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NEO_COMPOSI T E Ta y lor

James

Urbshott

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CONTENTS 5 PART 0: FORWARD 7 What is a neo_composite?

9 PART I: FOUNDATIONS 10 Public Space + Infrastructure 20 Operations + Form 28 Apar tment + Community 39 PART II: MIXED MEDIA 40 Sound + Figure-Ground 46 Comprehension + Abstraction 48 Historical Representation + Agglomeration 54 Sky Exposure + Progression 58 Solar Cycle + Ar tificial Light 63 PART III: FORMS OF CARE 64 Water + Rhy thm + Rehabilitation 82 Protest + Protection + Therapy 96 Vacancy + Vir tual Space + Community Occupancy

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PART 0: FORWARD The objective of this project is to collect, understand, and re-assess some of my select works produced at Columbia GSAPP. I am using it as an exercise in rediscover y, tracking my conceptual trajector y from impetus through experimentation to a design research concentration on architectural methodologies of care. Thank you for reading, and enjoy!

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STOP; THIS ARTIFACT IS A NEO_COMPOSI T E SCAN FOR ADDED DIGI T AL F UNC T IONAL I T Y *

WHAT IS A NEO_COMPOSI T E? NEO: adj.

Forming compounds referring to a new, revived, or modified form of some doctrine, belief, practice, language, ar tistic style, etc., or designating those who advocate, adopt, or use it.

COMPOSITE: n.

A material made from two or more physically different constituents each of which largely retains its original structure and identity.

AR

NEO_COMPOSITE: n.

An ar tifact or phenomenon designed to elevate subjects’ relationships through a unique process of conceptual layering.

*AR experiences require the installation of the free Adobe Aero mobile app for iOS. **Web experiences do not require any software.

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PART I: F OUNDAT IONS The Core Studio sequence at GSAPP aims to initially expose students to the realm of architectural thought and critical design.

These projects reflect that, searching for position and relevance with a broad scope. They target varied dilemmas with unique solutions untethered to an overarching type or narrative.

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SITE PLAN

INFRASTRUCTURE + PUBL IC SPACE

CORE I S T UDIO WI T H CHRIS TOPH KUMPUSCH FAL L 2018 How do we understand the infrastructure that operates our cities? Dayto-day life in the over-world functions with a general ignorance towards these systems, especially those hidden beneath the ground plane. In Lower Manhattan, this is exacerbated by a lack of documentation of buried infrastructure. No exhaustive record exists of the underground ser vice network as it grew organically, continuously augmented throughout the histor y of New York City by an array of private public actors. The only clues to the public as to its intricacy are the per forations in the street plane, visible in the form of manhole covers, grates, and valve connections. This project aims to selectively uncover these hidden networks to re-introduce them to the public. Through the excavation of surrounding ear th, the public realm is extended below street level. Strata of the city’s construction are exposed in section, and in parallel previously hidden infrastructures are brought to light in a new physically engage-able space. In this act, the histor y and present operational conditions of the city’s operational networks are elevated to the status of sculpture. Agencies of information and contemplation are layered onto this already-functional system of urban suppor t.

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CATALOG

COMPOSITE TEXTURES

URBAN SURFACES

Cities are often perceived as a gestalt whole, but that is counter to how they are composed. Existing as agglomerations of components at urban, architectural, human, and detail scales, they are, in essence, textural collage. To understand this phenomenon at the material scale, a collection of composites were constructed from a site-specific material catalog.

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PERSPECTIVE

AR

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With a developed understanding of the planar sur faces of the city, it becomes impor tant to consider them not as a set of planes, but as a 3-dimensional layered system. To comprehensively understand them as such, it is necessar y to delaminate the city through excavation. Through this act, the layering of textures, histories, and infrastructures is made comprehensible and elevated to an inter face-able public space.

PLAN

FORMAL MODELS OF EXCAVATION

AGENCY OF EXCAVATION

SECTION

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LIGHT CAVERN

WEB

ACTIVE ILLUMINATION

STUDIES

This discover y of the ‘under’ then necessitates a strategy of illumination to address both perception and engagement. Bespoke lighting accents, reflective planes, and obfuscating textures can be used to both draw in the user and focus their attention on a curated collection of elements exposed during excavation.

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Animation Stills

TEXTURAL ANIMATION STILLS

DYNAMIC MATERIALITY

Using collected textures of lower Manhattan and prospective forms of excavation, an atmospheric animation was developed as a representative tool. Textures were digitally combined in the additive combination of red, green, and blue channels extracted from various references and layered in a rotating sequence, while the ‘setting’ objects were used as a base for this composition.

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FULL-SCALE MODEL

FULL-SCALE MODEL 19 18

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VIEW OCCUPYING THE CUT

OPERAT IONS + FORM

CORE II S T UDIO WI T H CHRIS TOPH KUMPUSCH S P R I N G 2 0 19 Existing as a sculptural exercise over an architectural design project, this series explored the formal consequences of design operations and attempted to think of them as manipulatable geometries over build-able spaces. Studies examined the consequences of a ‘cut’ operation to connectivity and separation, speculating new approaches to relationship building and compositing. In parallel, the methodology of cutting was experimented with as well, with actions of extraction, thickening, and juxtaposition used to fur ther activate the operation.

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CUT MODELS

EXTRACTION COMPOSITE MODEL 23 22

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DISSECTION

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LOGIC

MATRIX MODEL

With the act of thickening a connective cut, an occupiable volume was overlaid with a grid matrix to create a regimented organizational strategy for composing a structure. With the suggested program of a librar y, this matrix was though of as a manifestation of the stacks, regulating the other wise untethered form. The intersection of this matrix with the dimensioned cut created a hybrid form, both rigorous and organic.

JUXTAPOSITION INTERIOR VIEW

THICKENED CONNECTIVITY

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PLANS

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MODEL CONSTRUCTION

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STRUCTURAL COLLAPSE

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COLLAPSED MODEL

COLLAPSED MODEL

As a final effor t of sculpting, a 24 cubic foot model was constructed to emulate this thickened cut. Suffering from its own immense scale, it collapsed. Ironically, the matrix logic incorporated in the design spilled out, released from its plaster cast. The lesson: experimentation does not come without risk of failure.

Plans 27

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BIRD’S EYE VIEW

APARTMENT + COMMUNITY

WITH JIAZHEN LIN CORE III STUDIO WITH ERIC BUNGE FALL 2019 This project focused itself around the reconciliation of communal and traditional living styles within a singular housing development in the Bronx. The contrasting organizations were configured in a modified towerand-plinth model with traditional units in the towers and co-living space in the plinths. This was to facilitate a direct vertical circulation allowed by the tower type and a meandering horizontal circulation of interaction between occupants of the plinth. This plinth was then raised off of the ground plane to entrust it to the public. To address the light constraints of an elevated plinth and connected towers, courtyards were carved through in a traditional light-well form though the plinth and in a flipped transverse cut through the towers. These courtyards were then used as the primary compositional logic for both the towers and the plinth. In the towers, living spaces were oriented around the shared courtyards, allowing them to function as a micro-communal spaces. Alternatively, in the plinth, the courts were used to organize private spaces, creating bedroom clusters which served to sculpt and punctuate the continuous communal space in between.

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MODEL PHOTOS

MODEL PHOTOS

TRUSSED PLINTH

The elevated plinth span was a foundational element of design, with an overlapping Vierendeel truss system developed to ensure viability. These trusses punctuate the communal plinth space as organizing elements as well as structural suppor ts.

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PUNCHED PUNCTUATION The proliferation of light through the project was achieved through a ‘punch’ system, which cut channels through the towers and plinths.

These ‘punches’ became the organizing feature, with living spaces oriented around them in both the towers and plinth.

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GROUND PLANE COLLAGE

CO-LIVING PLINTH INTERIOR COLLAGE 32 33

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PLANS

BEDROOM CLUSTERS PUBLIC RECREATION SPACE

PLINTH GROUND

COMMUNITY CHILDCARE

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Ground Plan

Incorporation of community program was an imperative par t of the project, aiming to return value and ser vices to the dis-invested neighborhood of Melrose.

Ample recreational facilities and childcare are provided for the neighborhood while the elevated plinth returns the central area of the development to the neighborhood.

COMMUNAL LIVING SPACE

COMMUNITYFACING

TRADITIONAL APARTMENT UNITS

ROOFTOP PATIOS

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TOWER

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SECTION

SECTION

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PART II: MIXED MEDIA My early projects got me excited about how spatial approaches which lie at the peripher y of architectural practice could be leveraged in design solutions. Experimentations with fringe methodologies thus became a heavily influential par t of how I work. The novel and new, especially in the realm of technology in the 21st centur y, present productive potential that is under-utilized. These projects began to address this potential with themes ranging from engagement of space through play to ar tificially emulating daylighting.

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GAME-PLAY STILLS

SOUND + FIGURE-GROUND

VIRTUAL ARCHITECTURE WITH NITZAN BARTOV SPRING 2020 Constructed within Unreal Engine, this interactive experience explores the hyper-planarity of the screen and figure-ground relationships that can emerge out of such a condition. The user navigates a space consisting of flat colors using the simple mechanic of a self-controlled radar which both reveals objects in the scene and activates an auditory response upon collision. The effect is a procedural exploration of a space which has a three dimensional definition but can only be reconstructed by the brain through extrapolation from the discovery of boundaries found within the scene. The color palette and audio track serve to augment this journey, providing a self guided experiential narrative and additional layers of spatial data while also providing incentive and reward for a continued exploration of the space.

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A custom soundtrack is composed of sounds that objects emit when interacted with. This both deepens the immersion of the game inter face while also providing another sensor y environment to be discovered by the player.

WEB

SONAR PULSE STILLS

Entourage within the game are exposed only through interaction, other wise blending with the landscape. The onus of spatial discover y is thus not passive, but an active engagement par taken through play. Discover y is made more surprising and exciting with this mechanic, which incentivizes fur ther exploration within the abstracted world.

RESPONSIVE AUDIO

AUDIO VISUALIZATION

PROCEDURAL DISCOVERY

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GAME-PLAY STILLS

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STAMPED PRINTS

COMPREHENSION + ABSTRACTION

CORE I STUDIO WITH CHRISTOPH KUMPUSCH FALL 2018 Derived from an interpretation of the short film “The Way Things Go”

by Fischli and Weiss, this print set was the spatial translation of perceptions based exclusively on audio input. An occupiable soundscape was developed to show the discussion of identifiable sounds with incomprehensible noises, manifested in curvilinear and straightline segments respectively. This sound-scape progresses from an origin of complete comprehensibility and progresses through the piece to a state of incomprehensibility, occupied by both the observer and handprinted negatives representative of various cognitive reactions to the experience.

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49 Chronological Stacking, True Scaling

Structural Stacking, True Scaling

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Chronological Circular Plans, True Scaling

HISTORICAL REPRESENTATION + AGGLOMERATION

Chronological Rectangular Plans, True Scaling

BABEL WITH KYLE DUGDALE FALL 2019

As a non-architecture perpetuated without a traditional physical manifestation, the Tower of Babel exists through thought and media. This lack of datum, which would ground a typical architecture, allows for continuous redefinition and recontextualization which result in a truly evolutionary project. How can we then define such a phenomenon, lying outside of the bounds of built form, extending beyond the constraints of an idea or conception, and temporally broader than well recorded history? It is impossible to ascribe any singular definition, thus the tower should instead should be understood as a collection. This project functions through the questioning of such a collection, limited to 15 referential artifacts for scope. It is structured and re-structured in a stacked tower form to both compare across instances and experiment the consequences of varied compositional logics.

Through this exercise the complexities of the Tower of Babel’s definition can be simultaneously explored and represented while contradictions and alignments are brought forward.

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Thematic Organization, True Scaling

HISTORIC CONCEPTUALIZATION COLLAGES

Chronological Stacking, Relative Scaling

Configurations 49

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HISTORIC CONCEPTUALIZATION CATALOG 50

Explicacio de Turri Babel Paulinus of Venice, 1329

Coin of Emperor Commodus 180-92

Destruction of the Tower of Babel The Bedford Master, 1410-1430

The Drunkenness of Noah and the Building of the Tower of Babel Italian, 11th C

Tower of Babel Maarten van Hemskerk, 16th C

Building of the Tower of Babel The Huntingfield Psalter, 1212-1220

Turris Babel Athanasius Kircher, 1679

HISTORIC CONCEPTUALIZATION CATALOG

Genesis 11

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HISTORIC CONCEPTUALIZATION CATALOG

Study for Mass Permitted by the 1916NYC Zoning Law Hugh Ferriss, 1922

Babel 2001 Cildo Meireles, 2001

Metropolis Fritz Lang, 1927

The Black Tower Walid Siti, 2016

The Tower of Babel Kenneth Jack, 1962

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Turris Babel Salvador Dali, 1964

HISTORIC CONCEPTUALIZATION CATALOG

The Fall of Babylon John Martin, 1831

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EXPLODED AXONOMETRIC

SKY EXPOSURE + PROGRESSION

ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING AND REPRESENTATION II WITH VIOLET WHITNEY SPRING 2019 In an attempt to re-contextualize a typical journey, this project isolated the skyline data from a series of view captures and used it to build a meaningful spatial representation. These to dimensional frames were plotted along a third axis of time, which was then used to construct an abstract form telling of the shifts in sky visibility. This constructed form was then given its own autonomy and identity as a stand-alone object, removed from its origin data but retaining its inherent richness.

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ANIMATION STILLS

ANIMATION STILLS WEB

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INSTALLATION DETAIL PHOTOS

SOLAR CYCLE + ARTIFICIAL LIGHT

MEASURING THE GREAT INDOORS WITH GABY BRAINARD AND VIOLET WHITNEY FALL 2020 Trying to relate the distinct realms of the indoor and the cosmic, this installation introduced the solar and lunar positions into the space as a chromatic immersive sundial. The resultant neurological influence was a re-framing of the observers’ understanding and appreciation of temporal contextuality within the paradigm of quarantine experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Implemented in a hallway, the chroma-scape actively functioned as a temporal and physical threshold which was engaged over an extended period. The space of passage and transition was augmented to include a contemplative program founded on exposure to a regular daily cycle which was under-engaged through the minimization of outdoor exposure.

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Morning

Afternoon

Evening

Night

ANIMATION STILLS

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WEB

INSTALLATION CYCLE

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III 63

PART III: FORMS OF CARE In the advanced studio sequence at GSAPP I began to concentrate my research around how architecture could facilitate care at a variety of scales. This began with studies of individual physiology and grew to include the protection and therapy of victims of police violence to the rehabilitation of community space.

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INTERIOR COLLAGE

WATER + RHYTHM + REHABILITATION

ADVANCED IV STUDIO WITH LINDY ROY SPRING 2020 Utilizing the site-specific conditions of a post-productive quarry in the Hudson Valley, this project aims to augment natural sensory influences on the user in order to provide therapeutic conditions. Submersion in the cold quarry lake water is used to combat physical ailments, while habits are reconfigured employing the basin’s reduced solar day and circadian rhythms are restructured using blue water-filtered light. Units exist as autonomous pods suspended between pontoons which float on the lake’s surface. They are then adaptable to rapidly changing water levels in the quarry while also establishing agency in their arrangement.

Tessellating geometries, adaptable infrastructural towers, and flexible bridge pathways allow for infinite reconfigurations in the x-y plane of the quarry surface, spawning a unique social environment of adaptable spatial community.

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SITE PHOTOS

SITE PHOTOS

SITE OF ANOMALY The soon-to-be defunct Tompkins Cove Quarr y presents a foreign landscape free for future occupation. With minimal vegetation, reduced sunlight hours, and a bright blue lake at the base it presents a scope of alien conditions that impose novel sensor y conditions. These altered stimuli and their physiological effects ser ved as the primar y focus of research and design motivation as the project developed.

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10hr Sunlight (-6hr)

8hr Sunlight (-4hr)

14hr Sunlight (-2hr)

10hr Sunlight (-6hr)

6hr Sunlight (-6hr)

6hr Sunlight (-2hr)

4hr Sunlight (-4hr)

8hr Sunlight (-4hr)

4hr Sunlight (-4hr)

6hr Sunlight (-2hr)

0hr Sunlight (-8hr)

Daily Solar Differential

8hr Sunlight (-8hr)

2hr Sunlight (-6hr)

8hr Sunlight (-0hr)

Morning Afternoon

SOLAR DIFFERENTIAL ANALYSIS

WEB

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14hr Sunlight (-2hr)

12hr Sunlight (-4hr)

10hr Sunlight (-2hr)

6hr Sunlight (-6hr)

SOLAR DIFFERENTIAL ANALYSIS

4hr Sunlight (-4hr)

12hr Sunlight (-4hr)

Summer Solstice

Spring/Fall Equinox

Winter Solstice 69

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Wavelength = 460-500nm

Paraventricular Nucleus

Light Transmittance of quarry lake water

Pineal Gland

Suprachiasmatic Nucleus Superial Cervical Ganglia

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Imp Spinal Chord

INTERNAL TIMEKEEPING The wavelengths of blue light transmitted by mineral-rich quarr y water is foundational in structuring our internal timekeeping.

It sets off a chain reaction to regulate melatonin levels within our bodies when paired with other timekeeping mechanisms in the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Elevated through design, this would allow for a more regularized and controlled sleep pattern.

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Stress Reduction

Melatonin

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Wavelength = 460-500nm

Capillary Contraction

CRYOTHERAPY Shor t-term exposure to cold has been shown to provide immediate remedial health effects, reducing ailments of inflammation and stress.

The fresh spring-water of the quarr y would facilitate this, as it is significantly colder than nearby bodies of water. Underground water circulation creates this phenomenon of a hyper-frigid lake which, while dangerous in uncontrolled circumstances, can be used for healing if specifically designed for.

PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSE TO COLD

Inflammation Reduction

Ner

BLUE LIGHT STIMULUS REACTION

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PLANS

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CONNECTIVE LOGIC

UPPER

SEMI-SUBMERSED DOMESTICITY LOWER

Designed as a buoyant outpost of rehabilitation, units are discrete and individualized. Sleeping spaces are submersed to allow quarr y-water-filtered light to illuminate the space with blue light during the day, passively restructuring circadian rhy thms.

Outdoor space is created with fabric webbing stretched between pontoons which suspend cr yotherapy pools in the frigid, mineral-rich quarr y lake.

DYNAMIC CONNECTION

UNIT SECTION

As buoyant, self-suppor ting units, the residential modules have the capacity to tessellate with or disconnect from each other as desired. Tried ant tested marine techniques of connection are used with buoyant walkways to create a changeable network of community in the quarr y.

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Epoxy Resin

Fiberglass Cloth

Reciprocating Saw

Fiberglass Cloth

Marine-grade Plywood

Fiberglass Shell

Wooden Frame

Wooden Mold

Wooden Frame

Fiberglass Pontoon

MARINE CONSTRUCTION

ADAPTABLE INFRASTRUCTURE

Fiberglass boat-building techniques are adapted to the complex unit geometr y to develop the complex geometr y and ensure buoyancy.

To supply ser vices to the move-able units, a modular infrastructure has been developed to extend upwards from the quarr y lake bed.

They can be procedurally built as the water level fluctuates, and adjustable arms extend to the units’ pontoons. These can then connect to each other distributing ser vices to entire clusters of units.

INFRASTRUCTURAL LOGIC

CONSTRUCTION LOGIC

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WEB

ADAPTABILITY TO WATER-LEVEL CHANGE

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MEANDERING CLUSTERS With changing water levels and adaptable infrastructure, the remote colony has the capacity to change in composition over time. Clusters of micro-community can be formed, rearranged, and separated as occupants desire. The planar quarr y lake acts as an unrestricted open field for unlimited arrangements of occupation.

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MACRO VIEW

MACRO VIEW 79 78

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EXTERIOR COLLAGE

EXTERIOR COLLAGE 81 80

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IMPRESSIONIST COLLAGES

PROTEST + PROTECTION + THERAPY

ADVANCED V STUDIO WITH MABEL WILSON FALL 2020 With the current paradigm of shared media, the definition of witness has been restructured away from the strict dichotomy between direct observer and observation. Instead, we now operate in the mode of event, recorder, and viewer. The democratization and crowd-sourcing of media has created complex networks of digital witness, where a single person’s traumatic experience can be perceived globally. This community trauma of witness is currently left without direct treatment. This project aims to address that, creating a system of rapidly deployable wearables that physically protect activists and digitally record experience for both police accountability and post-trauma therapeutic study. They are dispersed into the surrounding community using a depot architecture embedded into the annex of St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery. This ‘home base’ hosts all digital servers necessary for the data collection and processing but also functions as a community space of activism and recovery. Digitally immersive spaces created in conjunction with therapy offices and creative studios allow for a comprehensive development of avant-garde immersive therapy experiences for both individual and community healing.

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SITE OF CONTESTED GROUND The East Village of Manhattan has a deep histor y of activism and contention in which St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bower y has acted as a consistent beacon of refuge. The most notable of such was the Tompkins Square Park Riot of 1988 where police viciously attacked protesters protecting the rights of squatters n the area.

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TOMPKINS SQUARE PARK RIOT

S T. M A R K ’ S C H U R C H

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PROTEST COLLAGE

DEPLOYABLE OUTPOST SECTION 86

The primar y threats to activists in the face of police violence are physical assault and a lack of police accountability. This project aims to address that through the proposal of rapidly deployable outposts and wearables which are capable of both bodily protection and networked event recording. Inflatables are designed to resist trauma, cuffing, and detainment while embedded cameras and data collection allow for the democratization of live events outside of the current paradigm of centralized police sur veillance.

INFLATABLE PROSTHETIC CATALOG

RE-IMAGINING PROTEST

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N-ELEVATION THEATER DEPLOYABLE

With access to large amounts of protest data and adjacencies to an established set of hospital networks in nearby Gramercy Park, St. Marks also begins to be used as a productive rehabilitative center. Thorough the creation of immersive, controllable therapies of regulated trauma exposure, Individuals and groups can process the trauma experienced by victims and bystanders of police violence. Projections on the semi-transparent ETFE structure allow for a communal recognition and recover y from trauma, as the building becomes an actualized beacon of activism and recover y. These spaces also can ser ve the dual function of community celebration, able to host per formances and exhibition events to culturally enrich the city.

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These deployables necessitate a centralized depot for distribution, which is held at St. Mark’s Church. Also housing ser vers for data collection and hosting in the basement, the church becomes a central node of digitized activist networks in the community, the city, and the globe.

IMMERSIVE THERAPY

DEPOT + NAVE PLAN

A DEPOT WITH AGENCY

OFFICE + THEATER PLAN

AR

AXO

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Celebratory Prosthetic Use Defensive Prosthetic Use

Public Performance

Digital Cataloging

Performance Rehearsal

Prosthetic Distribution

Individual Immersive Therapy

Group Immersive Therapy Setup

Setup

Setup

Setup

Community Engagement

HUMAN-SCALE PROTEST CHOREOGRAPHY

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AR

CITY-SCALE PROTEST CHOREOGRAPHY

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Loading Unpacking

Transport

Unloading

Storage

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THERAPY PROTOCOL

PROTEST PROTOCOL

Prosthetic Deployment

Prosthetic Distribution

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Individual Therapy

Data Networking

Therapy Planning + Development

Group Therapy

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SECTION

SECTION

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VACANCY + VIRTUAL SPACE + COMMUNITY OCCUPANCY WITH CHEN YANG AND YU-JUN YEH ADVANCED VI STUDIO WITH JING LIU SPRING 2021

VIRTUAL ROOSEVELT AVE.

WEB

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This project positions itself to tackle the New York City vacancy crisis through the virtual occupation of Jackson Heights, Queens. Beginning with an extensive research of character on-site, a sensorial language was developed in conjunction with a digital model of the region surrounding the 82nd. Street stop on the 7 train.

From this, a collaborative virtual street is proposed, where community members can engage in-situ using Augmented Reality (AR) and global users can interface remotely using Virtual Reality (VR). This is intended to create a site specificity which celebrates the local community with a networked globe. Users will be able to contribute freely to create a guerrilla occupation of the street catered to their passions and desires intended to create new opportunities for community building, interpersonal connectivity, and play. To more directly address the vacancy problems in Jackson Heights, this platform has been developed as a way for the community to re-claim vacancies currently shuttered to the public. Through foundational support, ground-level vacancies will be leased for the community. Then, through a publicvote competition which uses earnable tokens to reward those most engaged with the local community. grassroots ‘sketches’ of ideas within the virtual platform will be chosen for implementation on-site. Realized proposals will thus be communitycentered, and could vary based in the needs and desires of the neighborhood. This is intended to democratize space in the aggressive real-estate market, elevate a dis-invested region, give agency to the community, and create an optimism for productive change within the city.

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A NEIGHBORHOOD OF TURNOVER

RESILIENT RESIDENTS

Jackson Heights suffers form the vacancy crisis that plagues New York City as a whole, however the precarity of low-income immigrant residents exacerbate the problem. In parallel, chain stores are favored by landlords over local tenants and are growing in number, desaturating the cultural vibrance of the street-scape which historically has been occupied by immigrant-run businesses. This has been worsened still by the financial and wellbeing pressures which the COVID-19 pandemic dispropor tionately imposed on the region.

Faced with this, the residents persevere. They share storefront leases, operating multiple businesses within one front door and occupy the street with informal stand typologies.

The ingenuity is strong in this multicultural community as they persevere through all conditions which they are presented.

RESIDENT STREET OCCUPATION

V I E W S O F 8 2 N D . S T. V A C A N C I E S

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8 2 N D . S T.

SCENT

PHYSICALITY SCENT OCCUPATION

LANGUAGE

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LANGUAGE

OCCUPATION

To both understand 82nd. st. and por tray it vir tually, it was studied and emulated through the 5 lenses. These were: physicality, sound, scent, language, and occupation.

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SOUND

CAPTURING CHARACTER

VIRTUAL EMULATION

SOUND

PHYSICALITY

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VIRTUAL OCCUPATION

Through gamification, the culture of 82nd. st. in Jackson Heights is elevated, modernized, and made globally accessible in an open-source collaborative arena. The existing occupants can celebrate, augment, and propose changes to their neighborhood while sharing it with a broader audience not able to physically visit.

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VIRTUAL OCCUPATION DEMO STILLS

VIRTUAL OCCUPATION DEMO STILLS

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VACANCY OCCUPANCY DEMO STILLS

To actively react to the street vacancies of Jackson Heights, the vir tual platform was adapted to host a community-centered competition for the right to occupy empty storefronts. Neighborhood desires could be shared, proposals could be collaboratively developed, and the community could ultimately chose what enterprises occupy their streetscape. Voting would be engagement based, with tokens earnable through productive acts to the vir tual or physical community. This would engage the public in the shaping of their neighborhood through feedback loops outside of the typical real-estate market.

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VACANCY OCCUPANCY DEMO STILLS

COMMUNITY-ORIENTED VACANCY ACTIVATION

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WEB

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AD DI T I O N A L PR O JEC T S C A N B E FOUND AT TAYL ORURBSHOTT. DESIGN DI S P L AY E D W O R K C O MP LET E D A T COL UMBIA UNIVERSITY GSAPP PU BL I S H E D S P R I N G 2 0 2 1 106

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