AND THE CUMULATIVE OF ITS SURROUNDED MIXED USE FLOOD HAZARDNOUS RESULTS AS INDICATOR FOR INBALANCE IN INVESTMENTS

urban functionalism and political dynamics. It feels as if a rigid hierarchy is constructed in which the agency of displaced people is not considered, nor the fluidity of relationships, spatially or politically recognized.

New York has built upon a spatial narrative where Brooklyn and in this case the separation between Carroll Gardens and Red Hook is left for what it is and will not easily be doubt with. Not because there is no need to change the current state of discontinuity, but it is just not feasible with current conditions.

The connection via the highway and its accompanying touch down infrastructure is simply needed to connect the west and east side of the Upper Bay. This rough separation of districts results in another way of dealing with the translocation of its inhabitants, another approach to connectivity with the city centre and a tormented idea of belonging to a certain place. This paradigm, to say the least, is almost irreversible. People grew up being geographically excluded or separated from the start. Many citizens might not even know of a time before this piece of infrastructure crossed through their neighbourhood, whipping out family houses and expropriating

19

20

their businesses. What grows out of this though, is the creation of exceptions for individuals. The evolution of local growth throughout time brought different problems with it. Fundamentally, the need of dominance produces a dissonance of citizenship. Either by class, gender, race, or ethnicity that produces spatialities and subjectivities. So human labelling which materializes into spatial forms as well as social relationships between groups and more importantly, the way of perceiving urban life in Red Hook. Though, it becomes clear that far from being linear, the resulted spaces and the lives of the inhabitants of this logic urbanism are like the city itself: multiple, parallel, crosscutting and relentless. (R. MartĂŠm, Boano C. 2013)

It comes to mind, to say the least, that this border is omnipresent. As well in the daily life of Red Hook inhabitants, as in the perspective of the urban conception of probably all New Yorkers, the created barrier is fundamental for the existing culture present at both sides. Like a river, it cuts through the urban landscape.

Northerners and southerners live side by side, rubbing shoulders with one other along a bustling thoroughfare when crossing the narrow connection that joins them. (E. Liu, C. Lim, 2011) The border between north and south could dissolve under a tented city where crowds from the two populations would gather to race carriages during springtime. Thus, the footbridge, once the flood is there, will be bringing with mercantile barges, pontoons on which pageants will be held and dramas enacted. The ornate columns and beams of former unsustainable traffic controllers and clusters of massive iron and concrete pillars will only endure because of the difficulties presented by their demolition. But it will be these that are appropriate to support the foundations of a new lively connection.

Discontinuous Cities “The great river cleaves the metropolis into two halves, separating its inhabitants into two proud self-proclaimed tribes. Divided not by creed, race or language, it is unlikely that a visitor would be able to discern one from the other. Indeed, a native from the south might fail to recognize one from the north or vice versa, but if the origins of one of them were to be disclosed, their differences would become immediately apparent and magnified.�

(E. Liu, C. Lim, 2011)

21

demographic form of the epicentre and the global appetite of urban renewal make this part of the city a sweet spot for the recreation of the paradigm of dysfunctional consumed modernity. An incubator for future plans where only the vertical space allows for an innovative design strategy.” (M. Ghandy, 2005) A trend that will soon repeat itself just like it did in New Jersey or Williamsburg. The possible future for Red Hook is in that sense partially written and upcoming innovations can either embrace this trend or radicalize and call for a halt by altering this linear trajectory.

The fluid social drift and quick development of large cities cannot be taken lightly nor can it be understood as a simplistic act of expansion or justification (theoretical or geographical) but as recognition. “A starting point and a re-situation of urban conditions. There is at first: the production of forms, spaces and constructed environments and secondly; spatial processes and its political forces. Both recalibrate a narrative of urban design. But, the aim is to avoid the reductionist approach of its preoccupations with space determinism, special fix and neoliberal corporate aesthetics.” (C. Boano 2014)

1.2: Three topics narrated as a reading of space

As a pleading for the right topic or keywords to depict this location I selected three key components which transformed into phrases to inject as design strategies, and an initial layout for this discourse to later learn about more profoundly. All responding to the elaborate framework provided by the Streetscape Territories in which this reflection paper finds its roots.

1.2.1: Segregation as a design tool

“For the constitution of the extreme spatial organization which takes place in New York, it shows an evolution of sorts. The present urbanism was founded on the principles of exclusion by welth and growth within a fixed pattern. Phenomena which alternate between exclusion and control at the same time, are a modification of how city councillors picture the city with its inhabitants, and in the process conceiving a politically charged urban charter where the metropolis lives in an enlightened stateof confusion.” (G. Agamben, 2009) What I argue, is that Agamben’s theory can support more than an identification of the fence or the wall.

Instead, it can explain the border –as being physically present in this location- within a larger panorama where the ruptured space becomes not just a symptom to be addressed with a critical intervention, but also a systemic representation with a high proximity in the reach of urbanism. It is for a fact, that these stacked up platforms are the result of highly logical thinking. To improve connectivity from point A to point the highest

22

velocity, the present structure –in whatever shape or form- must make way. The created severance, in this case, made the sudden eruption of gloomy drowsiness that is present on the street corner of Nelson Street and Hicks Street a part of the identity with an impact that reaches for many blocks towards the waterfront. I does not stays within the perimeter of only a few houses. It would be a shame that the suggested intervention solely depends on the arrogance and creative power of an architect to produce and control special future realities. The spatial character that is present now should not be improved, but should rather be taken into account or even included in the design. In order to do so, the intervention has proved its relevance to the community of Red Hook.

1.2.2: Vacancy as iconicity

The Hamilton Ave Footbridge is for many inhabitants and users the only conceivable confined connection for their commute and at the same time an unwelcoming place to be. This place is a representation enacted, by its way of use, as a creation of a stratified vision of the city.

The seemingly vacant but fenced ‘urban brownfield’ where the footbridge touches down is the theatre of the whole urban exceptionality. Currently, dedicated to allocating transportation and construction equipment, the fenced piece of land becomes a symbol of this place in its own right. As it is enclosed, it remains sealed for use for all the inhabitants and users using its adjacent infrastructure, though they must look at it every day. After all, a ’security fence’ is a tool to repel those who do not belong there. From an architect’s view, it remains at odds on whether to call it a ‘barrier’ of separation. Crucial here is not to just the fence but the spatial and temporal distribution and regulation of the space as what Foucault called ‘productive ordering’, showing that things need to be intelligible to be manageable and manageable to be productive. (M. Faucoult, 2007) The theory of the vacant land being conceived as a deadly architectural code of the corporation for referents, places and meanings in multiplicity of functions performed over the simple functioning aesthetic.

1.2.3: Location as a discriminatory disadvantage or as a future of hope

What is rendered inoperative, is an activity directed towards a goal, to open it to new uses.’ Hereby it does not remove the old activity, but rather exposes and exhibits it. (F.V. Perucich; C. Boano; F. de Ferari; D. Grass, 2016) The spatial attitude accomplished by the scenery of the Hamilton footbridge and the uniqueness created by its parts is in a way the only factor of the initial fondness. Its absence of any activity seen as an action rather than a destruction of active modes.

A FUTURE OF HOPE

The Hamilton footbridge as a prime connection in the future development of Red Hook

Within this location does not lay the potential to change the course of future development in the light of the

A FUTURE OF H

The Hamilton footbridge as a prime connection in the future development of Red H 23

2. HICKS STREET X NELSON STREET: PRESENT ENTITIES

24

“As he Sat on his Balcony eating the dog, Dr Robert Laing reflected on the unusual events that had taken place within this huge apartment building during the previous three months. With its forty floors and thousand apartments, its supermarket and swimming pools, bank and junior school, -all in effect abandoned in the sky- the high-rise offered more than enough opportunities for violence and confrontation.� ( JG. Ballard, 1975)

Although the presented entities facing the seemingly vacant lot on the crossing of Hicks Street and Nelson street (see next spread) are not situated in a high-rise environment. They have similarly been perpetuated with the same fate as described in the text above. Because of the rough history of the Red Hook Neighborhood from the late seventies all the way through the eighties and early nineties affected by a crack addicted community there has been little chance of communal growth looking back at that period. An abandoned place, left as it is, separated not by its height and multiple concrete floors, but by a wall-like piece of infrastructure towering next to these buildings while the constantly buzzing traffic contiues creating a noise that can never be overcome. The drawings of these four subjects constitute a projected future which has the possibility, for the first time in many decades, to find its way to success again. Overpowered by what once was a barrier, could be an opportunity to have reestablished internal relationships.

Whether, that future is realized by an intervention to improve the look of the surrounding streetscapes, or trough the construction of a dense urban fabric, is not so much the result of the reflection on the reality outside the master plan which will be proposed.

The Key point established here, is dealing with the nature of the individual elements that will all have their effect on what will be built. An alternative future patterning of space and its occupation is advanced as the potential for reorganizing the present behaviour of the contextual surroundings. This cannot only be a fictive layer of the design draped over it by words. All qualities presented by each one of the entities, from the curb in front of the houses to the playground at the school and the security railing of the highway, should be considered. In the case of more fantastical propositions where there is no intention of realization, divergence from the status quo is a mere reflection of the real agenda at stake. On the one hand, this might lead to the question the legitimacy and place of paper architecture produced by drawings. The fact that present entities, their look and feel or cultural behaviour of tenants is questioned but at the same time should inherently be part ofthe intervention, cannot always be answered as wished from the perspective of locals. After all, the local agenda often has nothing to do with the plans of architects, engineers, or developers. A case should be made that the breath of detaching the present elements frees us to consider changes in spatial practice that could truly be transformative. (C. Lim, 2006)

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the the School School the the Bridge Bridge

the Bridge

the School

T ENTITIES STREETS X NESON STREET: PRESEN HICKS HICKS STREETS X NESON STREET: PRESENT ENTITIES

18

26

18

19

27

19

the House the the House House the the Factory Factory

the Factory

3. CREATING CONTRAST, RED HOOK MAPPED

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3.1: The current state of the Hamilton Avenue footbridge

In the past few decades in Red Hook, many transformations have taken place: increasing specialization, segregations of urban space and implementation of new productivity and its related mobility. This has changed the neighbourhood in a physical, social and cultural way. The heavy industry made way for services and other utilities that rapidly grow and heavily rely on new technologies. These modern businesses and services need fast communication and connectivity with the rest of the city.

There is a tendency for large transportation changes on both far ends of the Red Hook neighbourhood (Van Brunt Street to Smith street) which make these areas more vulnerable to adjacent development. The better accessibility at Van Brunt street especially, will enable rapid growth more easily. Though, future development will most likely not change the architectural DNA in a too aggressive way in this street because of the historical significance and outstanding identity. As the controversial plan of AECOM proposed (W. Menking 2016) to build as many as 45.000 new housing units in the form of high-rise constructions in and around the neighbourhood, it will be linked directly on to this ‘vein’. Many of these changes are closer by than any communities can think, as firms like AECOM, EST4TE FOUR, RH&A and HUD. They all grant their vision on what should happen to Red Hook. The neighbourhood soon will get entangled in an unchangeable state of progress whether people are against it or not.

Wherever the significance lays of this discourse, the relatively is an absent intention to change anything around the Hamilton footbridge. It has apart from a few minor improvements barely changed over the past decades.

3.2: The intersection of Nelson-street and Hicks street:

Using the river, as a metaphor for describing this spatial fracture which is the highway cutting of Red Hook from the rest of the city, helps to visualize the issue. A river cannot be crossed unless you built a bridge to get you to the other side. This confined connection (Hamilton Avenue Footbridge) is a key element in the daily commute of hundreds maybe a thousand of pedestrians every day. In its present state, the footbridge is a fossil of urban necessity to improve the flow of pedestrians who needed to commute from one site to the other. The need for better connectivity was presented the day the construction of the ‘Gowanus Improvement Triborough Bridge’ also known as the Gowanus Expressway of Hamilton Avenue started. Forcefully it carved its way deep into the neighbourhood where it stopped short of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel at Hicks street.

The BQE viaduct was constructed in 1941. The Red Hook Houses, one of the first high-rise public housing

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This ended up cutting of the social housing complex from the rest of Brooklyn for good and thereby all short distance connectivity as well. The infrastructure was lifted at a height of over 20 meters to let boats trough but touched down the closer it got to the tunnel, leaving no room to get to the other side underneath the viaduct. When presented with this problem, the answer of the developers was clear: “you are really not supposed to walk here, you’re supposed to drive here”. A message that got hammered home in this area.

(M. Reiss, 2000)

So the problem of ‘discontinuity of the road system and ‘breaking’ of the local social networks demand a discourse about connectivity, accessibility and maybe even a possible re-orientation of the properties that link both sides of the footbridge. I will keep the focus of this case within a manageable smaller scale to lead an example and to out my critiques in the form of a design proposal. The intersection of the ‘Red Hook side’ between Hamilton Ave, Hicks Street and Nelson Street in that sense impeccable. This open space is adjacent to a wide variety of land uses and productivity. Though, it is completely vacant, this unnamed gap is inherently linked to the highway infrastructure and acts as the catalyst within this ruptured space. This openness combined with the dynamic urban surrounded fabric and uncertain future development in this area results in an abstraction of the way the people perceive it.

The indecisive nature and fragile character of this intersection presented by its highly negotiable urbanistic appearance leave plenty of room for uncertainty in which a future proposal can graft a way to open the eyes . It shows the possibilities to communities, future- developers and stakeholders.

This blank space operates as moderator in the discussion around discontinuity in a very non-operative way.

It can become a processor that constantly changes the variable elements towards short-term evolutions. If it fails in connecting both sides of the ‘river’ and all adjacent businesses and properties deep into Red Hook, it will be reduced to an economic, speculative project to an addition of private initiatives without any coherence.

Yet, it is the interaction between the two sides and the continuity of its trajectory deep into Red Hook as well as Carroll Gardens that ensures the flexibility and openness to address the non-operative functioning in the design of this new disrupter. “Form, signification, and practice do not exist in the relationship of perceiving infrastructure and its users. Changing zoning codes can transform an industrial warehouse district into a neighbourhood with residential and commercial uses without substantial transformation of the built factor or the urban factor.” (G. Thun, K. Velikov, C. Ripley, D. McTavish, 2015) During site visits, I crossed pedestrians on the Hamilton footbridge. After talking to them, I heard the same comments coming up time after time. This bridge is in a state of disrepair, lacks lighting and is perceived as unwelcoming. The full report of the ‘Red Hook Transportation Study’ of 2014 examined the current situation

30

thoroughly in dialogue with neighbourhood citizens. The Report recommends the following steps: Additional lighting should be installed and pedestrian amenities like handrails and trash cans should be provided.

Though, the proposed actions in the report that should improve its current state are mediocre at best. “An approach should be developed to improve the pedestrian experience of the bridge with an art installation, a mural depicting the history or uniqueness of Red Hook or a sound installation to mask noise from the expressway.” (DCP & NYCDOT, Red Hook Transportation Study, 2013) The examiners then continue by stating various points on which improvement can be done. The given result does not provide a good alternative on how the current state of affairs can be changed. It rather gives a clear indicator on where things go wrong in the original design, including its changes throughout the years. The generous ‘recommendations’ stated in the report give an insight on what is moving the community board with its problem-solving character during meetings. What comes to mind is indeed a nodding “I-told-you-so”

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approach in which, key issues are forcefully brought forward. So, could the entrances to the bridge on both landings be enhanced to improve the safety and functioning of the bridge? A fair and important remark I noted during my visit, but the given low-cost solution to the problem is far from ideal. Wayfinding signage at the base of each ramp should indicate the pedestrian path from the sidewalk on Hamilton Avenue and hereby enhance attention of users and enhance the feeling of safeness.

For many people this is the main pedestrian gateway into Red Hook, coming from Smiths station on 9th street where the G and F train go by. They then walk underneath the expressway into Red Hook, but it is not inviting due to several key issues including poorly maintained sidewalks. There is a lack of pedestrian crossings, amenities, potentially unsafe conditions caused by the speed of the traffic and a lack of lighting under the Gowanus Expressway. The 2014 report also states that while an efficient traffic flow along this route is a high priority, this should not come at the expense of the pedestrian experience. Improving conditions on Hamilton Avenue and its bridge to create a safe and aesthetically pleasing pedestrian gateway into Red Hook, is a high priority.

From a political point of view, the need for improvement in these locations is clear as daylight. An urban acupuncture strategy can influence the future growth scenarios and the ‘in-between’ nature of this confined connection might aggregate the inhabitants on both sides. Possible future visitors of the neighbourhood make way for a new perspective.

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THE CROSSING OF HICKS STREET & NELSON STREET “You are really not supposed to walk here, you’re supposed to drive here”.

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3.3: Red Hook mapped. Social dynamics, demography, etc. A reading of its complexities.

3.3: Red Hook mapped. Social dynamics, demography, etc. A reading of its complexities.

‘Why China Infrastructure Investment Must Grow’a view of the double-helix Nanpu Bridge, scenically clogged with traffic, lay swirling and aglow in all it’s engineering glory across the Huangpu River 25 floors below. Photo by Reid Kirchenbauer, ReidKirchenbaur.com

focus on ‘soft users’ is by proxy coping with the pro’s and con’s that the viaduct brings along. (Re)vitalizing the support for pedestrians and cyclists in combination with the better integration of public transport linked to the identity of the expressway viaduct can become when well executed, indisputable in the growing interest to develop Red Hook. To implement a parasitical intervention that confronts a better integration of movement and connectivity, apart from the extreme car use in the direct vicinity, the smallest scale, pedestrians are the first indicator of a well-functioning system. Currently, the average number of pedestrians in Van Brunt street counts for only 2331 daily in 2015. These ‘soft users’ of the public realm are next to a good indicator of functionality also a symbol of strategies and implementation of walkable pathways which prove the presence of a welcoming and safe community. Walkability on its own is responsible for communicating distances that are sensible for everyone. It can show the visible link with landmarks or areas within the city by also indicating how difficult it is to get there.

During different times of the day, Red hook could have more movement as its mixed-use as frontier urbanism of entrepreneurs and artists is only growing. The number of pedestrians could be increased tremendously The Red Hook neighbourhood mapped: an accessibility map shows the present street pattern and the impact of its permeability until the waterfront. Red The Red Hook neighbourhood mapped: an accessibility map shows the present street pattern and the impact of its permeability until the waterfront. Red Hook,Brooklyn New York City.

Hook,Brooklyn New York City.

34 66 34

when the right connections and pedestrian/bike friendly routes are adjusted to more openness and linked with landmarks or neighbourhoods far beyond the boundaries of a neighbourhood. The positive changes of adjusted uses and routes within the public realm can increase the number of visitors and will be received positively. No part of Red Hook should be left out because of its lack of safe passages or infrastructure. An architectural intervention which is aiming for a boost in the number of users which come from Carroll Gardens and beyond and move through the neighbourhood towards the waterfront might not be a solution. At least it can be the subject of change in culture towards a series of future interventions. Because of its location, the fragile and tangible nature of the footbridge can connect deep into the neighbourhood from both sides and therefore, be the backbone of a series of ‘counter-arguments’ to address the debacle of discontinuity in the surrounded area incrementally. As the former mayor in Bogotá (Gustavo Petro Urrego) to improve

Brooklyn Bridges Daily Volumes, with totals of both directions: Overall incvrease of 0.4% on these bridges: 323.594 daily vehicles in 2015, 322,391 in 2014. 1203 vehilcles more a day. Bigest increase on the Hamilton Avneue Bridge: increase of 1016 vehicles a day or 1,9%. Good for 54,250 a day.

Brooklyn Bridges Daily Volumes, with totals of both directions

Overall incvrease of 0.4% on these bridges: 323.594 daily vehicles in 2015, 322,391 in 2014. 1203 vehilcles more a day.

Bigest increase on the Hamilton Avneue Bridge: increase of 1016 vehicles a day or 1,9%. Good for 54,250 a day.

Thousands

150

2014 2015

125

100

75

50

25

Mill Basin Bridge

Hamilton Avenue Bridge

Metropolitan Avenue Bridge

Cropsey Avenue Bridge

3rd Avenue Bridge

9th Street Bridge

Still Well Avenue Bridge

3rd Street Bridge

Union Street Bridge

Carrol Street Bridge

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

F.

G.

H.

I.

J.

Open Space: map of open spaces in Red Hook with built environment. Completely ruptured by the 487-287 highway. A low built density at the waterfront shows Open Space: map of open spaces in Red Hook with built environment. Completely ruptured by the 487-287 highway. A low built density at the waterfront shows potential for future recreational in of thisopen neighbourhood.

(Data: Google Earthwith Pro) Diagram Open developement Space: map spaces inmotorists Red Hook built environment.

Completely ruptured Data: DOT NYC Gov Resources, and parking.

by Bey E. potential for future recreational developement in this neighbourhood. (Data: Google Earth Pro)

by the 487-287 highway. A low built density at the waterfront shows potential for future recreational developement in this neighbourhood. (Data: Google Earth Pro) 35 67 35

The built environment of Red Hook South-West of the 487-287 highway. With a low built density at the waterfront. (Data: Google Earth Pro)

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INDUSTRY AND TRANSPORATION MULTI FAMILY RESIDENCIES SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENCIES COMMERCE/ RETAIL PUBLIC FACILITIES GREEN SPACE VACANT SPACES

Adjacencies: Primery land use of Red Hook, Brooklyn New York City. (Data: student work Matea & Charbel, Pratt Institute New York City)

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ENCLOSED BY STREETSCAPE OR WATERFRONT OPEN STREET SPACES

Open Space map of Red Hook without acces restrictions. All visible open space.

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Open Space map of Red Hook with acces restrictions. All public spaces. Currently some areas are closed of but will be opened for communal use in the near fufure again.

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PRIORITY PROJECTS GREEN SPACES AND AXIS

Red Hook vision: all short-term priority projects for redevelopment. Either finished, currently under construction or near future development projects. There is a trong focus on greenery and increasing resilience of commerce. (Data: Hr&A arkitekter & HUD Red Hook case study)

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t

1.

2.

3.

Red Hook vision: short-term neighbourhood revitalization and connectivity improvement. Three-axis should connect Red Hook with Carrols Gardens and the Gowanus area. The Axis will be built on streets where commerce (industries and retail) and public facilitties will eject.

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The ReHoP proposed resiliency barrier Brooklyn Greenway Proposed baerier

+35 - 100cm 90 - 35cm 275 - 180cm 180 - 90cm

Potential flooding during a ‘100-year storm’, equivalent to raising sea level next 150 years. ProPotential flooding during a ‘100-year storm’, equivalent to raising sea level next 150 years. Proposed ReHoP Barrier extends 35% of the total required length to

posed ReHoP Barrier extends 35% of the total required length to protect barrier. Left, flood se-

protect barrier.quence Left, floodwhen sequence whenoccurs strom occurs (Data: ZOLA NY NY geography mapsmaps New York City) strom (Data: ZOLA geography New York City) 42

2 HOURS

4 HOURS

6 HOURS

8 HOURS

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POPULATION PER ACRE 100-300 75-100 50-75 25-50

Demography: population density 2010 map shows open spaces are not related to the number of people living in there. (Data: New York City Department of City Planning, Transportation Study a Full Report p 14)

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POPULATION PER ACRE HISPANIC ASIAN WHITE BLACK

Demography: population ACS 2010 racial breakdown map shows big clusters of ethnical communities living together and at a racially vibrant axis at Van Brunt street. (Data: New York City Department of City Planning, Transportation Study a Full Report p 15)

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VEHICLE AVAILABLITITY NO VEHICLES ONE OR MORE VEHICLES TRACT BOUNDARIES TRC 51

TRC 67

TRC 47

TRC 59

TRC 65

TRC 77

TRC 57

TRC 85

TRC 55

Demography: population accessibility map shows ownership of vehicle ownership in the allocated neighbourhood of Red Hook compared to Carroll Gardens.

(Data: New York City Department of City Planning, Transportation Study a Full Report p 16)

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ATLANTIC BASIN 9

1.

CARROLL ST F -G

RED HOOK 9

1.

SMITH 9TH ST F -G

Red Hook vision: long-term accessibility improvement projects mapped out. Funds generated from revenue streams such as real estate taxes, would go toward

Red Hook vision: long-term accessibility improvement projects mapped out. Funds generated

upgrading the neighborhood’s infrastructure, which includes extending the No. 1 train from lower Manhattan via a new tunnel under the harbor to the Brooklyn

from revenue streams such as real estate taxes, would go toward upgrading the neighborhood’s

area and the creation of three new subway stations, one at Atlantic Basin next to the container terminal, another at the Red Hook Houses, one of Brooklyn’s largest

infrastructure, which includes extending the No. 1 train from lower Manhattan via a new tunnel

public-housing complexes, and a No. 1 train station that would connect to the F and G subway lines at Fourth Avenue. (Data: New York City Department of City

under the harbor to the Brooklyn area and the creation of three new subway stations, one at

Planning, Transportation Study a Fullnext Reportto p the 16 + container NY AECOM Red Hook improvement Atlantic Basin terminal, another study) at the Red Hook Houses, one of Brooklyn’s

largest public-housing complexes, and a No. 1 train station that would connect to the F and G subway lines at Fourth Avenue. (Data: New York City Department of City Planning, Transportation Study a Full Report p 16 + NY AECOM 47 Red Hook improvement study)

4. GENTRIFICATION AS A MIXED BLESSING

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4.1: The allocation of people with money

Cities are labor intensive and hard to maintain in a good state. They are threatened by scarce resourses, environmental problems, new diseases, uncontrolled growth and migration. The ethnic and religious conflicts stem from the despair of disappointed immigrants.

Like all other American cities of the Urban Age, New York City and its (now) low-density neighbourhoods are growing once again, having experienced and recovered from a period of relative conflict, crime and economic decline. “Today, the densest city in the United States is the place where 8 million people currently living in its 5 boroughs are non-white. The compact way in which the city is built –with high-density blocks arranged along a tight and regular grid, and active street frontages linedby shops- has demonstrated resilience, accommodation waves of colonization by different ethnic groups, artists and cultural entrepreneurs, and varying ways of economic activity are underscoring the importance of built form of in sustaining the cycles of urban change.� (R. Burdet, D. Sudjuic, 2007)

Together with new strings of affordable housing projects in Brooklyn and the Bronx, a series of linear parks and open spaces are planned on being developed on old industrial sites. The will reate a green lung for highdensity neighbourhoods (best illustrated around Prospect park in lower Brooklyn around which is already 150 years ago). The existence of a retrofitting initiative response in the private sector reacts to overheated market demands and thereby risks fueling the inevitable process of gentrification of the next generation of target areas. (R. Burdett, 2006) Without the appropriate policies to determine the social mix of people and uses or public investment in facilities and open spaces, could end up with the environments that lack the vibrancy and urbanity that a neighbourhood as Red Hook currently has. The New York city apartment blocks have demonstrated earlier there enormous capacity for adaptation as the city undergoes cycles of economic, social and cultural change. However, in remote, segregated environments behind walls, large streets and piled up big infrastructure, this integrated neighbourhood should be closer to jobs, facilities, and most importantly sustainable directly linked transport. (R. Burdett, 2009) These factors affect the environmental, economic and social structures. Overriding critical interventions should enact or even give the prime example that a lack of continuous concentration of city density and connectivity is not just reacting on accumulating problems, but also tries to solve them.

Culture-led regeneration of places where these issues occur is seen as a strategy by planners to protect the way of living in the threatened communities and to create new employment or good jobs. Though, creating

49

employment and frontier economies (N. Smith 1996) in various layers of the built environment is not as straightforward as forbidding the transformation of warehouses into lofts.

Red hook is in fact physically (only separated by a river) close to Manhattans financial district. Building glassy high towers is to many observers a sign of success, to others, they are anything but that. “Gentrification has always been a mixed blessing. In the crudest terms, it has never been popular among those who take the class-based view on deployment and city growth” (Deyan Sudjic, 2005) Places like Manhattan suggest that gentrification can be an employment killer. If lower Manhattan warehouses like the ones in SOHO would not be changed into residential units, so the owners could capitalize on the increased value of their properties, there would probably be more jobs available than there are today.

So, these streets might have been beautified and changed into fashionable tourists attractions, coupled with zero tolerance on crime has really helped to build a service economy at the expense of hard work from former industrial employees. High-income newcomers bring a life of a certain kind in the neighbourhood.

It can be argued that successful cities are the ones attractive enough to persuade the market makers, the money brokers, and the corporate money-rain-makers to move to them. A coincidence, a mere change in the program on a single spot can have big implications.

Dealing with forthcoming times, for the better or the worse is sketchy and even creates anxiety in the West states Rem Koolhaas in a paper called ‘In search of Authenticity’. “Our fear for the past about memory is a direct proportion to our success in destroying it. A western culture that makes drastic and thoughtless function transformation driven by the private sector that might be seriously dysfunctional in the defense of what is public.” (R. Koolhaas 2005)

4.2: The theorists vs. the policymakers vs. developers and architects.

Urban development is a highly sophisticated and complex investment of time and money that demands the work of many generations of hard workers. Builders, developers and master planners unlike most policymakers and theorists shape the cities we live in. Engineers and some architects, often tackle ideas regarding urban issues from creative self-expression to egotism and pragmatism. The environment that they operate in, is shaped by others. The work of a student architect and the critiques he has on a major part of the city with life-enhancing urban phenomena to work with as a theme, might be understood exactly the opposite by the mayor and his administration. Within mathematically expressed density and characteristics or zoning codes ‘builders’ try to make a profit of the land to sell ‘the idea’ when it is time to close the loop of

50

Red Hook Houses vision within the Coastal commercial resiliency projects. HR&A and Robert Cooper & Partners highlighting a project in the masterplan proposal from the EACOM or the redevelopment of Red Hook. A neighbourhood cultural centre for social services with electricity generative capabilities when storms hit Red Hook.

ReHoP (Red Hook Piers) is a proposal by Estate4 to develop major sections of the Brooklyn waterfront. On this image a residential complex with a bottom layer of mixed commerce located on the Atlantic Basin in Red Hook.

Innovations in Resiliency: Red Hook Case Study.

Again HR&A & Robert Cooper in cooperation with White Arkitekter highlighting a project from HUD Rebuild by Design. Refurbishing old docking harbour houses as integrated flood protection components at the Gowanus Right Bank. Front of the house serves as a market outlet, the back as workshops for educators.

A HUD Rebuild by Design project for Integrated Flood Protection Components inn the Atlantic Basin area.

Strengthening retail and services by making a major promenade to help passenger on cruises to enter Red Hook safely with an addition of a giant gaping parking area for boat travellers.

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Red Ho

jects. H

masterp

Hook. A

generat

ReHoP tions of

a bottom Hook.

Innovat

Cooper

HUD Re

integrat

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educato

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Areas where interest in investment and development is highest. Shockingly all near the waterfront. These plans promise to make water resilient Areas where interest in investment and development is highest. Shockingly all near the waterfront. These plans promise to make water resilient barriers as as foundations foundations to ‘protect’ the barriers to ‘protect’ the neighbourhood. neighbourhood.Sustainability Sustainabilityhas hasbeen beentaken takenininmind. mind.Though, Though,the thespirit spiritof of Red Red Hook Hook will will soon soon no no longer longer

exist we have have to to believe believethe themasterplan masterplanaerial aerialimage imagefrom fromEACOM EACOM planners. exist if if we planners.

52

supply and demand. “But those who enjoy designing and playing with representation or formulating issues by

ook Houses vision within the Coastal commercial resiliency pro-

HR&A and Robert Cooper & Partners highlighting a project in the

trying to solve them with certain urbanistic strategies should believe that the thinking and understanding for

plan proposal from the EACOM or the redevelopment of Red

A neighbourhood cultural centre for social with electricity ‘theservices city’ should seek to explore a new way of interacting with key components is the approach that involves

tive capabilities when storms hit Red Hook.

bringing all the strands together.” (D. Sujic, 2007) Something, which a student, at the end of his studies, luckily can do freely and theoretically without needing to present in front of the mayor.

If these fragmented constituencies, the builders policymakers and theorists, can be encouraged to learn from and gain greater understanding from one another in this urban playfield being Red Hook, they will have the chance at creating a complete picture of the ideal neighbourhood. A picture that offers more than each could hope to explore on its own (as shown on images 1 to 4 on the right) is by no means an easy undertaking.

(Red Hook Piers) is a proposal by Estate4 to develop major sec-

the Brooklyn waterfront. On this image a residential complex with

There are of course complex walls of misunderstanding. Constructed between theory and policy and what is

m layer of mixed commerce located on the Atlantic Basin in Red

going to be built. Yet, in this attempt, to create a dialogue between communities, lies our best hope. It adds anything significant to the somewhat strange collection of analytical tools provided here for understanding and impacting upon the nature of the local conditions or future cities at a larger scale.

“As Politicians like to see solutions to be made within the term or timeframe between elections, they can only pick the most urgent projects or address a limited amount of problems to satisfy a certain number of key figures of importance within the urban landscape. Visions for cities tend to be the creation of boosters rather than the theorists or the policymakers”. (D. Sujic, 2007) Visions of cities as machines for making money or

tions in Resiliency: Red Hook Case Study. Again HR&A & Robert

r in cooperation with White Arkitekter highlighting a project from

turning the poor into less-poor attracts after a while the ambitious. Images and renders of show-apartments

ebuild by Design. Refurbishing old docking harbour houses as

ted flood protection components atfor the the Gowanus Right Bank.optimists and fantasists will in that sense always create the first representation of change, developing

f the house serves as a market outlet, the back as workshops for

ors.

large or small, in a highly realistic and almost inevitable way. Like there can’t be done anything to the power of change, encountering a highly realistic image which it is impossible to speculate upon. It just, for the sake of logic reasoning, can’t happen that the surroundings of Hamilton Ave and its fly-over infrastructure are subject to huge glass and white steel boxes that awkwardly tack onto the street pattern of New York City. Another key to understanding the possible development lies within the place where people live. To support themselves, there is the question of work. To make it possible, there is the intangible and vital issue

of security.

Rebuild by Design project for Integrated Flood Protection Com-

s inn the Atlantic Basin area. Strengthening retail and services by

g a major promenade to help passenger on cruises to enter Red Hook

with an addition of a giant gaping parking for boat travellers.

Toarea make a genuinely

functioning intervention into this neighbourhood, the people who inhabit it must feel

secure. And currently, that is exactly what is so painstakingly undermining the well-functioning of Red Hook on two different scales. On the waterfront, you have heated reactions to these images by communities and

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Through a critical investigation, a multilayered urban intervention grafts its position on this bridge. Exploring the different modes of movement through the disrupted street patterns of Red Hook, it becomes clear that a neighbourhood on the southern tip of Brooklyn is ruptured and cut off by the 287 Gowanus Expressway Interstate. Its confined nature and ability strengthen pedestrian and routes theirtocouncilours.

Whilst in the center of cyclist Red Hook, aroundquestion the Red Hook Houses and the blocks leaning adaptability for its users.

All this is about how the bridge can against the highway infrastructure they are just silently hoping for a better future. I was handed a pamphlet be extended as cultural and social components of the city by during a short visit to the Red Hook Houses. In the approach of the general election of November 7, 2017 incorporating all linked scales in its design.

Carmenfunctioning V. Hulbert a Peruvian presented herselfprovides as apossible A better public woman transport network, thecouncilor of the Hispanic community in scalable oftells thethe growing interest in proteger development districtconnectivity 38. The pamplet next: “Carmen desea a nuestra comunidad e empedir que nuestras and familias subsequent densification, It answers to the needs of local de menos ingresos pierdan sus viviendas ante el avance de ponderosas empresas de bienes raíces stakeholders and it’s dealing with the rising threat of flooding en Sunset Park y Red Hook.” (V. C. Hulbert 2017) Or translated, her agenda demands attention for protecting near the waterfront. the community prevent the displacement working families to the advancement of wealthy developers Following the and eclectic character of ofits surroundings, this inproject shapes itself aroundanthe existing highway Sunset Park & Red Hook.

Demanding end of police abuse & broken windows in the more silent corners infrastructure and pushes it to its boundaries.

The link imposes of the neighbourhood, protecting the immigrants, improve transportation and expanding the participatory a new culture which dodges the way this neighbourhood will budget. advance in the near future. Meanwhile, the existing layout should be respected as a prime directive.

The other scale is the one of the bridge itself, which has been discussed already. When people don’t feel safe in a place they are simply not eager to use it. Security is not wholly susceptible to rational calculation, and that is a good thing. In a certain way it is possible to measure it, for example by the amount of car and pedestrian accidents on a street corner or even worse the murder or rape rate or prison population. But in different places in the city the same statistics about the same issue and ambitions that are shaped by the everyday choices of its citizens as much as by their political leaders are governed by the behaviour of the marketplace. A city and its future are the product of predicted innovation or the implementation of financial instruments. (D. Sujic, 2006)

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Elevation of all adjacent buildings of the vacant lot on Hicks street wtthich is linked to the Hamilton Footbridge.

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5. HOW ROADS KILL CITIES: THE NEED FOR CHANGE AFTER 40+YEARS OF SEPARATION IN RED HOOK.

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The fact that roads act as major barriers in cities is not new. Highways have been penetrating deep into most American city centers for decades. The interstate 5 stretches itself for over more than 2000 kilomters from Mexico to Canada. Trough dull landscapes, spectacular mountain ranges and… straight trough Seatle.

Almost 12 lanes in width de highway slices the city into two rather unequal halves. Robert Moses, the true brain behind intercity projects like this has been a keyfigure in the interconnectivity of New York City trough the making of big infrastructure gestures. By the order of President Dwight Eisenhower, Robert Moses started designing the masterplan for the Interstate Highway System in the late forties which started its construction in 1956. The Highways made it possible for white middle class families to live far away from the city center in green suburban areas. At the same time yhey were able to work in the city. For Many years, the Urban planners have ignored most of the issues on this matter, while technicians engineers and architects worked in isolation on their own projects without taking into account societies wider goals. (L. Sherman; M. Contento; A. Brillembourg; H. Klumpner, 2014) The infrastructure that is used by less heading to Manhattan via the battery tunnel might only be used by no more than 1% of the Red Hook inhabitants. Richard Sennett stated the in the following paradox that ‘individualized spaces provide less scope for individual experience’.

(R. Sennett, 2013) The additional cost of motorization also includes the feeling of increased insecurity in cities. When public space is converted into carriageways for mechanical transport only, the modus of the surrounding buildings diminishes. Public space becomes a socially uncontrolled environment full of risks and dangers and the so-called eyes on the behaviour of activities in the street completely disappear.” (R. Venturi; D. Scott Brown, J. Jacobs, (1972) Would it be able to regenerate level of character and neighbourhood authenticity supported by the transport revolution based on communication and information in these days? The answer to a right transport solution needs a deeper analysis on the needs within the scope of the urban issues present in Red Hook. So are a reduction on commuting times and the reduction on money spent on travelling critical shifting factors in the popularity of public transport? First, it would help if there is a more compact city built at a human scale that allows for extensive interaction and public life. (D. Scott Brown,2016) Dense urban environments with public transport as their backbones are functioning better and acknowledge that there is a threshold level of car use beyond which cities are at risk of not functioning well. Pedestrian friendly environments would be at the top of the agenda and would regard to cycling as a serious contribution towards urban networking.

New York city has an estimated investment in public transport of $68 billion since 1982 and it shows that the amount of cyclist has doubled within the last five years. (H. Knoflacher, P. Rode, G. Tiwari, 2008) The overall decline of car ownership has reached over 13% in some neighbourhoods, and the infrastructure

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has been updated for an increase in 1 million inhabitants. But, in other neighbourhoods such as Red Hook, the percentage of stranded people who have more than a 30-minute walk to work, often under less pleasant and around the Red Hook Houses seemingly ‘unsafe’ conditions, who can’t afford public transport has increased. Cities built around cars and their efficient movement/ access to urban space is restricted.

The space a car needs to travel 50km/h is 170m2 pp. Public transport only needs 2m2. Add the fact that average households in NYC spend over 10% on transport on their monthly salary and the correlation between the numbers becomes apparent. The forces required to break with car dependencies all shift towards sustainable mobility and this might be the only thing the city of New York is willing to spend on nowadays.

Let’s make a leap into the future and imagine a hyper-connectivity of New York City. Car traffic no longer dominates the city surface. The densely mixed-use island, home to a couple of million residents with a superb interconnectivity above and underground. City planners see that multiple streets can be redesigned to benefit pedestrians while the subway would guarantee a stable connectivity on the larger scale. An introduction of ‘state -of-the-art above ground transportation’ including small and huge trams and diverse types of low-floor buses and driverless pods. A smart mesh, compliantly autonomous including hyperawareness of pedestrians and cyclists. Removing the existing motorway that runs along the West-side of

Photo of Gowanus expressway congestion by Susan Watts in the Daily news Archives via Getty Images.

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Aerial drawing displaying the rupturing nature of the 287 Gowanus Expressway connection. Here the Expressway goes allong the water toward upper Brooklyn and goes undergound toward Manhatten via the Battery Tunnel.

Manhattan will offer enormous opportunities to create a flood resilient waterfront and leisure. A complete removal of the ‘highway’ towards Jersey on the West-side and the infrastructure on the East River in Brooklyn will completely strengthen the masterplan and the connectivity on the third generation of inner-city transportation. The implementation of a truly regional service deep into the surrounding states from these allocated. Fixing points which do not have to terminate the administrative boundaries. Instead of digging a new tunnel to extend the 1–line in lower Manhattan to improve connectivity with city parts such as Red Hook and Lower Brooklyn, the old Battery tunnel that connects ground zero with Red Hook will be the foundations of new gliding communal surface vehicles and public transportation. Reducing or even dash trough congestion and improving all surface transport can over time generate et revenues of $240 million annually. Then, the crossing between Hicks Street and Nelson street will connect the existing tunnel and acts as an important hub and future development of the neighbourhood. It remains to be seen if this is feasible. When it is, New York City is capable to use its structural advantages and highly mixed land and typologies to bring living and working back closer together. Ultimately, the future focus has to be in the integration of land use and new transport strategies that makes use of the present infrastructure, and the relationship between connecting places while at the same time creating locations.

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6. A MULTILAYERED DESIGN AS THE SALVATION FOR THIS LOCATION AND ALL ITS CONNECTED SCALES

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What makes this layered crossing so apparent, besides its informality and gratuitous displaying of space and more interesting is the fragile bridge connecting both sides suspended above the ground. A true enactment of the obligated pivotal scale, a pedestrian path above the ground, entangled with a complex system of motorway platforms, concrete columns, old sidewalks, stairs and slopes is a presented solution to a series of problems one greater than the previous one. A tine piece of touchdown infrastructure in a huge network of urban interconnectivity where the local character is determined by the specificity of the space and its aptitude to receive and contain human activity in the most logical and safe way. A connection within a larger scope where two people in a forgotten place in the city are approaching each other from opposite sides.

Hereby, looking each other straight in the eyes, not knowing how the other will behave the moment they walk aside one another.

This bridge is a concentration that silently promotes collective life outside of institutional frameworks. It is constructed exactly because of the frameworks of arranged building codes. The ongoing potential it currently underlines should not be crossed out but doubt without disengaging its current feel and activities. Not only aiming to be a contribution to the new discipline but broaden the framework as such it extends to other spheres of urban concern and become a topic of interest for the whole society connected to it. Advocating a spark of change, starting from the diagnosis, shared by many of us that disruptions in this city are a clear consequence of the establishment of greater solutions where the middleman is cut out of.

It will not help to turn the analysis of this part of Red Hook in mere numbers or measurable items, like traffic volume or population indexes. It might be a good starting point. The artefacts present in this location are made from steel and concrete have to control these numbers. The side of the road before the ‘Gowanus Improvement Triborough Bridge’ that is now suspended above Hamilton Ave, might have been a busy undertaking. It’s a shared place for port and steelworkers and their families to hang out and discuss their lives, or interact within the visible scope. Pathways, where people held local markets, and operate shops or lived outside their front door, should have been way safer than they are now. The now unreachable state of this spine demands those tangible connections again. As people, one or two generation away from this issue don’t empathize with the problem it has been presenting all those years. The motivation that once was presented by the locals to improve connectivity and making homes safer by destroying the old ones that did not meet the desired conditions and policies are no longer here. When the industry and engineers wanted to improve the capacity it is almost evident to imagine that locals did not know or understand what was going on and what were the consequences. All ignoring one key aspect; the architectural format, the behaviour of its population and above all the urban space. Regardless of the individual differences, the reflection of

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Conceptual image of the intervention on Hicks street acting as a veil. Light and tender, though withholding surprises which can only be discovered through the intensive use of its program. Pinned up by adjacent buildings its draping nature needs the support of its surrounding activities to work properly.

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lively cityscapes is weirdly enough still present in Red Hook. As memorable façades and collectivities are repeating architectural formats, they show us the character is not something that will be eradicated. “A good project is needed to re-involve all stakeholder and localities, but also the people involved in these areas are needed to initiate a culture beyond the one that is present. If the project can accumulate a strong sense of being part of the people they will bring confidence and pride back in this gaping hole of shameful ‘have to tactics’ the bridge and its surroundings present.” (Y. Tsukamoto 2016) This is where the diverse nature of the adjacent entities, and their typologies such as the schools enter the discussion. Besides, the student and teachers from the schools on both sides of the infrastructure also the oil tanker repair company draws people from all distances to this location. They bring, just like the inhabitants around the vacant space and surrounding streets a constant and regular pattern of movement. Commuters, suppliers, customers, clients, residents and an occasional passer-by make up for all local flow. Besides, the fact that, I want to make this place more vibrant by elevating it from its current status, there is inevitability the notion of encouraging the first-hand experience to connect more with the city and its context. Similar buildings all together with a slight difference which can be found by the repetition of certain elements in Nelson-street side by side. “The set of houses have different owners but are part of a scenario of a particular community and this specific urban space. Their iconicity is very present. Steel staircases on the facades, small air condition elements by some windows, the stairs to enter the houses and the slender meter high steel fences all add up for a typical look. Every element is not just a mere possession of an individual, it is truly a part of the whole entity.” (Y. Tsukamoto 2015) It is important to understand in this case that the dwellers are inherently part of the streetscape, and should be in the future development of this project. Should the school going students disserve the chance of getting a space in the discussion. Should the labourers and car mechanics around the corner press their activity on the livelihood of the granted concept? This way, people at the square, even though they don’t know each other can contribute to the same space together with the people who are just there for only two minutes every day. People make profit of the improved interconnectivity of an added layer of public transport. Presented by multiple sets of architecture, they don’t have to interrupt each other, but recognize how other people are behaving. The systematic nature of the coming and going of public transport, the combination of leisure and local commute might repeat, train and learn the behaviour of its users. At the same time it allows sudden interaction and coincidence. The fact there can be movement, makes sure no place is owned by an individual or group, through a combination of the two might be interesting and pro-active as it allows some rules of enactment within the local community in the space makes it look safer for daily users. When people know how to act within it, their movement will be more sophisticated, friendly and comforting and create the feel of acceptance by accepting others.

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7: ECONOMIC, ECOLOGICAL AND INFRASTRUCTURAL RELEVANCE TROUGH DATA (and some maps)

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7.1: Traffic

“To determine the scope of the intervention and all its related potential to intervene in the grand scheme of systems, the ‘ecology’ of this place (New York as a city) in the most general sense, might be defined as a study of relations between dynamic interacting agents in evolution with their environment.” (G. Thun, K. Velikov. C. Ripley, D. McTavish, 2015) By developing a system based thinking through the next few perspectives and their respective maps, the intent is to ‘think big’ while also act synthetically and relationally at different smaller temporal scales.

7.1.2: Taming the beast

The car is, without doubt, a monster of division. A new policy of rebalancing the distribution of vehicles, public transport and pedestrians should only be materialized when the infrastructure for pedestrians and public transport is present and functioning well. Currently, a toll collection is present for the Battery Tunnel towards Manhattan which already brings down congestion to a certain extent. Aside from an implementation for first solutions for the interaction between the Gowanus Expressway interchange with an architectural intervention at the Nelson and Hicks street crossing, a redefined scope towards the improvement for using public transport in a sustainable way is a must. The next step, and maybe outside of the initial purview of this project, is the control of traffic by making congestion charges during peak hours on weekdays. Profits from the charges are then ploughed back into the investment and improvement of even more public space solutions. A reliable bus and tram ridership can certainly be increased in this neighbourhood as well as the introduction of new ways of looking at connectivity and transportation. Road surfaces can be redistributed from almost exclusive private car use to dedicated bus and cycle lanes that increase the flow from one side of the viaduct to the other, underneath, or above the highway. Red Hook’s existing exceptional functioning network of open spaces and vacant lots can demonstrate how new revitalized public spaces can improve an individual’s quality of life. It reduces the current need for cars to involve with this piece of infrastructure, the interchange to move through the city and its outer limits.

Spatialized flows along the road or rail and marine freight currently display as vectors of success and development. These constructed flows are the foundations of movement and give certain parts of the five boroughs a look and feel that is so intertwined with the identity of them, can no longer be left out. Therefore, is starting from the identity these touchdown infrastructures created a long time ago and special in the case of Hamilton Ave almost evident. The issue of primer re-integration of spatial behaviours and cultures with a

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‘Why China Infrastructure Investment Must Grow’a view of the double-helix Nanpu Bridge, scenically clogged with traffic, lay swirling and aglow in

‘Why China Infrastructure Investment Must Grow’a view of the double-helix Nanpu Bridge, scenically clogged with traffic, lay swirling and aglow in

all it’s engineeringallglory across the Huangpu River 25 floors below. Photo by Reid Kirchenbauer, ReidKirchenbaur.com it’s engineering glory across the Huangpu River 25 floors below. Photo by Reid Kirchenbauer, ReidKirchenbaur.com

focus on ‘softfocus users’ by proxy withcoping the pro’s con’sand thatcon’s the viaduct onis‘soft users’ coping is by proxy withand the pro’s that the brings viaductalong. brings(Re)vitalizing along. (Re)vitalizing thepedestrians support for pedestrians cyclists in combination with the better integration oftransport public transport the support for and cyclistsand in combination with the better integration of public linked linked to of thethe identity of the expressway viaduct canwhen become when well executed, indisputable in the growing to the identity expressway viaduct can become well executed, indisputable in the growing interestRed to develop Redimplement Hook. To implement a parasitical intervention that confronts better integration interest to develop Hook. To a parasitical intervention that confronts a bettera integration movement and connectivity, from the car extreme use in thevicinity, direct vicinity, the smallest of movementofand connectivity, apart fromapart the extreme use incar the direct the smallest scale, scale, pedestrians are the first indicator of a well-functioning system. Currently, the average number of pedestrians

pedestrians are the first indicator of a well-functioning system. Currently, the average number of pedestrians

in Van Brunt street counts for only 2331 daily in 2015. These ‘soft users’ of the public realm are next to a good

in Van Brunt street counts for only 2331 daily in 2015. These ‘soft users’ of the public realm are next to a good

indicator of functionality also a symbol of strategies and implementation of walkable pathways which prove

indicator of functionality also a symbol of strategies and implementation of walkable pathways which prove

the presence of a welcoming and safe community. Walkability on its own is responsible for communicating

the presence of a welcoming and safe community. Walkability on its own is responsible for communicating

distances that are sensible for everyone. It can show the visible link with landmarks or areas within the city

distances that are sensible for everyone. It can show the visible link with landmarks or areas within the city by also indicating how difficult it is to get there.

by also indicating how difficult it is to get there.

During different times of the day, Red hook could have more movement as its mixed-use as frontier urbanism

During different times of the day, Red hook could have more movement as its mixed-use as frontier urbanism

of entrepreneurs and artists is only growing. The number of pedestrians could be increased tremendously

of entrepreneurs and artists is only growing. The number of pedestrians could be increased tremendously

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when the right connections and pedestrian/bike friendly routes are adjusted to more openness and linked with landmarks or neighbourhoods far beyond the boundaries of a neighbourhood. The positive changes when the right connections and pedestrian/bike friendly routes are adjusted to more openness and linked

of adjusted uses and routes within the public realm can increase the number of visitors and will be received with landmarks or neighbourhoods far beyond the boundaries of a neighbourhood. The positive changes

positively.

No uses part and of Red Hook should be leftrealm out because of itsthe lack of safe passages infrastructure. of adjusted routes within the public can increase number of visitors andorwill be received An architectural intervention aiming a boost in the number ofof users come Carroll Gardens positively. No part of Redwhich Hookisshould befor left out because of its lack safewhich passages or from infrastructure.

An and beyond and move through neighbourhood towards the waterfront might notfrom be a solution.

At least architectural intervention whichthe is aiming for a boost in the number of users which come Carroll Gardens and be beyond and move neighbourhood might not beBecause a solution.

At least it can the subject of through change the in culture towardstowards a seriesthe of waterfront future interventions. of its location, can be and the subject changeofinthe culture towards a series of future Because of from its location, theitfragile tangibleofnature footbridge can connect deep interventions. into the neighbourhood both sides the fragile and nature ofofthe footbridge can connect deep into neighbourhood fromofboth sides and therefore, betangible the backbone a series of ‘counter-arguments’ tothe address the debacle discontinuity and surrounded therefore, bearea the backbone of a series of ‘counter-arguments’ to address the debacle of discontinuity in the incrementally.

As the former mayor in Bogotá (Gustavo Petro Urrego) to improve in the surrounded area incrementally. As the former mayor in Bogotá (Gustavo Petro Urrego) to improve Brooklyn Bridges Daily Volumes, with totals of both directions: Brooklyn Bridges Daily Volumes, with totals of both directions:

Overall incvrease of 0.4% on these bridges: 323.594 daily vehicles in 2015, 322,391 in 2014. 1203 vehilcles more a day. Bigest increase on the Overall incvrease of 0.4% on these bridges: 323.594 daily vehicles in 2015, 322,391 in 2014. 1203 vehilcles more a day. Bigest increase on the

Hamilton Avneue Bridge: increase of 1016 vehicles a day or 1,9%. Good for 54,250 a day.

Hamilton Avneue Bridge: increase of 1016 vehicles a day or 1,9%. Good for 54,250 a day.

Brooklyn Bridges Daily Volumes, with totals of both directions

Overall incvrease of 0.4% on these bridges: 323.594 daily vehicles in 2015, 322,391 in 2014. 1203 vehilcles more a day.

Bigest increase on the Hamilton Avneue Bridge: increase of 1016 vehicles a day or 1,9%. Good for 54,250 a day.

Thousands

150

2014 2015

125

100

75

50

25

Mill Basin Bridge

Hamilton Avenue Bridge

Metropolitan Avenue Bridge

Cropsey Avenue Bridge

3rd Avenue Bridge

9th Street Bridge

Still Well Avenue Bridge

3rd Street Bridge

Union Street Bridge

Carrol Street Bridge

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

F.

G.

H.

I.

J.

Data: DOT NYC Gov Resources, motorists and parking. Diagram by Bey E.

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the situation states; “A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It’s where the rich use public transport”, are pinpointing a truth that can change the way we think about the implementation of large infrastructure constructions. Congestion problems cannot be doubt with by making more infrastructure, we rather should change the culture that is intertwined with the use of the car in regions (like dense cities) that don’t really need them. Road-based movements are described trough annual traffic volumes. The Gowanus Expressway widening project and Bay Ridge Bridge approach were completed in 1964 at a cost of $100 million. Widening the viaduct even more with two more bridge constructions to support them and four more lanes on top which are linked towards the Brooklyn Bridge and make the whole construction even more complex. Despite this upgrade, most of the expressway reflects pre-Interstate era design standards.* The lack of ‘shoulders’, inadequate acceleration and deceleration lanes, tight curves and limited sight distances characterize the route, particularly on its elevated sections. On top of that, the heavy traffic, harsh weather and deferred maintenance have taken their toll on the Gowanus Express. The whole construction is in disrepair. Decades of road salt, and a daily pounding by well over 100,000 cars and trucks have taken their toll on the steel and concrete that was used to build the structures back in the Forties. So far, no one has figured out how to repair – or replace – the 70-year-old highway in its entirety and sustainably without disrupting a vital transportation artery. * no author listed. Website of info in previous text: http://www.nycroads.com/roads/gowanus/

Rober Moses’ initial design for the city of cars. The New York that never was. A dense urban fabric right next to the highway should be an activating spine and a creator for flourishing live and commute dynamics powered by the car. Image by Paul Rudolph LOMEX 1. project by Robert Moses , ‘Connecting New York’ (property library of congress) 68

ALLOWED CARGO ROUTES FOR TRUCKS IKEA SHUTTLE BUS FROM WILLIAMBURG 61 & 57 BUS LOOP

SCHEDULE PUBLIC TRANSPORT BUS 61 -57 LINE

traveltime: 21 min To Wall street Pier 11 *week days traveltime: aprox 50 min, from Ikea to Maspehlt fresh pon rd. *week days

SCHEDULE PUBLIC TRANSPORT FERRIES TO MANHATTAN

RED HOOK FERRY TO MANHATTAN

7:39 8:09 8:39 9:09 9:39 10:39 11:39 12:39 1:39 2:39 3:39 4:09 4:39 5:09 5:39 6:09 7:09 8:39 9:09 10:09

AM AM AM AM AM AM AM AM PM PM PM PM PM PM PM PM PM PM PM PM

AM 4:48 5:17 5:40 5:57 6:13 6:30 6:48 7:09 7:26 7:41 7:54 8:06 8:21 8:32 8:45 9:03 9:20 9:36 9:50 10:06 10:14 10:34 10:52 11:10 11:29 11:49

PM 12:07 12:27 12:47 1:02 1:17 1:32 1:47 2:02 2:18 2:33 2:48 3:04 3:21 3:37 3:52 4:08 4:23 4:38 4:53 5:08 5:22 5:37 5:46 6:02 6:20 6:40 7:02 7:27 7:55 8:21 8:45 9:15 9:42 10:14 10:42 11:12 11:42 12:09 12:43

HAMILTON AVE FOOT BRIDGE

287

WILIAMSBURG

RED HOOK

Diagram displaying routes and places where public transport connectivity can improve in Red Hook. (Data: NYC MTA, NYC Ferry Watertaxi cervices, diagram by Bey E.)

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Diagrams showing public transport frequency and through its loop. (Data: NYC MTA bus services, diagrams by Bey E.)

Start

Start Red Hook Loop End

B61 line (southbound) B61 line (southbound) a 24-hour loading a 24-hour 2012 loading 2012

Start Red Hook Loop End

B61 line (northbound) B61 line (northbound) a 24-hour loading a 24-hour 2012 loading 2012

Red Hook Loop

End

Start

Red Hook Loop

End

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The 287 Gowanus Expressway network displayed.

intermediate connected streets and avenues Connected 287 motorways Highway 287 and all extensions

Diagram showing extend of the 287 gowanus expressway through New York. (Data: NYC, ZOLA services, diagram by Bey E.)

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7.1.2: Future plans discarded

“In 1997, the Regional Plan Association (RPA) released a report paid by the New York City Council indicating that a tunnel to replace the elevated Gowanus Expressway was not only technically feasible but also desirable aesthetically to surrounding communities. The Gowanus Tunnel would continue north through Sunset Park and under the Gowanus Canal to Red Hook, terminating at the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel approach on the interchange where this project in Red Hook is taking place.”* The increased space provided by the demolition of the elevated Gowanus Expressway would be used to develop a tree-lined boulevard along Third Avenue, and the plan even promised, esplanades and parks that would be created along the Bay Ridge, Sunset Park and in Red Hook. * no author listed; http://www.nycroads.com/roads/gowanus/ Replacing the Gowanus Expressway with a tunnel would be cheaper in the long run than rebuilding the crumbling elevated highway and would revive moribund neighbourhoods in southwest Brooklyn, according to a study by a regional planning group.

A study by the Regional Plan Association found that it would cost $2.4 billion to build the tunnel, compared with the $1.0 billion it would take to shore up the ageing highway, a major transportation link used by about 175,000 vehicles a day. (H, Joseph1997). The planning group said the underground road would cost far less to maintain, saving tens of millions a year in repair and reconstruction costs. In its 1999 research paper, “How To Build Our Way Out of Congestion,” the Reason Public Policy Institute advocated replacing the elevated sections of the Gowanus Expressway with a tunnel, citing high land values and local antagonism in the area. (S. Peter , W. Robert, Jr. Poole, 1998) The proposed tunnel, which would be based on the new Paris “Metro routes,” would allow urban buses to move fast and efficient.

However, support for the Gowanus Tunnel was not universal among transportation officials and professionals. Mark Kulewicz, director of traffic engineering and safety service at the Automobile Club of New York (the local affiliate of the AAA), responds to the RPA plan as follows: Tunnels are expensive to build. Worse yet, they always seem to end up costing a lot more than anyone predicted at the start. Bridges are also expensive, but typically not as expensive as a tunnel. The Gowanus Expressway, or at least an elevated three-mile section of it, is a bridge. In fact, it is the longest bridge in New York City. And it is falling apart.The last time an elevated highway collapsed in New York City, a tunnel was proposed to replace it.

That proposed project called Westway never did get built, but New Yorkers remember the huge amounts

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of time, energy, and money wasted in the attempt. Mark Kulewicz director of traffic engineering and safety service at the Automobile Club of New York in response to the RPA plan.

7.2: Commuters

The universality of road-based vehicles coupled with the extensive distribution of its networks from Manhattan to Brooklyn and far beyond has privileged the automobile as a dominant means of transportation if you include all visible rupturing infrastructure with it. Luckily, New York City has the highest amount of metro users per capita and that is steadily growing. Over 1.7 billion rides were count in total during 2016, 5% more than in 2010. This means that on an average day over 5 million rides are counted for all New Yorkers every day.

Bus ridership for the city was around 600 million annually or 2 million rides on an average weekday. (Official MTA annual count statistics ridership per capita, by NYC Metropolitan Transportation Authority, 2018) In Red Hook, over 30% of inhabitants of the omnipresent social housing complex Red Hook Houses, must commute more than 1 hour to their work. This is painstakingly the result of the cut off by the large viaduct in the first place, but also because of a bad connection and low frequency by public transportation. Which in this case only restricts its use towards bus rides as the subway F- and G-line is well over 15 min walking depending on where you live in the complex.

“Increasingly, transformations in models of employee commitment and the momentary nature of corporate spatial assets with changing frequency of arrivals and a future in which the current situation stretched to its limits, demand an intellectual transit. As Population grows in New York City, the demand for infrastructural systems that support the movement of people is growing too. Especially in a neighbourhood that has been a victim of rapid city growth without enjoying the benefits of it so far. As annual traffic volumes have been displayed in previous maps, the road based movements of commuters are not only characterized by the traffic volumes. New York is America’s hardest working city, but it’s a one-two punch for lower wage workers, who get paid less and travel longer to get to work.” (S. Stringer, 2017) Above that, there is a 49% growth of employment within the borough of Brooklyn between 2006 and 2016 whilst in Manhattan that is only a 5% increase. Commute patterns are shifting and bus services need to catch up. As a result of these developments, residents of every borough are now more likely to commute within their home borough than to Manhattan. Meanwhile, a substantial portion of commuters is travelling between non-Manhattan boroughs. More frequent of peak service and platforms to depart from are needed. To do so, within a list of 19 recommendations to improve the MTA NYC Bus system, the following points found in the report could be implemented through design tactics in the public intervention:

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MOST AFFECTED AREAS

15 min 2400 m Ø

10 min 1200 m Ø

5 min 600 m Ø

Diagram displaying walking distances to the nearest subway lines and linked commuter times via public transport in New York City. (Data: NYC MTA, NYC Ferry Watertaxi cervices, created geographically correct subway map & diagram by Bey E.)

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The MTA should adopt a more rapid, direct, and grid-like bus network and incorporate these design principles into its service standards (pg. 39) The City should improve the maintenance, design, and enforcement of bus lanes. (pg. 41) NYC DOT should place greater emphasis on bus lanes outside of SBS corridors. It can also assist with the introduction of new, inter-borough routes by installing exclusive lanes on more city bridges (pg.

41) With assistance from the City, the MTA should build more bus terminals. This will reduce the number of buses terminating on the street and increase curb space (pg. 49) The City should expand the number of bus shelters and better design curbs and sidewalks to mark bus stops and routes (pg. 52) The MTA and City should work to improve the legibility of the bus system by renaming routes, eliminating spurs, and running routes on the same streets in both directions (pg. 52)

Although bus ridership and might be in decline due to errors in arrival times and frequency issues, we can speak of a fairly low 5 to maximum 10 % decline in Red Hook whilst in lower Manhattan we see a decline up close to 20%. Therefore, a better bus connection through the Battery tunnel which immediately connects with lower Manhattan might not solve anything directly there at all. It is more likely though that a shortened and direct connection with Lower Manhattan which takes a route through TRACT 59 (see map) This route increases future growth in this modest section of Brooklyn exclusively due to connectivity by unprecedented measures. Above all, a robust, responsive and well-funded bus system is particularly vital for low-income New Yorkers, whose jobs are highly decentralized.

Next, to a lack of sustainable bus transit in Red Hook, an improvement in the way the Hamilton footbridge with Carroll Gardens is currently overlooked to commute. by bike or walking. It will give a boost to the feeling of belonging with Red Hook as a neighbourhood. Walking freely to your work or home without the feeling being left in unsafe looking streets in overlooked hours of the day, will have positive effects on small businesses located on the axis which thrive from this kind of consumers.

A well-connected path which links to the bike lane near the waterfront will also help tourists and visitors doing the effort of getting to know this humble neighbourhood and its flourishing Van Brunt Street.

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no vehicle %

commute 60 min. or more %

NEW YORK CITY

55.5

24.7

RED HOOK TRACT 53

47.5

36.9

RED HOOK TRACT 59

42.5

17.1

RED HOOK TRACT 85

83.9

32.7

Tract 59

Tract 53 Tract 85 Red Hook Houses

Diagram displaying percentages of commuter times via public transport in Red Hook.

(Data: NYC MTA, NYC Ferry Watertaxi cervices, diagram by Bey E.)

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7.3: (Unfortunate) Events

The people of the Red Hook neighbourhood saw flood occurring during Hurricane Sandy which left many of them and their businesses without basic services for many weeks. A flood resilient Red Hook is the first step in a culture change of the community in the face of future extreme weather, and a changing climate conditions. Places which help things organize during unfortunate events like these, are imperative for the build-up of trust in the community as well to their comfort. (NYCEDC, 2017) A resilient facility is one built to withstand or recover quickly from all natural hazards. Climate impacts continue to change over time, which makes considering the full useful life important for choosing the right level of protection. (NIST, Community Resilience Planning Guide for Buildings and Infrastructure Systems, 2016) It makes sense to create a central hub for de distribution of logistics. To Provide first aid, food supplies for the needy, clean water, social support and distribute electricity for all people and through all scales safely and quickly is how it should be done in a wealthy society like the US. But to implement an adequate answer to these needs in a functioning layer within this project is little more delicate.

By proposing a third layer of functionality that deeply affects the life of the surrounded inhabitants when it is needed, a positive light cast a good-looking future on a place that currently does not appear to deserve it.

But, as it is located on a vacant piece of land which is excluded from the flood zone -because it is on higher ground- it becomes without any hesitation a safe heaven.

Adding this contingency facility to the program of this intervention which is linked with the existing elevated highway infrastructure, can help to open new opportunities to think about solving the problems involved with providing help during flooding. From the view of a value proposition for the improvement of the Red Hook flood resiliency, we can state that in the short term no big dykes or flood barriers can be made. They are simply too costly. Instead, smaller projects should help to address those issues. A lack of sufficient help the last time, occurred that people had to dip their toes in the muddy water to go grocery shopping in adjacent neighbourhoods. (NYC Mayor’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency, 2018) To fund the construction and maintenance of a layer like this, city funds are available from the NYC capital. The NYC-EDC states in a report named after the IFPS (Integrated Flood Protection System) the following: “A study began in October 2015 and proves that the resiliency program can be funded through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation Grant Program-Advanced Assistance (HMGP-AA) program. For subsequent project phases, the City and State have committed $50 million in City Capital funds and $50 million in Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funds for a total of $100 million in funding to be used for environmental review, permitting, design, engineering, and construction of resiliency facilities.” (NYCEDC, 2017)

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Today, streets and buildings run up to the water’s edge, and few of the ambitious flood-protection projects that were considered in the immediate aftermath of Sandy - including a massive sea barrier spanning New York Harbor - seem to happen any time soon. The Big U could come in at some $3 billion, while the larger flood barrier would cost billions more. (W. Bryan, 2017)

During the evening of Oct. 29, 2012, most of Red Hook flooded, including this stretch of Dwight Street. Nearly six feet of water completely submerged some cars and electricity went out. Photo by Alan Chin via the Red Hook Flood Blog.

Red Hook has experienced the shrinking of ambition to develop in high-risk areas on a smaller scale than in Manhattan or upper Brooklyn. Running down the water-facing Beard Street from the Fairway Market to the vast Ikea megastore, as well as on a stretch of Reed Street, is the first stage of Red Hook’s $100-million Integrated Flood Protection System. This project will take a big bite out of the provided budget only to build a barrier which extends a few blocks away. Bigger storms might occur soon again and more frequent.

More money to provide sufficient buffering is, in the case of Red Hook, quite scarce as FEMA got a reduction in funds due to a cut by the Trump administration to invest in emergency management. The administrations on borough-, city-, state-level have to see the importance for their inhabitants to foresee the inevitable.

But the right funding needs, of course, a strong case. All parts of cities in New York are fighting over the

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state’s capital to improve tenuous situations. So, was the city Housing Authority in September of 2017 able to break ground on a $63 million project to replace all 28 roofs at the Red Hook Houses. But eventually, the city agency will spend almost $550 million in total to harden the buildings against future floods, including installing electrical rooms and boilers above the level of a 100-year-flood, as well as putting in backup generators.

The construction of major barriers to protect New York Cities most venerable parts of drowning extends far beyond the loss of investments. The people who live around those barriers will have to live with them, as they can probably affect their way of being in the city. A nice can suddenly be blocked, a favourite path to jog can stop existing or that place on the waterfront where two people met for the first time would be erased.

Megaprojects like these would have basic decisions at their core. Like a budget, the allocation of construction materials and a fast deployment to name a few. How they lay out a future on for the existing fabric is far from predictable. On a more local level though, appliances like subsurface water collection with permeable ground materials, sustainable drainage systems that connect with the Gowanus river or waterfront and the filtration of rainwater could be a few of the smart ways to react on the abundance of water. These would at the same time provide sustainable ‘foundations’ to build on by the community or later developers.

7.3.1: Participatory design

Although the project on the corner of Hicks Street and Nelson Street casts the site as one site, often large urban infrastructure projects exist in many parallel realms, depending on who owns what on the site. It is rare for one body of land to own a whole site that involves streets greenery and elevated expressways and pedestrian infrastructure; a different agency will govern each one of these components. Just so, will each layer in the intervention own their share of it?

The whole ‘vacant’ plot is owned by the municipality since 1945 and part of a vast amount of lots used by the Department of Environmental Protection to keep construction material and transportation goods such as containers and trucks organized. Therefore, the lot, still owned by the city, might be (location wise) a good place to mitigate the lack of sustainable solutions to prevent flooding It brings back some functionality that helps the greater good: the inhabitants of its city. (ZoLa New York City’s Zoning & Land Use Map, 2018) The Department of Transportation (DOT) has jurisdiction over the streets, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) over the gutters and sewers and the Department of Parks and Recreation over the parkland.

Together coordinating maintenance of any structure that crosses the lines is difficult. But it is crucial taking the different parties into account when designing an overlapping and inclusive collection of programs.

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Coordination between the agencies with jurisdiction over the different site components would, for example, result in dirty water from the streets being filtered within the clean collected around the intervention by the surrounded greenery. The extend of to which this project is subject to inclusiveness on a social or urban level has proven to be well functioning. The way it is efficient enough to orchestrate all responsibilities of the involved departments has to be demonstrated in such an intelligent way that it can be leading for all flood resilient facilities yet to be built in New York City.

7.3.2: Communal programming:

Despite all good intentions, it may be difficult to make all components regarding the participation of involved groups work together optimally. The program of this intervention should pull from the start-up culture but not act shiny nor new and trendy. All functions should encourage communal skill sharing and good access to inexpensive or free technologies to continue bold ideas and entrepreneurial minds to deploy when the urge for quick solutions is high. (K. McLeod, 2016) In Red Hook, there is a relatively low percentage of inhabitants with a higher education, reportedly 37% has a bachelor degree or higher. The market reality facing graduates in Red Hook, therefore, shows an emphasis on tangible workplace skills. Not bad for a part of the city assigned to light industrial activities and residential use. (M. Ruddick 2016) Implementing a framework to get the entrepreneurship out of the strong individuals in the community to absorb businessrelated content into the curriculum for the growth of people’s knowledge during unfortunate events helps create top-down and bottom-up participants to coexist and flourish. The most important thing next to redeveloping what has been broken or to help those with the most losses is to create a public memory to foresee faulty decisions in the future when comparable things happen.

Pedagogy that works with a start-up culture which has its base in education in a physical layer of the project should encourage the smart utilization of distributed production methods. Communal skill-sharing lays not only in learning others how to act in a certain situation, it also helps community groups to assign responsibilities. (M. Ruddick 2016) A platform which is linked to the adjacent infrastructure of the expressway might be a correct point for supply vehicles to drop down their logistics and distribute them from a centralized location to maximize the functionality of the created platform. Implementing facilities like a helicopter deck to assure rapid connectivity and first aid, cranes to load and unload trucks with food and drinkable water or to evacuate people to safer places can all be part of that plan. These kinds of infrastructure have citizen participation, and the need to take care of each other at its core to let it work smoothly.

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7.4: Power

Interconnectivity starts by leaving the house and taking three steps on the street. It all starts with the place you are half of your living life. The evident cosiness, warmth a light which makes it easy to do evening activities, to cook or relax all depend on a centralized system which distributes its power to a grid. A mesh that rewards everyone to be connected with family and friends via the web or telephone, as long as you exchange a certain value for it. But what happens if all that ends. If a key component of the giant system of connections from the power-plant to your television fails to endure because of heavy weather conditions. Or worse, if you cannot a warm meal for your family because you are cut of the net due to a storm that happened three weeks earlier.

A sustainable decentralized system of small power production facilities can be the very foundation of the well-being of all houses and business holders or employees in adjacent buildings. Many technologies might offer solutions that extend far beyond the capabilities of a power plant outside of the city center. Collecting energy from natural resources or the movement of passing cars can be stored and distributed to provide lighting when power shortages occur or even to heat up a complete building.

As part of a statewide endeavor to modernize New York State’s electric grid, spurring innovation and

Red Hook Houses, decentralized heat and electricity suply system. “Not ideal, but it does its job�, say locals. Photo by Elias Bey

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community partnerships with utilities, local governments, and private sector, NYSERDA announced the award of a $100,000 grant through their NY Prize competition in 2016 to fund a feasibility study for the development of a Red Hook Community Micro Grid (RH-CMG). Microgrids are local energy networks which can separate from the larger electrical grid during extreme weather events or emergencies, providing power to individual customers and crucial public services. (J. Skillman; T. Cawley; A. Reid, 2018) To finance, design, construct and operate at scale, the project would serve 28 buildings. That’s good for 6000 Red Hook Houses residents. The District Energy System would implement two or three ‘energy plants’ at both ends of the complex that make a grid.

A second more local and smaller grid could be made at the section of Hicks- and Nelson street, linked to the

After looking into the Red Hook Houses microgrid proposal a little closer, I realized this is the grid they installed some years ago after huricane Sandy struck the neighbourhood.. A Short term ‘end of the pipe’ solution which on this day is still active. Photo by Elias Bey

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Hamilton Footbridge. It would be harnessing the energy produced in multiple ways, and eliminate individual building systems as the lot on which the intervention operates is not linked physically to any buildings. A smart way to set up a system that will be better to maintain and control is demanded.

The decentralized production of energy for local use would generate revenue that pumps its capital back into the improvement and modernization of infrastructure in the direct proximity of intervention and all its internal programs. But, apart from that, financing the initial framework for such a program would derive from funds. The Federal Emergency Management Agency FEMA has set aside almost $440 million for repairs on all buildings affected by Hurricane Sandy some years ago. These funds can pay for the cogeneration of the energy generating components assures Nilda Mesa, director of the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability. (N. Venugopal, 2016)

A microgrid operates while connected to the grid, but importantly, it can break off and operate on its own using local energy generation in times of crisis like storms or power outages, or for other reasons. (N. Venugopal, 2016) When it is not cut off it can give back power to the conventional grid and therefore wind back the energy meter of all connected power users. A microgrid can be powered by distributed generators, batteries, and/or renewable resources like solar panels. Depending on how it’s fueled and how its requirements are managed, a microgrid might run indefinitely. (H. Leonard, 2017) If we look at how energy might be collected locally next to the Gowanus expressway interchange via sustainable solutions, it is not hard to imagine how it is possible to collect energy which has always been present. To absorb the thrust of passing vehicles on the expressway or collecting energy from falling water that collects during rainfall on the surface tarmac.

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8. REDEFINING LEVELS OF COLLECTIVITY

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The previous maps allow exhibiting the rational fields connected to the geographical and planned infrastructure of Red Hook and New York City as a whole. (B. Walsh, 2017) Flows and interactions within the territory show different methods of analysis on the bigger scale prior to the index maps of Red Hook shown in the last previous chapters. On the ground, the main concern, in the first place, lays within the physical artefacts and object that literary figure the urban shape and the spatial relationships of Red Hook and its surroundings. This classification may be typological in nature as it shows the complexity of the scope of the intervention, it can also display a literal vocabulary of objects with which to begin to develop a language of the design of the intervention.

The physical agency of this urban territory is not limited to large-scale structures, infrastructures, landscapes and buildings, but also includes the technology to mobilize and reproduce ideas as a marking or landmark, communications, sensing of the environment. The Central typology native to the Gowanus Expressway is the one of the interchange. Designed to transit between directional vectors with different velocities, each unique and based on a system of rules driven by transportation engineering. (NYSDOT, 1999) As expanding urbanizations develop more and more, the vacant space next to this interchange infrastructure currently withholds the potential to absorb an extra layer of complexity that builds on the urban patterns all around. A site for recreation and public facilities might not only suggest a more ambitious structure that parasitizes on the existing suspended platforms, it engages in a scale of speed, one of highway landscapes and strategic positions to interconnect with large regions within the state of New York and beyond.

Donella Meadows, an environmental scientist states in her paper called “Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System” by locating a series of points or locations, organized by their agency to interact on different scales with the urban fabric, which might have a state-wide impact by transforming the fundamental goals and overarching paradigms by which the system operates. The locations, selected as the theoretical framework to display her thoughts each could produce disruptive transformations and were perhaps more effective than instances of concentrated efforts at large scale urban planning. (38) Donella H. Meadows, ‘Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System’, The Sustainability Institute, USA (1999) In most cases, including this one, reprogramming has to do with how people use the space in the first place.

How it looks, feels and is formally designed greatly affect the way users act. Adding a new program or eliminating unwanted uses can be as dramatic as a complete physical change. Transformation can detract the experience of the place in effective ways and can range from minimal to monumental. Cladding it anew, lightening it up, add extra structures for leisure or function related small sale infrastructure can change the general vibe tremendously.

The reinvention of a new public program, in this case, can be introduced on a basic level. It can have a

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great effect on future uses and maybe even develop a culture several streets away from it. With an evident transgression of overlapping distances with a focus on the liquidity of the space users enter should be able to retain the larger infrastructure but also be a kick starter for a redesigned roadway system or a green matrix of plantings and various new pavements and medians for all immediately linked passages. (M. Ruddick, 2016) With the two neighbourhoods on each side, people recreationally biking or walking towards the waterfront for a Sunday visit cannot find their way as they are blocked by an entangled mess of metal and asphalt. It simply must be easy to find a bus or subway and should welcome for users.

The underlying inquiry lays within retaining or transforming the ‘everyday qualities’ this segment of Red Hook has to offer. To reinvent a site, it’s helpful to step away from the generated photo-reality it demands to anticipate the shortcoming capabilities of some people to imagine what the future can hold. Through a series of visions, the intention is to deconstruct the present elements and put them back in another way together with the new program so familiarities and impressions with the past can be made by everyone.

An emphasis on the collaboration of all aspects of the project addresses the overlap between bridges, elevated roadways and all medians. The difficulty of shaping a new place for the public realm in this fragile environment, with a tender footbridge acting as a spine, is making a significant change to the present landscape that has a positive impact on all users. Three ways of working towards a final presentable result are curated as a method of looking at the space in its totality. First of all, the creation of an icon has to put it as a location on the map, something which is pointed to when talking about anything adjacent. The reduction of constructions or buildings to their form or merely portraying them as objects rather as spatial realities that are the carriers for activities help create a pattern of landmarks which people can relate to and give identity to. Then, there is an overlay, where a grid or non-existing overlay counteracts the present or mingles with a landform. This helps it forms a dialogue with the neighbourhood and opens it for new use cases. The third is a more organic process: the forms of design which emerge from studies that have been done by looking at the occurring conditions to develop a narrative to design on. In the end, a preferable image or a vision, a trajectory of interacting with present elements defines the design that can be presented.

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Model of existing layout. In white: the volumes of adjacent buildings (direct stakeholders in this project). Materials used: grey and white cardboard.

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ACTOR NETWORK FIGURE

RED HOOK

INEQUITY SITUATION BASED FACTORS

FLOURISHING PARTS OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD

THREAT OF FLOODING STREETS

growth frontier urbanism

major wealth gap excludes certain areas

disables short-term investment

big interest in waterfront development

at the dawn of cultural clashes and gentrification

no room for smaller businesses to deploy

consequence

outcome

PRESENT ELEMENTS: HIGHLY MIXED LAND USE

small community of dwellers in Nelson street and Luquer street

a local educational framework to extend

interconnectivity through highway infrastructure

THE EXCHANGE

CLASS THE CROSSING AS A SPINE OF LOCAL GROWTH

ECONOMIC, ECOLOGICAL AND INFRASTRUCTURAL RELEVANCE

SCOPE OF PROBLEMS WITHIN RED HOOK

conception

entering on local & large scale traffic flows

TRAFFIC platform of first aid and primer connection during natural disasters and flooding UNFORTUNATE EVENTS bus-network directly linked to larger networks reinforcing walk-ability and bike use COMMUTERS

a self sustaining platform providing energy and clean water POWER

NEW YORK CITY

enables a better connection to affordable housing closer to Manhattan

TYPE (scope of relevance) LOCATION

MAJOR DISCONNECTION WITH THE URBAN FABRIC Might bring solutions for flooding patterns all around NYC

ORGANIZATION

COMMUNITY long walking distances when commuting

addressing a call for a more local mixed population societies

INSTITUTION

farness withholds local growth

CLASSIFICATION (rendition) HAMILTON AVE FOOTBRIDGE LOGISTICS

POLITICS

ADEQUATE SERVICES higher ground that does not flood

small scale industries and local dealers

KNOWLEDGE

INVESTMENTS

SIFICATION OF TECTONIC ELEMENTS

TRANSLATING PRESENT ELEMENTS AND ISSUES

INCLUSION

FLUIDITY

from openness to closing up

ENVIRONMENT

ramping different levels INFRASTRUCTURE

CONNECT

a hub for people on the move INDUSTRY

FLOW

snap-on infrastructure functionality PERSONS

PARASITIZE

PERMANENCY

mimicking its surroundings as an extra layer

visible use and permanent programming to assure feeling of safety

9. UTOPIAN FORMS: VISIONS OF THE ALTERNATIVE

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In the design process, the preparation of voluminous studies of elevated entities surrounding the intervened space look for patterns and rhythms, relate them to the flow of pedestrians, buses, bikers, students and how they all move with desired routes through the site. To grasp a place is not the issue, that will happen over time. Rather how the users understand how to interact with its complexities of behaviours and how it functions on every level without thinking about it would be crucial for the development of richness and depth inflows.

The design of medians that are interwoven between the existing street pattern, and the oddly shaped acre between Hicks and Nelson street integrate flows that go beyond mere utility. The flow of passers-by and those who are there every day because they live or work there melds with the flow of traffic above, next to and further away.

A set of vertical rhythms emphasizes the massive support beams and columns as overhead volumes. Acting as members of the ‘elevated’, lined with meshed scrims that are lit at night display a welcoming pattern of soft glowing warm colours. Creating important wayfinding towards the pedestrian bridge to bring you to the other side of the stormy loud river. Visible from a couple of blocks away, the soft glowing of lines improves the visual environment and ensure a safe crossing. A transcending landscape going from snarled to composed, from harsh to lush, from prohibitive to inviting. (M. Ruddick,2016) Shifting from the idea of creating a park or place to ease towards a vibrant refuge for multiple uses and to strengthen the relationship of split neighbourhoods and constituted class-cultures. Money for maintenance to fight disrepair is no longer scarce as a layer of public transport and flood resilience involves all linked amenities to be in good condition. Instead, of promoting defensible space, where surveying the whole is the key to its success, to safeguard robberies and vandalism, space encourages the creation of a refuge that feels soft and immersive. A throwback towards the look of a somewhat wild landscape, as created near the waterfront where dykes and embankments soon will start to appear. Not just some greenery and side plantings to garnish the intervention but a whole environment, instead. Opening new views and defining a framework rather than decoration.

Interacting with the understanding of the scale of the all adjacent buildings and infrastructures the vacant plot currently cannot drive the scale of the project. How big space feels and how it relates to the surounding space will influence the residents, students, and users of the public network. Remediating the vast scale of the viaduct which dwarfs the charming feel of Nelson-street typical NYC façades, might be great to break down the vastness of the elevated highway platforms overcasting its surroundings. The Bridge is just so massive, you can’t get around it. Finding the beauty in it and responding to it will help make the transition towards the clash between the two present scales. To meet the bigness of what is already there, clasped and humped construction elements growing ever so slightly until they meet the deck of the suspended motorway will scale the two extremes and bring them together as dialogue. (M. Ruddick,2016) The infrastructure is so daunting, the flat space in front of it demands a modulated topography that will increase this sense of spaces and create more distinction in the routes to follow.

Although the underlying approach to create an ambivalent space that might be soft and green, it has to stand up to its adjacent structures and therefore, demands a clear and forceful structure which leads towards the crossing to the other side of the highway. An organizing structure will be key to stretch the relationship between the bridge and the

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buildings across from it. If it cannot do so it might end up looking like not being part of the city. The layout and format will meet the scale of the infrastructure up to the height of the curbs of the surrounding walkways accepting the different programmatic functions that are to coexist.

“From percolating subsurface interventions to prevent flooding when storms occur to ramps that connect with the footbridge and the interacting flow of temporal commuters and daily users, the enactment of a vibrant depletion with various activities and their forms would make up for space where the old meets the new. By offering the former a new space for assembly and not just make it an apparatus of gentrification made for the lucky few. A platform for the social process to crystallize into the material world.” (M. Ruddick,2016) As proposals act as frameworks from which new social processes and urban futures might be exacted of a collective body and new relations.” (B. George, 2011) “The created space assembled not in order to resolve the fragmentations but to allow entities, connections and feedbacks to develop, even if temporary.” (P. Aureli, 2008) The creation of the monumental form has the capacity to establish places of plurality, where multiple realities coexist. The public activities that might be actively formed in the process of constructing to functioning programs, expose the social activities that never were there before.

Image by Price C. ‘Potteries Thinkbelt’ 1964-66 & Price, C. (2003) The Square Book. Chichester: Wiley-Academy.

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Reference 1: Cedric Price

Cedric Prices proposal for the Potteries Thinkbelt is an autistic vision to democratize new formats of applied higher education by leveraging mobility, flexibility, and accessibility. By repurposing post-industrial infrastructures toward open-ended systems of community education.

The appropriation of an existing freight train infrastructure in Nord Staffordshire should connect a public university with adaptable, mobile and openly conceived networks. Prices forelaying argument was the idea to transform the education by addressing the spatial apparatus of education, as opposed to just focusing on its content. By mobilizing the campus he proclaimed that educational system in Staffordshire would be integrated and interact with the landscape to develop think-tank research. (Price C., 1964) This is referring to the act of adding permanent programming to seemingly gloomy places like large-scale infrastructure. By proactively occupying the area and all linked spaces with its users; children and their parents, teachers and authorized supervisors during peak moments of movement like rush hour, or moments which establish a certain daily rhythm. A Strict division of weekdays, weekends and holidays adds security and a sense of caution to the use of spaces incorporated in and around educational platforms. Furthermore, once other programs are added, such as freight and logistical activities, market gatherings, or leisure, the different types of movement start to police each other and make up for a busy atmosphere which repels unwanted uses.

Image by Nieuwenhuys C. ‘New Babylon, a anti-capitalist city’ 1959-74, Amsterdam (Atlas of New Babylon) (1963)

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Reference 2: Constant Nieuwenhuys

Monumental infrastructure asks for monumental architecture. In its construction, explicitly participating in the mechanisms of power, largely due to the enormous monetary, energy and political expenditures required for the realization of monumental architectures are simply complicit with the current global capital and not just socially Utopian at all – or worse, endemic to the pitfalls of utopian authoritarianism and exclusion. “It remains though, that the potency of urban architecture lies in its production of platforms from which the collective can emerge. As opposed to the reaffirmation of the status quo.” (G. Thun; K. Velikov; C. Ripley, D; McTavish, 2015) The enactment of opening up spaces and infrastructure for local stakeholders and businesses and make them free to use can become beneficial for the improvement of internal relationships.

Mimicking the adjacent architectural typologies and scale them to the different cases of appropriation of space to come together in a more centralized manner which sparks citizen participation.

Image by Smout Allen, ‘The retreating village: Architecture for a restless landscape.’ Augmented Landscapes,Pamphlet Architecture 28, 2007

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Reference 3: Smout Allen

“The Creation of an archipelago, an urban island that would be connected through a grid of infrastructure, and the diffuse and shrinking urban fabric that surrounds it would be encouraged to further depopulate and deconstruct. Imagining a highly plausible framework for construction and deconstruction that allows for multiple realities and politics to emerge from and coexist within the urban system. A construction built for the city that responds to its position, sited on shifting and elevated horizons.

Assembled with various entities all playing out their function very purposefully, orchestrated by the movement of the elements and its users.� (T. Scott, S. Allen 2007) A multilayered design would lead to uses of different kinds with different timeframes. Built for multiple but very precise and confined purposes orchestrating the local uses. Without trying to embrace loose or vague use cases which may or may not happen. Spaces provided for actions which do not relate to a direct commercial appropriation, but rather incorporate the expansion of local businesses and industries to flourish. To assure that these stakeholders can benefit from changes and not be the victim of them.

Dwellers and adjacent inhabitants will see the value of their houses rise -if they own them- and who doesn’t have his own property will inevitably move out. This is, by no means a prime directive, nor is it the purpose of this effect to happen. But, once a certain area sees its surroundings become increasingly more secure, cleaner and functioning better, the land value will rise.

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10. MAKING WAY FOR TECTONICS, ALL LAYERS INCLUDED

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10.1: Creating space: the presented theorethical framework considered

The following investigation focuses on the levels of depth within the direct environment of the Hamilton Ave Footbridge and its interconnectivity with the whole city. As previous analysis and elaborate theoretical investigation suggested, the aim is to propose a multilayered and complex design which ties multiple strands together and traces back to the roots of faulty design decisions made when the Gowanus 287 Interstate was constructed. More specifically, pursuing its ambivalent nature and its immediate link towards the ‘pivotal scale condition’. (Scheerlinck 2016) That is the moment on which infrastructure has a profound and inexorable influence on the movement of individuals and the human scale in specific places. In this case, for example, two passers-by almost brushing their shoulders when crossing a tender and long pedestrian bridge over a buzzing old-fashioned highway which connects multiple American states and stretches thousands and thousands of kilometers. It is the interchange going both underground at the entrance of the Battery Tunnel, multiple lanes turning right towards upper Brooklyn and Williamsburg and the crossing of the Gowanus Channel which make up for a highly complex system of intertwined lanes. “Diverse Models of Proximity within a street, neighborhood or region start from the assumption that urban space, from the domestic scale till the scale of the city, can be understood as a discontinuous collective space (de SolàMorales, 1992), containing different levels of shared use that are defined by multiple physical, cultural or territorial boundaries.” Scheerlinck (2013) Translating what has been written in this reflection paper into tectonics, architectural forms and forms should follow a certain trajectory. It is a path, which finds its roots in an analytical, quantifiable and intelligent way without enacting a sense of formalism. The level of functional specificity of all added layers within a seemingly flowing and organically orchestrated setting can be a structural role in the urban pattern when connecting multiple scales. Voids and gaps, narrowed pathways and various routes help to create urban sequences and rhythms that could otherwise not exist and help create a non-programmatic specification that enforces sudden abundance of activities and unplanned uses in the area. To guard its safety, permanent programming should be inherently part of the intervention. The existence of a space with multiple levels of programming in a system of collective spaces can only be described when diverse levels of access restrictions are being part of its collectivity. Although half of the actions of present by (small) manufacturing, car dealers, or car repair shops take place on the curb. Their appropriation is actually not considered as an action of collectivity. Nor are their actions currently contributing to the overall collective space in this area. A certain feeling of comfort for these settlers and their appropriation of the curb space misses a valuable interchange of benefits and mutual profits for both inhabitants and business holders. By taking up space in front of their property, car dealers and manufacturers created a social dynamic which has been settled many decades ago, but seems to spark inequity in the of use of collective space.

97

10.2: Photos of the local environment

The inhabitants of Nelson-street are so proud of their view of lower Manhattan. For no money would they move out. Only to watch this spectacle.

Another manifestation of the pivotal scale, here in its spatial form. Same coordinates, two drastically different speeds. Only four meters apart.

98

View from the Hamilton pedestrian bridge. “Everyday over 50. 000 cars drive by here” says a guy strolling by.

1The 940’s green painted steel columns suspend the highway here for many decades now. There is a certain beauty in their abundance.

99

100

Overlay maps bottom-up: First, flood map and distribution of aid, above that, the pedestrian and bicycle connection from the intervention up to the waterfront and on the top, the public transport map displaying current and possible new routes 101

the waterfront and on the top, the public transport map displaying current and possible new routes

Overlay maps bottom-up: First, flood map and distribution of aid, above that, the pedestrian and bicycle connection from the intervention up to

FIGURE 1. LARGE SCALE IMPACT, CONNECTION AND RELEVANCE OF INTERVENTION ON AN URBAN LEVEL FIGURE 1. LARGE SCALE IMPACT, CONNECTION AND RELEVANCE OF INTERVENTION ON AN URBAN LEVEL

102

Different routes altering the relationship towards the local infrastructure *highlighted part.

FIGURE 2. SMALL SCALE IMPACT, CONNECTION, AND RELEVANCE OF INTERVENTION ON LOCAL LEVEL

FIGURE 2. SMALL SCALE IMPACT, CONNECTION, AND RELEVANCE OF INTERVENTION ON LOCAL LEVEL Different routes altering the relationship towards the local infrastructure *highlighted part.

103

104

pattern of subsequent open spaces, opening up the urban fabric and dropping down the intervention within its context. The top map shows

the total operating surface seen as the agency the intervention has by creating new streetscapes and the five ‘dots’ to be connected.

105

Hook in which open spaces create opportunities for locals to organize events. Above that layer, there are the streets which have a new pave-

connect new and old vacant spaces on which mere reflections of the active and vibrant functions/program will coincide with a new local Red

FIGURE 7. BACK WITH THIS CONCEPT NOW SEEN IN ITS URBAN CONTEXT The created streetscapes related to the outline patterns which

FIGURE 3: LOCAL SCOPE, A PROPOSAL FOR AN URBAN INTERVENTION Eliminating redundant factors of local identities by creating a flow

FIGURE 4: A PLACE OF INTERACTION. THE RELATION TOWARDS THE LOCAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND ITS AMBIVALENT NATURE. One of the most redundant factors within the field of operation around Hicks street and Nelson street is the water maintenance facility. FEMA distributes drinking water at 50 feet below ground level here and therefore, closes of all ground in contact with the facility with double fences. By incorporating the maintenance facility within the design as an extra level of stakeholders who could be possibly bound to the ground surface, the current use of vacant spaces (construction and disposal of machinery) could move to the vacant unused space underneath the infrastructure.

106

FIGURE 5: DEALING WITH INTERTWINED MOVEMENTS, ON DIFFERENT SPEEDS AND IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS Currently, the footbridge assures a very limited local connection between both sides. It snakes underneath and above the highway at the same time.

This concept shows the connection being formed more as a landscape element than a bridge. Now, suddenly it is possible to see the other side without obstructions or making detours. A wide angeled slab forces the current infrastructure to bend in subtle ways in order to make this happen.

107

2.

1.

see the other side without obstructions or making detours. A wide angeled slab forces the current infrastructure to bend in subtle ways in

same time. This concept shows the connection being formed more as a landscape element than a bridge. Now, suddenly it is possible to

order to make this happen.

FIGURE 6 SAME CONCEPT APPLIED BUT WITH A LESS WIDE ‘BRIDGE’.

To maximise the flow of a new connection, the followed strategy tries to smooth out the discontinuity of the existing street pattern on both sides by connecting the open spaces on both sides of the interstate infrastructure. The challenge presented by this logical intervention is to add variety in functions and to augment its functionality by permeating it. By doing so, ambiguous spaces are created. (K. Scheerlinck 2016) Space obtaining a multiplicity of characters which contain many overlap scenarios. Not explicitly defined, but simply existing on top of each other.

108

FiGURE 5,6&7 SAME CONCEPT APPLIED BUT WITH A LESS WIDE ‘BRIDGE’.

3.

1. The ramp starts at street level and climbs up at 10% for 25 meters after which the inclination drops to only 5%, space on the infrastructure- side is left to make room for adjacent new programming as volumes.

2. A barrier is formed at the other side facing the street and infrastructure. communication from outside towards the buildings happens strictly on the ramp. That way, the ramp is actively used for both crossing the bridge as well as entering all functions attached to the ramp.

3. The ramp comes back from the street level with a width of 2 to 3 meters to subside adjacent actions and create intermediate spaces.

109

FIGURE 7. BACK WITH THIS CONCEPT NOW SEEN IN ITS URBAN CONTEXT The created streetscapes related to the outline patterns which connect new and old vacant spaces on which mere reflections of the active and vibrant functions/program will coincide with a new local Red Hook in which open spaces create opportunities for locals to organize events. Above that layer, there are the streets which have a new pavement. No curves, no actors of division between the spaces of different users create a streetscape where drivers, cyclist, and pedestrians need to watch out and take better care of one another. The top layer shows the different flows of transport

110

and activities alike on the location. Pedestrians crossing the bridge and entering Red Hook, Cyclists racing towards the extensions of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, cars having to watch out for playing kids and soccer games prefer to take a little detour, a bus loop creating a hub of interconnectivity deep into other neighborhoods in Brooklyn and the first tramline (street glider) connecting downtown Manhattan with Red Hook and lower Brooklyn via an extra traffic lane in the Battery Tunnel.

111

11. PRELIMINARY DRAFT

112

SCALE 1 : 500

1

5

10

20

50 ELIAS BEY 18/04/2018

A closer look at the intervention on a more urban scale. The interconnection of public transport going through a low traffic density area. On these streets, cars will not drive. These streets will only be used by local temporary traffic as they are directly linked to the bridge and a lot of pedestrians will be crossing the street.

113

114

50

ELIAS BEY 18/04/2018

LAYER 1 : appropriation model

20

This plan is focussing on the connection

10 5

streets. as stated previously, a monotonous pavement would be used in order to connect

1

SCALE 1 : 500

between the intervention and its surrounding

the intervention with the urban fabric on a visual and physical level.

This

diagram

explains

the

levels

of

appropriation on this junction and tract 59 (assigned mainly for industrial use).

What can be seen, is that local businesses and dealerships make extensive use of the curb and even the street in front of their property.

To a certain extent, these industries even claim public space permanently to use it as dump yards or to extend their reach for expanding.

Both dwellers and business holders or entrepreneurs are often seen on the street.

The street culture in this part of Red hook is local but very strong.

Business

holders

exchange

space

and

develop relationships which allow them to appropriate space to trade it for goods or services. Broken cars, oil tanks, garbage containers, construction material and tools are placed on the sidewalk or in front of the curb. The challenges of the design are to convince these local small businesses that this intervention can be used to their advantage. Loading platforms or a lowering deck from the high way can be used to rapidly exchange or transport goods in direct contact with the highway. Dwellers from Liqueur street and Nelson street are currently not really involved in the streetscape apart from the intermediate space all the facades have (materialized as their ‘front gardens’)

115

116

LAYER 2: ramp design

A well-desgined ramp should be linked to the notion of solving an increased difficulty of moving through the city. In one place, different scales of movement with different speeds come together.

Whilst the surface glider, tram or bus goes underneath the pedestrian bridge to dock at the station, pedestrians commute it the opposite direction to go to the other side of the highway infrastructure.

The link of those two scales in this setting is a complex and advanced issue. Therefore strict measurements of the location were taken and translated into this first draft.

Public transportation going underneath the pedestrian bridge and on the same axis as the highway should be feasible.

The difficulty lays in the fact that the street needs to be lowered (see page 126 -127).

The ramp design on top of it, on the other hand, should be as fluent as possible and should be able to accommodate users of all ages with or without any impairments.

The actual bridge which connects both sides would be rather bluff and wide. A good thirty meters wide to be precise. This is done to accommodate both the inevitable future expansion of the neighbourhood and to advocate the agency of vacancy or openness which is so omnipresent in Red Hook. The fact that the street smoothly transcends into a bridge and grows into a square on top of the highway triggers possibilities for uses which are to be discovered through the experimentation of using the infrastructure as an entity within the urban fabric.

117

Model of the base layer intervention derived from previous concept sketches and diagrams. In white: the volumes of adjacent buildings (direct stakeholders in this project). The surrounding streets connected to the intervention are taken into consideration too. An ‘only-local-traffic zone’ which embraces openness and creates a pedestrian-friendly environment where kids feel safe to play.

120

Side views of the model from both sides of the interchange infrastructure. Sketched lines and drawing on top of the model show the first intent towards a multilayered program on top of the base layer. (scale 1/500, materials used: grey and white cardboard.)

121

12: INITIAL DESIGN CHOISES

122

The following investigation focuses on the levels of depth within the direct environment of the Hamilton Ave Footbridge and its interconnectivity with the whole city. As previous analysis and elaborate theoretical investigation suggested, the aim is to propose a multilayered and complex design which ties multiple strands together and traces back to the roots of faulty design decisions made when the Gowanus 287 Interstate was constructed. More specifically, pursuing its ambivalent nature and its immediate link towards the ‘pivotal scale condition’. (Scheerlinck 2016) That is the moment on which infrastructure has a profound and inexorable influence on the movement of individuals and the human scale in specific places. In this case, for example, two passers-by almost brushing their shoulders when crossing a tender and long pedestrian bridge over a buzzing old-fashioned highway which connects multiple American states and stretches thousands and thousands of kilometers. It is the interchange going both underground at the entrance of the Battery Tunnel.

Multiple modes of movement are presented through this design proposal. Users of this collective space are stimulated to use different ways to go to the other side (in both directions). For this matter, a tectonic complexity is desired to steer the movement of people during different moments of the day or due to everchanging weather conditions.

A ramp set from the street connects its surroundings and narrows at the top where it snaps on the footbridge. A permanent volume breaks the flow and interacts with the line of movement from the street level up to the bridge. A ramp which has direct contact with the streetlevel. No more amenities or barriers, just a direct flow. Also here interfered with volumes which hold all programs and which activate its surroundings. A walled structure clams on to the infrastructure and separates the program from highway noises and gasses. One volume gets its support from the structures of the adjacent infrastructure and houses all programs and a path to connect get people up to the footbridge. A series of veil-like structures brush against the suspended highway and create a separation between the two sides. This intervention becomes excluded.

123

124

GROUND FLOOR, PUBLIC TRANSPORT

This plan is focussing on the connection between public transport and the various modes of entering the new and existing public transport network. The ground-level of this intervention will mainly be dedicated to transforming the vacant lot into a transportation hub. This is the infrastructure which will take up most of the buildings budget and will and therefore is included as a base layer on which all other programs are linked. The City of New York is planning on investing a lot in a better functioning network with more attention towards connectivity for commuters within the boroughs.

This means the implementation of a higher amount of stations with a more flexible ridership network which is linked to both far away as closeby destinations.

Via a lowered deck all passengers are able to get out of the buss, street glider, or tram more easily. The roof of the bus- and tramstop make use of the overarching structure of the 30-meter wide pedestrian bridge to lead passengers underneath the ramp that brings people to the other side towards the street.

In order to make a multilayered wellcommunicating design work fine, the street underneath the highway infrastructure is lowered to let busses and street surface gliders pass underneath.

Within its connectivity, as many modes of getting towards a destination are included, whether by bicycle or by foot, various modes of movement even let oldest and handicapped persons travel safely.

125

126

LEVEL ONE, THE RAMP

This plan depicts the different modes of how to get on the pedestrian bridge with different flows in mind. Some more suited for cyclists, other more pedestrian friendly.

Instead of simply applying only one way to get to the other side like a continuous slab of concrete, the strategy here is to create complexity which invites different uses and types of appropriation.

The main focus of the intervention on this level is to bring people to the other side of the highway in the safest and welcoming fashion. The look and feel of this ramp should differentiate itself from its environment as much as possible. A combination of wooden elements, greenery, rigged concrete, grass, tiles and permeable surfaces would be used to distinguish the functionality and use on a particular surface. Riding on cycling ramp made out of wood would, for example, not be ideal to ride safely on when it has rained or snowed.

The ramp would be perforated with big holes ranging from 5 to 12 m in diameter. These would bring light into the created space underneath the ramp and would bring visibility and subsequent social security for gloomy activities.

A combination of ways to get on top of the ramp would suggest an ambiguous, lively and flexible environment. Large wide stairs to small steps, slowly inclining ramps and steeper ramps, all make up for a multiplicity of movement in combination with various activities.

127

128

LEVEL TWO, COMMUNITY PLATFORMS

A layer dedicated to community functions rises above the ramp and pedestrian bridge.

Platforms and boxes are suspended by steel columns and rodes and are attached to the structural elements of the highway infrastructure.

Two shifted boxes are dedicated to education and are part of the school on the other side of the street. The permanent programming within this layer makes social security, a highly structured day rhythm and public safety for users in underlying layers possible.

The sense of a pedagogy included within a publicly operating intervention works well with the local start-up culture which has its base in education. A physical well designed and contemporary layer would, therefore, encourage the smart utilization of space as a billboard to withhold all negative connotation associated with old infrastructures.

The underlying inquiry lays within retaining or transforming the ‘everyday qualities’ this segment of Red Hook has to offer. To reinvent a site, it’s helpful to step away from knowledge sharing as something which is fixed. A suspended publicly accessible platform would help diversify the demand to open up public spaces which are safe to be.

In its lively activities, performances and the image of kids being educated to anticipating the shortcoming capabilities of some people to imagine what the future can hold.

Also, new ways of implementing distributed production methods would help. Communal skill-sharing lays not only in learning others how to act in a certain situation, it also helps community groups to assign responsibilities.

129

Concept model: proof of concept. Creating a first 3D image of the intervention on top of a more specified ramp design according to previous plans and sketches. This would be the basic layout of the intervention. Other layers would be added next. (scale 1/200, materials used: grey and white cardboard, painted steel rodes.)

130

Concept section series: Two iterations on the same axis and one section further away from the intervention to emphasize the whole with a strong focus on the multiplicity of functions an programs. Some design choices where already decided or changed completely at this stage. (original scale 1/200, pencil, tracing paper) 131

Scenario 1: Red Hook is threatened by flooding. Traffic still goes on at the highway and busses still do there routes down on ground level...

Meanwhile, emergency services and special aid people are calmly preparing for the flood by providing all logistical needs in one place. This place is located outside the flood zone but easily accessible from both the highway (via a crane) and on the ground. This place will soon act as a safe haven for those in need.

132

Scenario 2: The sun is shining in Red Hook. It is five in the afternoon and school is out. Kids relax on the ramp with grass surfaces and greenery. Rush hour is here and traffic is buzzing by on the highway infrastructure. No one is bothered by the sound these cars make anymore, the noise is what makes New York what it is. Local dealers are using the crane to load a truck parked on the back. They can own a share of the loading infrastructure to extend their logistical needs or to extend their business. The deal is that they make room when a flood occurs.

133

134

50

ELIAS BEY 18/04/2018

GROUND FLOOR, PUBLIC TRANSPORT

20

This plan is focussing on the connection

10 5

modes of entering the new and existing public transport network. The ground-level

1

SCALE 1 : 500

between public transport and the various

of this intervention will mainly be dedicated to transforming the vacant lot into a transportation hub. This is the infrastructure which will take up most of the buildings budget and will and therefore is included as a base layer on which all other programs are linked. The City of New York is planning on investing a lot in a better functioning network with more attention towards connectivity for commuters within the boroughs.

This means the implementation of a higher amount of stations with a more flexible ridership network which is linked to both far away as closeby destinations.

Via a lowered deck all passengers are able to get out of the buss, street glider, or tram more easily. The roof of the bus- and tramstop make use of the overarching structure of the 30-meter wide pedestrian bridge to lead passengers underneath the ramp that brings people to the other side towards the street.

In order to make a multilayered wellcommunicating design work fine, the street underneath the highway infrastructure is lowered to let busses and street surface gliders pass underneath.

Within its connectivity, as many modes of getting towards a destination are included, whether by bicycle or by foot, various modes of movement even let oldest and handicapped persons travel safely.

135

136

ELIAS BEY 18/04/2018

50 20 10 5 1

SCALE 1 : 500

GROUND FLOOR, PUBLIC TRANSPORT LEVEL ONE, THE RAMP This plan is focussing on the connection This plan depicts the different modes of how between public transport and the various to get on the pedestrian bridge with different modes of entering the new and existing flows in mind. Some more suited for cyclists, public transport network. The ground-level other more pedestrian friendly. of this intervention will mainly be dedicated Instead of simply applying only one way to to transforming the vacant lot into a get to the other side like a continuous slab transportation hub. This is the infrastructure of concrete, the strategy here is to create which will take up most of the buildings complexity which invites different uses and budget and will and therefore is included as types of appropriation. a base layer on which all other programs are linked. The City of New York is planning on The main focus of the intervention on this investing a lot in a better functioning network level is to bring people to the other side of with more attention towards connectivity for the highway in the safest and welcoming commuters within the boroughs. fashion. The look and feel of this ramp should This means the implementation of a higher differentiate itself from its environment as amount of stations with a more flexible much as possible. A combination of wooden ridership network which is linked to both far elements, greenery, rigged concrete, grass, away as closeby destinations. tiles and permeable surfaces would be used to distinguish the functionality and use on Via a lowered deck all passengers are able a particular surface. Riding on cycling ramp to get out of the buss, street glider, or tram made out of wood would, for example, not more easily. The roof of the bus- and trambe ideal to ride safely on when it has rained stop make use of the overarching structure of or snowed. the 30-meter wide pedestrian bridge to lead passengers underneath the ramp that brings The ramp would be perforated with big holes people to the other side towards the street. ranging from 5 to 12 m in diameter. These would bring light into the created space In order to make a multilayered wellunderneath the ramp and would bring visibility communicating design work fine, the street and subsequent social security for gloomy underneath the highway infrastructure is activities. lowered to let busses and street surface A combination of ways to get on top of the gliders pass underneath. ramp would suggest an ambiguous, lively and flexible environment. Large wide stairs Within its connectivity, as many modes of to small steps, slowly inclining ramps and getting towards a destination are included, steeper ramps, all make up for a multiplicity whether by bicycle or by foot, various modes of movement in combination with various of movement even let oldest and handicapped activities. persons travel safely.

137

13: PLANS, SECTIONS AND FINAL LAYOUT, CONSTRUCTION AND DETAILS

138

RED HOOK

139

140

141 1

5

INDEX

10

ELIAS BEY MASTER DISSERTATION ‘18

ORIGINAL SCALE 1:500

MASTERPLAN OF URBAN STRATEGY

20

NEW BUS ROUTE FOR RED HOOK BOUND

50

STREET SURFACE GLIDERS, TRAMS OR OTHER FIXED TRANSPORT

ESTIMATED USE OF AVAILABLE SURCE

ASIGNED SURFACE FOR INTERCONNECTIVITY OF NYC (publ. trans.)

ASIGNED SURFACE FOR NEW PROGRAMMING

DIFFERENT PAVEMENT IMPROVE SPATIAL DELIMINATION

GREENERY NOT PRESENT YET

VACANT LAND, NOT ASISGNED BUT OFTEN PRIVATLY OWNED

FRONT DOOR OR ENTRANCE

GATE OR LARGE FACADE OPENING

APROPRIATION, LAND USED BY BUSINESS (NOT OK)

APROPRIATION, LAND USED BY BUSINESS (OK)

> OPENNESS AND VISIBILTY: MAXIMIZE FEELING OF SAFETY

RECREATION: GREENERY, LEISURE AND SPORTS SPACES

PUBLIC TRANSPORT: BUSSTOP, TRAMSTOP, BIKE/PED. PATHS

FIRST AID: LOGISTICS , LOADING PLATFORMS AND CRANE

EDUCATION: CLASSES AND PUBLIC LECTUREROOMS

ELECTRICITY AND HEAT: CREATE RESILIENCE VIA MICROGRID

WATER SUPLY RED HOOK: IMPROVEMENT OF SYSTEM

PROGRAMMING, INITIAL APPROACH (all to be placed on the hamilton footbridge)

142

1

1 16

6

MASTER DISSERTATION ‘18

ELIAS BEY

ORIGINAL SCALE: 1/200

PLAN LEVEL 0, CONNECTIVITY WITH THE PUBLIC TRANSPORT NETWORK

10

5

01

02

03

04 AD AC

CC 00 ’ 3

BB 00 ’ 2

*

CC *

CB*

AA

CA*

’ AA 1 00

143

’

01 ’

02 ’

03 ’

04 ’

05 06 ’

’

07

’

08

’

09

BB

CD

10 ’ 11 ’

BD

’’ BC

02 BA

4’’ 05 ’’

’’ 03 0

1’’

0 12 ’

144

1

1 16

6

MASTER DISSERTATION ‘18

ELIAS BEY

ORIGINAL SCALE: 1/200

PLAN LEVEL 1, CONNECTIVITY WITH CAROL GARDENS AND THE REST OF NY

10

5

CC 00 ’ 3

BB 00 ’ 2

*

CC *

CB* AA

CA*

’ AA 1 00

145

’

01 ’

02 ’

03 ’

04 ’

05 ’

06

’

07

08

’ ’

09

BB

CD

10 ’ 11 ’

BD

’’ BC

02 BA

4’’ 05 ’’

03 ’’ 0

1’’

0 12 ’

146

1

1 16

6

MASTER DISSERTATION ‘18

ELIAS BEY

ORIGINAL SCALE: 1/200

PLAN LEVEL 2, EDUCATION FACILITY AND FREIGHT PLATFORMS

10

5

CC 00 ’ 3

BB 00 ’ 2 ’ AA 1 00

147

148

MASTER DISSERTATION ‘18

ELIAS BEY

ORIGINAL SCALE: 1/200

PLAN LEVEL 2, EDUCATION FACILITY AND FREIGHT PLATFORMS

149

The new Hamilton Ave Footbridge by night.

150

Grandfather and grandson enjoy the view of the NYC skyline on top the viewing platform at the Hamilton Ave footbridge.

RED HOOK

1

2

5

1

3

8

SECTION: EDUCATION FACILITY, RAMP DESIGN AND BRIDGE SECTION SCALE: 1/50 ELIAS BEY MASTER DISSERTATION ‘18

1

2

5

1

3

8

SECTION: EDUCATION FACILITY, RAMP DESIGN AND BRIDGE ORIGINAL SCALE: 1/50 ELIAS BEY MASTER DISSERTATION ‘18

151

152

1

2

5

1

3

8

SECTION: EDUCATION FACILITY, RAMP DESIGN AND BRIDGE ORIGINAL SCALE: 1/50 ELIAS BEY MASTER DISSERTATION ‘18

153

1

5

10

1

6

16

The new Hamilton Ave Footbridge by night.

154

Grandfather and grandson enjoy the view of the NYC skyline on top the viewing platform at the Hamilton Ave footbridge.

RED HOOK

1

2

5

1

3

8

SECTION: EDUCATION FACILITY, RAMP DESIGN AND BRIDGE SECTION SCALE: 1/50 ELIAS BEY MASTER DISSERTATION ‘18

1

2

5

1

3

8

SECTION: NIGHTVIEW OF THE HAMILTON AVE FOOTBRIDGE SECTION: EDUCATION FACILITY, RAMP DESIGN AND BRIDGE

ORIGINAL SCALE: 1/50

ORIGINAL SCALE: 1/50 ELIAS BEYBEY ELIAS

MASTER DISSERTATION ‘18

MASTER DISSERTATION ‘18

155

156

157

1

1

MASTER DISSERTATION ‘18

ELIAS BEY

ORIGINAL SCALE: 1/50

SECTION: EDUCATION FACILITY, RAMP DESIGN AND BRIDGE

6

5

14: BUILDING PERFORMANCE, STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS AND SUSTAINABILITY

158

CONDITIONS TO BE MET TROUGH PERFORMANCE OF BUILDING COMPONENTS spatial fuction

LECTURE ROOM

CLASS ROOM

reasons for special climate control

This space is made to have lectures, performances and classes during extracurricular hours.

It needs to be silent and well ventilated but not too bright as windows should easily be dimmed.

required LUX general

required tempreature

300 LUX

21° C demanded during winter time, delivery of 18°-22° all year

provided daylight

This space is made to have workshops and practical courses.

Space which the local school on the other side of the street desperately needs.

Here it needs to be silent and bright.

400 LUX provided daylight

other requirements

general

21° C demanded during winter time, delivery of 18°-22° all year

high acoustic requirements (outside 85-90 dB)

high acoustic requirements (outside 85-90

* No natural ventilation can be used to cool the building as the exterior air quality is very poor. ** NY summers can be hot, and winters can be very cold. Due to its variable programming, this building will be heated by air. By insulating extremely well and implementing a flexible but high performing heating system, energy loss can be reduced.

Typical USA interior comfort requirements in a public building:

20° to 23° C 300 LUX

source for all information above: Julia Raish, CDC ‘thermal comfort: designing for people’.

159

EDUCATION CENTER TECHNICAL PLAN: VENTIALTION & ELECTRICITY LIGHT FIXTURES LED 500 LUX 60W SOCKET 120V- 60HZ TYPE ‘USA’ AIR EXTRACTION AIR SUPLY

ELEVATOR 8-10 PERS 1000 KG

AUTOMATICLY 120cm

7 m2 CORRIDOR 1 FOR SOUND REDUCTION/ EVACUATION

CORRIDOR 2 FOR EXTRA SOUND REDUCTION 180cm VENTILATION DUCT AIR EXTRACTION TECHNICAL ROOM

VENTILATION DUCT AIR EXTRACTION

115 m2 CONCRETE FIRE

110 m2

VENTILATION DUCT

CLASS ROOM SPACE capacity 30 students 5m2/pp

LECTURE ROOM capacity 55 students 5m2/pp

160

WALL CONCEPT DETAIL: ACOUSTIC COMFORT acoustic insulating glass La dB 50, 4m2

A lightweight construction

aluminum window frame 10x10cm

is needed to make a big

folded tin window sill

cantilever

high performing window sill 10x10cm

possible. Wooden panels

dense rockwool insulation 5cm

with insulation in between

dense rockwool insulation 5cm aluminum profiles 10x10cm

of

700

cm

make up a wall according to the “mass-flex- mass”

extra PE-foil water sealing

principle.

PE-foil rock wool insulation 2x10cm stainless steel bend plate 5X5cm

TOTAL PACKAGE ACOUSTIC PERFOMANCE

intermediate rockwool insulation layer 4cm

20 CM CONCRETE

heavy drywall pannels 2x1,5cm (int.) vapour control layer heavy drywall pannels 2x1,5cm (ext.) wooden multiplex panel creating a cabling cavity zinc top layer

53

4

3 5 3

45

Ventilation detail: P= 55 IDA 2 =22m3/h 110 m2 lecture room 55*22=1210m3/h v= 4m/s heat recovery system through ventilation 95% D= 1210m3 A= (Ø2*π)/4 Ø suply duct = 16 cm

161

162

acoustic insulating glass La dB 50, 4m2

high performing steel window sill 10x10cm wooden support connection

GHB bracing profile 10x12x1,5cm

IPE 35 steel support frame

IPE 35 steel support frame

welded steel cover plate 35x2cm

heavy drywall pannels 2x1,5cm (int.)

wooden support beam

rocktwool insulation 2x10cm

aluminum profiles 10x10cm

multiplex plate 2cm

water control layer

zinc wall cover wooden wall cover PE-foil steel cover plate

A high performing acoustic construction is guaranteed by adding

2 masses and enclose trapped air in between them. The mass on

ROOF CONCEPT DETAIL: A GREEN ROOF WITH ACOUST

ROOF CONCEPT DETAIL: A GREEN ROOF WITH ACOUSTIC COMFORT GUARANTEED

A high performing acoustic construction is guaranteed by adding 2 masses and enclose trapped air in between them. The mass on the roof is created by a green roof

J 1. Heath Atser

F

M

A

3.

2. Wild Geranium

M

J

J

A

S

O

N

1.

2.

4.

5.

6.

3. Mock Rush

4. Cylindric Blazing Star

5. Bearded Violet

6. Winter Aconite

Benefits for the owners: - Expand roof lifetime up 3 times.

- Reduce winter heating costs - Improve public relations - stormwater management tool

sientific name

The aim of selecting around year blooming rooftop vegetation is to let people see a wellcoloured pattern when looking down from the viewing platform. It is also a good way to attract birds and bees who are able to spot this surface from the air. They can then enjoy the vegetation

Benefits for the community : - Reduce smog and improve air quality - Reduce noise - Reduce energy demand - Provide top view green spaces - Reduce surrounding heat effect

common

plant

bloom

name

hight

time

Benefits for the environment : - Prevent sewer overflow - Reduce carbon monoxide impact - Neutralise acid rain effect - Provide habitat for wildlife

color

sun exposere

winter resistance

July-October

white

full sun part shade

-6° C, frost resistant

pink

full sun full shade

-4° C, frost resistanc

1.

Aster Ericoides

Heath Aster

2.

Geranium Macumtum

Wild Geranium 30 cm

April-June

3.

Junecacea

Mock Rush

40 cm

february-April gold brown

full shade

-15° C, frost resistanc

4.

Liatris Cylindracea

Cylindric Star

20 cm

July-October

purple

half sun to part shade

-2° C, frost resistanc

5.

Viala Pedatifida

Bearded Violet 15 cm

April-july

purple

full sun to part shade

-5° C, frost resistance

6.

Eranthis

Winter Aconite 10 cm

Januari-july

yellow

half sun to part shade

-5° C, frost resistance

30 cm

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D

STRUCTURAL CONCEPT PRIMARY LOADBEARING ELEMENTS

horizontal concrete loadbearing element cantilever left: 6m cantilever right 7m

diagonal steel tubes accommodating ‘tension’ rectangular tube 150x150x5mm

European wide flange HAE/ HEB 360x11,5mm

vertical supporting column of the front steel frame. rectangular tube 150x150x5mm

elevator and duct shaft

concrete staircase 1800x3500mm

Steel loadbearing round tube. 1/8, 300x15mm

concrete structural core

foundation elements +1500 mm deep

Volumentric assembly of building components*A closer look at the tectonics and assembly of the educational facility. Presented as a concept scheme made in order to determine its feasbility.

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LOADING PLATFORMS, MADE TO SUPPORT HEAVY LOADS ALL YEAR ROUND & DURING EXCEPTIONAL WEATHER

HE 260 B: HEAVY LOADSHE 260YEAR B: LOADING MADE TO SUPPORT ALL ROUND & DURING EXCEPTIONAL WEATHER Profiles PLATFORMS, used: * EU-certified regulations 2016: (bending normal stress: NB l/300 (mm) Tf= 22 cm

HEB profile

pmax= 198 mm

Profiles used:

HE 650 B:

HE 650 B:

HEB profile columns 260x260x20 mm beams 260x260x20 mm columns 260x260x20 mm

Tf= 35 cm Ø = M 27 Tw= 16 cm Ø = M 27

pmax= 198 mm Ag = 10,77 m2/m Al =2,407 m2/m Ag = 10,77 m2/m

beams 260x260x20 mm

Tw= 16 cm

Al =2,407 m2/m

* EU-certified regulations 2016: (bending normal stress: bending moment of this construction is maxNB l/198mm, so it is secure and safe to elements are placed after the seco All remaining concrete l/300 (mm) steel construction can be build after which the bridges a walk on!

bending moment of this construction is max l/198mm, so it is secure and safe to walk on!

lightweight construction. once all of that is done, the wo project.

transition slab

COLUMNS A

#>20mm

As the beam

dimensions.

welding

refurbished

nuts and bolts angular support 100x100x20 bolted on site

e = 30 mm

*source for ‘Jellema, C top view

elevation

top view

elevation

top view

elevation

COLUMNS AND BEAMS, CONSIDERING THE LOADING DOCK. As the beams and columns follow a strict and well-dimensioned grid, the new constructions will simply follow the same dimensions. Keeping in mind some simple ‘rules of thumb’. The more regular this construction is the easier it can be refurbished or deconstructed if needed.

26X26 cm *source for all above information: ‘Jellema, Chapter 9 load bearing constructions’ EU-certified regulations 2016:

570 cm

normal stress: NB l/300 (mm)

26X26 cm

480 cm

360 cm

26X26 cm

340 cm

165

550 cm

26X26 cm

26X26 cm

(bending

15: STAKEHOLDERS REVISED, WHO CONTROLS WHAT AND IN WHICH WAY

166

ACTOR NETWORK TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION: stakeholders public-private partnership

LOCATION

ORGANIZATION COMMUNITY

TRAFFIC

UNFORTUNATE EVENTS

COMMUTERS

POWER

LOCAL

INSTITUTION

SHAREHOLDER *DIRECT REVENUE

GROUP 1 OF STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED:

New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) is the operater of the IFPS-plan of Red Hook (integrated flood protection system) in which the city capital funds commited 50 million and Hazard Mitigation Grant program funds aslo comiited 50 milion.

New York city housing authority (NYCHA).

Dwellers at tract 85: 32.7 % takes a daily commute of over 60 min and 42% does not have a vehicle. $550 million has been spend in the last 20 years to harden the building sagainst future floods (including electrical rooms).

Department of Transportation (DOT).

Has total jurystriction over the streets of Red Hook. These two institutions are responsible for the new pavement surrounding the Hamilton bridge.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). More money to provide sufficient buffering, is in the case of Red Hook quite rare. the Trump adminsitration has cut back its fund to invest in emergency planning. FEMA is the owner of the ‘vacant’ lot where the intervention will be. A valuable exchange exist of providing better watter management infrastructure.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Would be responsible for providing a new subway/tram or bus line to create a new hub. Luckely, as the subway system is growing and Red Hook becomes increasingly more popular, A budget is provided to connect Red Hook with the rest of the city.

The Department of environmental protection (DEP) is responible for the gutters and sewer systems on the streets of Red Hook. They would provide a new and well functioning sewersystem which assures that this small area would not be affected by flood. They will get a fully aquiped contol room to manage water extraxtion towards the waterfront .

GROUP 2 OF STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED: PRIVATE INSTEREST, SHARE TAKERS AND PARTICIPANTS Accomodating the hunger for development in a sustainable way.

AECOM DEVELOPERS

REHOP PLAN

Desifying Red Hook needs adequate growth infrastructure and not only

EST4T4

on the waterfront for the happy few.

RAFT ARCHITECTS

SUMMIT ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOL EDUCATION

Local schools can extend their reach and flexibility by opening anex

RED HOOK NEIGHBOURHOOD SCHOOL

workshop spaces to. The permanent programming within this layer

NEW BASISSCHOOL BROOKLYN

makes social security, a highly structured day rhythm and public safety

WORKSHOPS AND EVENING CLASSES

for users in underlying layers possible

PUBLIC LECTURES Providing space and infrastructure to easily extend businesses and LONG ISLAND PIPE SUPPLY OF BROOKLYN

LOCAL LOGISTICS

RATE WAY TANK COMPANY

others how to act in a certain situation, it also helps community groups

SILVERSTONE SHEET METAL COMMUNITY

local dealers. New ways of implementing distributed production methods would help. Communal skill-sharing lays not only in learning

JOHNSTONE CAR SUPPLY

to assign responsibilities.

DWELLERS ON NELSON STREET DWELLERS ON HICKS STREET DWELLERS ON LIQUER STREET

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Giving back open space to the community for leisure and recreation and connect them with the city trough a well functioning public stransportation network.

LOGISTICS

POLITICS

ADEQUATE SERVICES

KNOWLEDGE

INVESTMENTS

ENVIRONMENT

INFRASTRUCTURE

ET

INDUSTRY

LIQ

UE

RS

TRE

PERSONS

168

NYSERDA AWARDS $ 100 000 FOR GOOD PLANS TO BETTER ELECTRICITY AMENITIES MICROGRID Power during unfortunate events

NE

LSO

NS

TRE

ET

4 units of 6 times 30kW deliver enough energy to provide 270 households during power shortages

HICKS

STREE

T

169

Streetscape detail on Nelson Street, the ambivalence of its atmospere sparked by an open layout with only local traffic

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SURROUNDING STREETSCAPE PAVEMENT BEHAVIOR/ PROGRAM RELATED TO ITS MATERIALITY

LEVELS OF DEPTH

1.

2.

1. Open Street Pavement 45x45cm tile 2. Intermediate space pavement 1/2th 45x22cm tile

3.

3. “Private” pavement, curb connecting facades 1/4th 22x11cm tile Storm drain detail with gutter included: As Red can easily be flooded, good working storm drains are a must.

These 2m wide gutters get notch into the curb and then level with the pavement again. * A standard large concrete US-type storm drain is used.

Shared space: Continues paving along the entire length and with of the street creates open space and raised spatial attentiveness.

Use of shared space is subtly structured in a linear fashion: a central lane for light rail, bus -bicycle lane for permanent or temporary uses. Unobstructed pathways are merely materialized as a difference in stone size of the pavement.

This layout can, for instance, be a way to enforce the power of in-between spaces, and the level of functional specificity they bring forward in the afterlife of the touchdown infrastructure in the streetscape. Once building programs change after decades and local development made some leaps into changing into a dense area, open spaces can become a gift from the past. Openness can certainly play a structural role in the urban flow when connecting multiple scales. So can voids and gaps, narrowed pathways and seemingly ‘forced’ routes help to create urban sequences and rhythms that could not exist and help create a non-programmatic specification that enforces sudden abundance of activities versus unplanned uses in the area.

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16: THE INTERVENTION AND ITS SETTING

172

Grandfather and grandson enjoy the view of the NYC skyline on top of the viewing platform at the Hamilton footbridge. (see section p150) This bridge wiil act both as a destination for curious people as a prime connector of the neighborhood which would be used daily by hunderds of people.

173

A n interior view from the elevated classroom. They kids are in direct visual contact with Red Hook. Their neighborhood, their home. A visual link with the main school building is also guaranteed.

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17. EPILOGE

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Epiloge: Educability through delicacy

On the question of which of the variety of crisis facing the neighbourhood of Red Hook should be addressed, the reply should be “all the ones that were listed�. The pretension of farfetched applied design strategies on this location a call for the perfect future, regardless of the intervening obstacles. The ramifications of this intervention are in the fullness of their proposition scalable and address issues that haven’t been pronounced earlier as being an ideological urge for better times. Not linking the issues to a certain location to name them, that would allow it to come into being.

Current work as which this project tries to be exemplary with is more concerned about the implementation of strategies and the orchestration of possible scenarios and processes that contribute to the local identity and strengthen relationships through various scales. In Such a conception, the target of design becomes wider, so wide, everything could be its target in a desire to look for completeness of earlier depictions while trying to not to limit the presented approach to the scale of the thing itself. To improve educability from the conceptions people have about Red Hook, a finely worked combination of qualities should be applied. But, the question of implementing a question of qualities and quantities, but also of categories and capacities.

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18. BIBLIOGRAPHY AND READING LIST *alphabetic order

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Urban Projects/ Urban Theories ` Boano, C. (2014) ‘Architecture of Engagement. Informal urbanism and design ethics’, Atlantis Magazine 24/4 Burdet, R. (ed.), Sudjuic D. (ed.) (2007) ‘The endless City, The Urban Age Project by the London School of Economics and the Duetsche Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society’, Phaidon Press Ltd London, United Kingdom B. Cooper, A. Gopnik, (2013) ‘Mapping Manhattan: A love (and sometimes Hate) story in maps by 75 New Yorkers’, Abrams Image, New York, USA Cook, P; Chalk, W; Crompton, P (1999) ‘Archigram’, Princeton Architectural Press, New York, USA Koolhaas, R. (feb. 2005) ‘In search of Authenticity’, Manuscript from authors participation at the Urban Age conference in New York, USA Koolhaas, R. (1978) ‘Delirious New York, a Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan’, Monacelli Press, New York, USA Knoflacher, H; Rode, P; Tiwari, G; (2007) ‘How roads kill cities’. In: Burdett, Richard and Sudjic, Deyan, (eds.) ‘The Endless City’Phaidon, London, United Kingdom, , pp. 340-347.

Lim, CJ. (2014) ‘Food City’, Routledge Tailor & Francis Group New York F. Migayrou (ed.), (2017) ‘Architecture et Urbanisme au Japon depuis 1945’, Centre pompidou & Japan foundation, Paris, France Peter S; Robert, W; Poole, Jr. ‘(Last report 1998) How To Build Our Way Out of Congestion’, Reason Public Policy Institute Scheerlinck K; Green, M; (2016) Bellavista Tomé Street Scape Territories Notebook, Kris Scheerlink, Streetscape territories Ku Leuven Faculty of Arcitecture, Blurb, Belgium Scheerlinck K. (2014) Coney Island Street Scape Territories Notebook, Dag Boutsen (ed.), Streetscape territories Ku Leuven Faculty of Arcitecture, Drukkerij Artoos Scheerlink, K. (2013) Gowanus New York Street Scape Territories Notebook, Dag Boutsen (ed.), Streetscape territories Ku Leuven Faculty of Arcitecture, Drukkerij SIn tJoris Gent, Belgium Scheerlink, K. (2015)Common Streetscapes New York Street Scape Territories Notebook, Dag Boutsen (ed.), Streetscape territories Ku Leuven Faculty of Arcitecture, Drukkerij Artoos, Belgium Sennett R. (1991) The Conscience of the Eye: The design and social life of cities. London: Faber and Faber, United Kingdom Sorkin, M ‘(2007) Indefensible Space: The Architecture of the National Insecurity State’, New York: Routledge, USA Ruddick, M. (2016) ‘Wild By Design, Strategies for Creating Life-enhanced Landscapes’, Island Press Washington DC, USA Thun, G; Velikov, k; Ripley, G; McTavish, D. (2015) ‘Infra eco logi Urbanism, A project for the Great Lakes Megaregion’, Park Books, Zurich, p.

35-97 Venturi R; Scott Brown, D; Jacobs, J. (1972) ‘Learning from Las Vegas’, MIT Press Ltd Cambridge, USA The written work by Sheerlinck K; Schoonjans Y; Van Damme H, Urban Streetscapes & infrastructure: mapping and insights on proximity, permeability ans adjecency as agents of transfromation of the urban landscape defined by road infrastructure in a pivotal scale condition, Urban Projects &local identities Hoogstraat 51 9000 Ghent, Belgium Habraken, N. J. (1998) ‘The Structure of the Ordinary’, Cambridge: MIT Press.

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Architecture Theory Aureli, Pier V. (2008) ‘Toward the Archipelago: Defining the Political and the Formal in Architecture’, Log 16. p. 91-12 Boano, C; Talocci, G.(2014) ‘the politics of Play in Urban Design: Agamben’s profanation as a recalibrating approach to urban design research.

Bitacora Urbano territorial, N. 24(1), pp: Boano, C; Hunter, W; Netwon,C. (2013) ‘contested Urbanism in Dharavi. Writings and Projects on the Resilient city’, London: Development Planning Unit, Ballard, J.G. (1975) ‘Highrise: Critical mass’ featured in CJ Lims, ‘Food City, Routledge Tailor & Francis Group New York (2014) Gandy, M. (2005) ‘Learning from Lagos’, New left review n°33 p. 36-52, Featured prominently in the 2002 Documenta 11 Hejduk J. (1986) ‘Victims’, text 1 Architectural association, London, United Kingdom Liu, E; Lim, CJ (2011) Studio 8 Architects, ‘Short Stories, London in two-and-a half dimensions’, Routledge, Tailor & Francis Group, New York, USA Nieuwenhuys, N. (2015) ‘New Babylon, The Proeces of Growth’ in: Thun G. Velikov K. Ripley C. McTavish D., Infra eco loci Urbanism, A project for the Great Lakes Megaregion, Park Books, Zurich, Switzerland Price, C. (1966) ‘Potteries Thinkbelt’, 1964-66 & Price, C. (2003) The Square Book. Chichester: Wiley-Academy, United Kingdom Scott, T; Smout ,A.(2007)‘Pamphlet Architecture 28, Augmented Landscapes’ by Smouth Allen, Princeton Architectural Press, New York , USA Sujic, D (2007) ‘Theory, policy and Practice’, Featured in The Endless city, Phaidon Press Ltd. London, United Kingdom p. 32-51 Sudjic, D. (2005) ‘De Macht van het Bouwen, hoe Macht en Geld de Wereld Aanzien Geven’, Anthos, Amsterdam, Netherlands, USA Thun, G; Velikov, k; Ripley, G; McTavish, D. (2015) ‘Infra eco logi Urbanism, A project for the Great Lakes Megaregion’, Park Books, Zurich, p.

35-97

Public Space and Layers of Collectivity George, B. (2011) ‘Public Space: Culture, Political Theory, Street Photography’, SUN architectural Press, Amsterdam, Netherlands Jacobs, A. (1993) ‘Great Streets’ Cambridge: MIT Press, USA de Solà-Morales, M; ‘Public and Collective Space: The Urbanisation of the Private Domain as a New Challenge’ In Oase, no 33. (1992) Smith, N. (1996) ‘The New Urban Frontier, Gentrification and the Revanchist City’ Routledge; Auflage: New York, USA Sennett, R. (2003) ‘The fall of the Public man’, Penguin Books Ltd London, United Kingdom Tsukamoto Y. ‘Atelier Bow-Wow, (2015) Comunalidad Arquitectónica: Una Introduccíon, Original text: Architectural Commonality, an Introduction, Translated by F. Días (ed.), F. de Ferrari (ed.), D. Grass (ed.), Arq. Ediciones, Santiago, Chile

Tsukamoto, Y; Momoyo, Bow-Wow (2010) ‘The Architectures of Atelier Bow-Wow: Behaviorology’, Rizzoli, New York, USA

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Human Psyche and Philosophy Agamben, G. (2017) ‘what is an apparatus’ (Stanford, Ca: Stanford University Press, 2009), 14.) Featured in: C. Boano, F. Díaz (ed) F. Quintana (ed.) Lucía Galaretto (ed.),’ Urbanismo de Excepcíon’, Ediciones ARQ (+info) Editorial de la Esquela de Arquitectura de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile Faucoult, M. (2007) ‘Space Knowledge and Power, Faucoult and geography’, Edited by Jeremy W. Crampton and Stuart Elden. Cited from: “surveillance and society”, Aldershot, England; Burlington, VT: Ashgate, United Kingdom p. 247 Schön, D. (1983) ‘The Reflective Practitioner, how professionals think in action’, Basic Books, NewYork, USA Weber, C. E. Max (1992) ‘Economia y sociedad, estratificación social, eboso de sociologia conprensiva’, editted by Johannes Winkelmann, Fondo De cultura economica, Spain

Paper/ Articles about Red Hook and New York City Joseph, H; Boardman, J; Curyy Douglas, A. (1997) ‘Gowanus Expressway Traffic Primer, New York State Department of Transportation Project’ DCP & NYCDOT, ‘Official Red Hook Transportation Study’, Dep. of Transportation, Brooklyn New York, USA (April 2013) W. Menking, ‘The Architect’s Newspaper, AECOM Invites Community Input for their Massive Proposed Red Hook Development’ webstite: (https://archpaper.com/2016/09/aecom-red-hook-development-proposal/) (Sept. 15, 2016), (last visited: Feb. 20, 2018) Stringer, S. (2017) New York City Comptroller, ‘The Other Transit Crisis: How to improve the NYC Bus System’ (Nov 27, 2017). Via the official NYC comptroller website:(https://comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/the-other-transit-crisis-how-to-improve-the-nyc-bus-system/), (last visited: March 12, 2018) Reiss, M. (2000) ‘Red Hook Gowanus History Guide’, Historical Society, Brooklyn, New York, USA Vulbert, C. V. (2017) Pamphlet from frothcoming campaign committee, (fall 2017) website: (https://www.voteforcarmenvhulbert.com), last visited Feb. 23, 2018 Venugopal, N. (June 24, 2016) for DNAinfo NYCHA, Plans Sustainable Heat and Power System for Red Hook Houses. Website: (https://www. dnainfo.com/new-york/20160624/red-hook/nycha-plans-sustainable-heat-power-system-for-red-hook-houses), (last visisted: April 2, 2018) New York City departmetn of City Planning, (November 2014) ‘Red Hook Transportation Study, Full report. New York, USA NIST, Community Resilience Planning Guide for Buildings and Infrastructure Systems, Vol. 1. NIST Special Publication 1190: US Department of Commerce (2016) Official MTA annual count statistics ridership per capita, by NYC Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Website: (http://web.mta.info/nyct/ facts/ridership/) (last visisted: April 23, 2018) No author, ‘Interstate 278, Gowanus Expressway, Historic overview’, website: (http://www.nycroads.com/roads/gowanus/), Site contents by Eastern Roads, (last visisted: March 10, 2018) ZoLa New York City’s Zoning & Land Use Map. Website: (https://zola.planning.nyc.gov/about#9.72/40.7125/-73.733), (Last visited: May 20, 2018)

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19. CREDITS

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Thanks to:

Pratt University, New York City Ku Leuven Campus Sint Lucas Ghent My professor and promotor Kris Scheerlinck and his vigilant PhD students.

Prof. Jan van Gassen and Prof. Cathérine Mangé for helping me design the intervention Carol Eckman for editing.

All participants, inhabitants of the neighborhood and surroundings for sharing their knowledge and time.

Felix Zheng and Josh Jupiter for letting me feel home during my stay in New York.

My peers Jiří Vala. Alex Halabi and Giacomo Ambrosini for their feedback and fellowship.

My mom and dad for their support.

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