The Cross Bronx Expressway Initiative

THE

CROSS BRONX

EXPRESSWAY

INITIATIVE

A compilation of explorations by fifth year B. Arch studios at the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at The City College of New York.

THE

CROSS BRONX

EXPRESSWAY

INITIATIVE

A WARM THANK YOU TO OUR SUPPORTERS.

We would like to thank the Office of the Bronx Borough President and its Director of Capital Programs, James Rausse, Sam Goodman, Wilhelm Ronda, and staff. Thank you to Stantec, Donna Walcavage, Principal Landscape Architect at Stantec, and Chris Mojica, Transportation Engineer at Stantec, for their generous support and feedback; as well as Professors Jeremy Edmiston, Jacob Alspector, Eirini Tsachrelia, and Joan Krevlin for their helpful guidance. Special thanks to professor and 5th year coordinator Lance Jay Brown for his enduring encouragement, advice, and inspiration, without whom this publication would not be possible.

PREAMBLE

INTRODUCTION

The BIG picture, the big idea, is to repair the damage to the fabric of the Bronx caused by the Cross Bronx Expressway (XBX). While the XBX is not as centrally located as Capital Crossing in Washington, D.C. or Kyle Warren Park in Dallas, Texas, there are many other examples of crossings, including some for wildlife that can serve as examples of possibilities. For a roadway as long as the XBX, the strategy for reweaving is a series of discreet interventions.

In the 1930s, the City of New York covered the once open cut of the New York Central Railroad’s freight line from the southern part of the park at 70th Street up to 124th Street, building a promenade on top of it. It reconnected Manhattan’s Upper West Side to the Hudson River. In the 1970s, landscape architect Lawrence Halpern’s office designed the renowned 5.2-acre Freeway Park in downtown Seattle that bridged over the disruptive highway, Interstate 5, and a large city-owned parking lot, reconnecting the city fabric. In 2012, the landscape Office of James Burnett and the architect Thomas Phifer and Partners, designed the 5.2-acre Klyde Warren Park, a public park in Downtown Dallas, Texas that reconnected the two halves of the city previously divided by the depressed interstate. Now, in 2017, the privately funded Capitol Crossing project, a 2.2 million-square-foot project covering a 7-acre site above Interstate 395, is one of the largest ongoing private developments in Washington D.C. and will reconnect another interstate-divided city.

Designing cities to work with infrastructure, or repairing cities disturbed or damaged by infrastructure, has been going on since the dawn of city building. Burying open sewers, building aqueducts overland, tunneling railways, elevating roads, and removing or repurposing obsolete infrastructure is noble urban design work. Witness Barcelona at its water’s edge or the new Plaza de Glories in Paris with its plazas atop parking, and New York with its Highline.

How is it that New York, arguably the greatest city on Earth, has yet to repair the grotesque scar created 50 years ago and ameliorate this 50-year plus intrusion that is the Cross Bronx Expressway?

The Cross Bronx Expressway, the notorious gash that gouges and scrapes its way across the Borough of the Bronx from its origin at the foot of the George Washington Bridge to its termination on the east coast of the borough, seems unusually exempt, held harmless, from any form of intervention or mitigation—even from any study or investigation. Why this is remains a mystery.

BACKGROUND In the mid-twentieth century, the full weight of the combustion engine eclipsed movement by boat and rail. Canals were filled in; rails were torn up; and the post-WWII roadways, expressways, freeways, and highways were built. The XBX was one of those roads and there is little argument with its purpose.

The same was true around the country as Federal and State Thruways and Highways crisscrossed the country, bisecting many cities along the way.

However, as the century ended we began to see significant efforts to heal the fabric of cities damaged by, at best, unintended consequences and, at worst, conscious insensitivity of car culture.

On November 2, 2016, the NY Times reported that the City of Rochester was filling in a third of its Inner Loop sunken highway and adding back 6 acres of developable land to its downtown. Boston’s “Big Dig” reconnected its historic core by burying its 1.5mile Central Artery, sparing no cost to do so. Dallas built the 5.2-acre Klyde Warren Park that covers over the Woodall Rogers Freeway, reconnecting

and restoring the divided city center with a grand new amenity. San Francisco and New York have both demolished waterfront elevated roadways and returned the shores of San Francisco Bay and the Hudson River to their citizens as walkable urban amenities. Atlanta is about to mitigate its I-75/85 divisive downtown roadway with “the Stitch”, a concept which would deck over a half-mile stretch of interstate highway creating 14 acres of new terrain to reunite downtown and Midtown. Capital Crossing in Washington, D.C. began construction as this publication was being prepared and will transform seven acres of land above I-395 into a 2.2 million-square-foot complex of five mixed-use buildings.

All of these projects require new policies, new funding strategies, creative planning, project delivery, implementation strategies, and reevaluating and elevating the importance of infrastructure in our 21st century urbanism. It means always putting the public realm first.

WE ARE NOT ALONE. Even as we prepare to publish, yet another city seeks to fix a break in its fabric. “In Divided Denver, a Highway Promises Reconnection” in working-class north Denver, a $1.2 billion cut-and-cover project may transform the neighborhood that the highway once isolated.

Source: January 12, 2017, http://www.citylab.com/ politics/2017/01/in-divided-denver-a-highway-promisesreconnection/512660/ Green highway: A digital rendering depicts the grassy Central 70 highway cover adjacent to Swansea Elementary School, at the upper right corner of the cap. (Colorado Department of Transportation)

THE CHALLENGE

THE TEAM

We can ruminate, as Caro and Marshall Berman have done so brilliantly, over the history, the whys, and wherefores of the Robert Moses big move in the Bronx, but that does not cure the impact on the borough’s neighborhoods. Great and lesser known cities all over the industrialized world are confronting the disruptive intrusions of automotive mobility, and they are doing something about it. No one has even tried to heal the rolling gouge of the XBX. No politicians rant or rail about it or put it on their platforms. It is something utterly untouchable and unmentionable.

The XBX students were distributed over four design studios. They organized themselves into teams based on project proximity. They were aided by their studio professors who worked closely with them during the full year’s undertaking. The studios were also fortunate to have representatives of the Bronx Borough President’s Office deliver lectures on the Bronx and visit the studios during the year to provide positive feedback as the work progressed.

We were very fortunate to have generous input and support from the Stantec A/E professional office in New York and the expertise the professionals working there. Lastly, we acknowledge the many guest critics that visited the studios during the year and gave of their time, energy, expertise, and experience to further the project goals.

The history of the Bronx is well documented. As one of the great boroughs of New York that came of age in in the early 20th century, critically, it connected to the mainland and became the third most densely populated county in the United States.

By many accounts the decline of rail and the rise of roads necessitated the XBX, terrible as was its implementation. Today, given the location of the Bronx and its workforce and the value and need for land in New York, why have we not investigated more fully the development opportunities available above the XBX roadbed?

The history of this road is well told by native son Robert A. Caro in his celebrated book The Power Broker. He is so eloquent and passionate that when discussing the tragedy of this expressway in New York’s New School auditorium he had almost all of the 800 people in the audience in tears. In equal measure the Bronx-born philosopher Marshall Berman, our celebrated Distinguished Professor of Political Science at The City College of New York, discusses the roadway built by a “meat ax” in subtler terms but with no less passion and poetry born of direct experience. In 2009, my CCNY architecture school design studio made a first pass at investigating how to heal the scars of XBX scars.

In 2015, we returned in force to the issues at hand and investigate initiatives that would, if nothing else, illuminate the challenges and opportunities.

Now, a motivated group of fifth-year architecture students agreed to put the issue of the XBX again squarely on the table. They agreed to look at an XBX proposition in plain sight and as a provocation to generate open debate about the opportunities of this challenge.

THE CHARGE TO THE STUDIO Why hasn’t New York City been as creative and responsive? How can New York be responsive? What will it take to ameliorate the damage done while retaining the purpose served? How can the negative impacts of the Cross Bronx Expressway on the Borough of the Bronx and the districts, neighborhoods, and communities adjacent to the road itself in particular, be mitigated, adapted, and healed? Will it take many more decades until the potential for more land and amenity is realized or can the opportunity possibly be accelerated? Steve Anderson (2007) asks if we can deck over the open trench sections of the expressway, create new park space, and reunite the communities that were severed nearly a half-century earlier. We asked if we could go beyond park space alone and investigate a full range of alternative programs and designs.

Studio Goals: • Develop design strategies and design propositions to heal the Bronx • Create new value and development opportunities in the Bronx Objectives: • Locate new, affordable housing • Investigate alternative modes of transportation • Evaluate the road for new opportunities • Evaluate the adjacencies for opportunity • Identify, postulate, and design specific uses and buildings including: Commerce, Workplaces, Housing, Parks, Museum, Transit, Schools, and other interventions deemed appropriate.

There is a bigger issue here as we move deeper into our century of urbanization and climate change. We will need many new forms of infrastructure to insure a healthy, sustainable, and resilient future. We cannot afford to backfill amenity when it can be front loaded and built in.

This goes for everything we do. We have been learning this lesson since the beginning of the industrial revolution.

We must now practice what we have learned.

The 12 students who accepted the Bronx challenge defined their areas of interest, found or developed architectural programs or briefs, selected sites and went to work. The results are presented here. This is a hopeful publication, the result of an ambitious initiative responded to by a group of students dedicated to the health of their city, committed to leaving it better than they found it.

Lance Jay Brown, FAIA, DPACSA, Design Studio Professor Coordinator, Independent Work Studios January 2017

melissa mermelstein

eliza tan

egbert paul

christin hu

sara vezelaj

anna kwiatkowska ivan freire

matthew mbamelu

talin vakilian lester li matthew chirico lenny chen

washington heights melissa mermelstein mount hope eliza tan christin hu crotona / tremont sara vezelaj anna kwiatkowska ivan freire egbert paul west farms / van nest matthew mbamelu parkchester lester li matthew chirico lenny chen talin vakilian

Cross Bronx Expressway [Scale: 1:30000] [Drawing by XBX Team]

XBX INITIATIVE

The Cross Bronx Expressway [XBX] has been seen as a permanent scar in the adjacent neighborhoods since the start of its execution by Robert Moses in 1948. Initially intended as grand connection to improve traffic conditions on a regional level, this gargantuan freeway instead divided The Bronx and brought about more traffic problems. To many, the controversial expressway has not only carved a physical gap between the people of The Bronx, but has also left racial prejudice and socioeconomic inequality ingrained in its apathetic walls and noxious roadways.

The XBX Initiative is a collaborative project created to remedy the faults of the expressway and introduce new stances on healing the many “scars� that may have maimed large cities like New York - to bring connection back to The Bronx. Between the fifth year students and faculty advisors from the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at the City College of New York, we have compiled a diverse matrix of opportunities that takes on the architectural, infrastructural, and theoretical challenges posed by the invasive freeway - transforming a stubborn, polluted mark of division into a kindred space of urban life and inspiration.

Editors Lester Li Christin Hu Production Coordinators Lester Li Christin Hu Lenny Chen Sara Vezelaj Graphics Lester Li

MORRIS HEIGHTS

MOUNT HOPE

MOUNT EDEN

Thesis Advisors Eirini Tsachrelia Jacob Alspector Jeremy Edmiston Joan Krevlin Lance Jay Brown Graduate Assistant Patrick Brophy Students Anna Kwiatkowska Christin Hu Egbert Paul Eliza Tan Ivan Freire Lenny Chen Lester Li Matthew Mbamelu Matthew Chirico Melissa Mermelstein Sara Vezelaj Talin Vakilian

Guest Critics Adam Kushner Ahu Aydogan Alexandra Barker Ali C. Hรถcek Andrew Sebor Caleb Linville Carmi Bee Cesare Birigani Christian Volkmann Christopher Mojica David Hotson Donna Walcavage Eirini Tsachrelia Frank Melendez Hana Kassem Harry Kendall Henry Grosman Henry Smith-Miller Ivan Rosa James Rausse John Cetra Julie Nelson

Mark Ginsberg Michael Monsky Robin Osler Sara Malmkvis Sylvia Smith Tyler Sylvestro Vasso Kampiti William Vinyard

GRAND CONCOURSE

EAST TREMONT

CROTONA PARK WEST FARMS

PARKCHESTER

UNIONPORT

HUNTS POINT

iv-v acknowledgments vi-ix preamble x-xi xbx drawing 2-3 initiative statement 4-5 contents 6-15 washington heights

8-15 exploration /melissa mermelstein 16-37 mount hope 18-37 explorations /eliza tan /christin hu 38-63 crotona/tremont

40-47 site drawings

48-63 explorations /sara vezelaj /anna kwiatkowska /ivan freire /egbert paul 64-73 west farms/van nest

66-69 site drawings

70-73 explorations /matthew mbamelu 74-107 parkchester

76-87 site drawings

88-107 explorations /lester li /matthew chirico /lenny chen /talin vakilian

table of contents

SCHUYLERVILLE

EDGEWATER PARK

THROGS NECK

Just beyond the west ramp to the Cross Bronx Expressway lies the existing George Washington Bridge Bus Station (GWBBS) built by Pierre Luigi Nervi in 1968. A prominent structure in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, the GWBBS primarily serves buses that come over the George Washington Bridge from New Jersey and allows commuters to circulate down into the rest of the city or onwards to the Bronx. The highway runs the full width of Manhattan island in the blocks between 178th and 179th Streets, and funnels traffic directly into the Cross Bronx Expressway. Nervi’s design, as both a public structure and infrastructural anchor, provides an opportunity for developing public space for the surrounding neighborhoods in the gaps left by large scale changes to city, including the underground portion of I-95 that cuts through Washington Heights to the become the Cross Bronx Expressway.

initiative members: Melissa Mermelstein // Critic: Lance Jay Brown

Two trans-Broadway bridges lead the way from Nervi’s bus station to a currently empty lot adjacent to a complex of four 32-story residential towers, which dwarf the neighboring five and six story brick apartments of Washington Heights. The primarily hispanic and low-income working families in the area are, like most residents in the dense fabric of Manhattan, in desperate need of public space and healthy, affordable food and supplies for living. Despite being plugged into the major infrastructures of the city, including NYC subway lines, multiple bus lines, the George Washington Bridge, and the Cross Bronx Expressway, the community remains out of touch with its own members and passersby due to the lack of public market space, play space, and green space.

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS

MANHATTAN, NEW YORK

[gwb green: market & plaza] [MELISSA MERMELSTEIN] [8]

South Elevation [Scale: N.T.S.]

My proposal is to revitalize street life in and around the GWBBS by providing pedestrian access to public facilities and markets, the “GWB Green,” which will sit in the “shell” that Nervi designed. By demolishing the 10-foottall brick inlay that currently forms a street wall, the previously empty block spanning over the highway now eagerly awaits the community to claim and use this new market and plaza.

I began with a series of sectional explorations through Nervi’s structure and the street, generating different relationships between people and infrastructure, and carefully mapped out where each of these experiences would be most impactful. By melding the sectional slices together into a canopy, I shaped both a functional roofscape and inviting interior experience.

GWB GREEN: MARKET & PLAZA

I overlaid the structure used by Nervi in his adjacent concrete canopy onto this newly formed roof surface, which informed the triangulated space frame structure. Within the space frame is an infill system that allows for planted material to grow to the depth of the system. The points at which the space frame canopy touches down coincides with the column placement of the existing structure and reinforces the trusses above the roadway. A welded subfloor steel plate at the above ground structure keeps the roof rigid and provides lateral stability.

In plan, an indoor market extends to the outdoor plaza area to allow for an outdoor market component and a round-the-clock public space. Paths lead directly to the existing bus station through a bridge-level mezzanine and separate event space, which are elevated just enough to see over the bus station to the George Washington Bridge.

The GWB Green transforms the once blocked off streets by the thruway into usable and much needed public space for the residents of Washington Heights. With new market space and pedestrian access, people can finally come out of their tall brick towers on to the streets, buy fresh food, and chat within a structure, once isolating, now uniting the neighborhood.

[gwb green: market & plaza] [MELISSA MERMELSTEIN] [10]

Exterior Rendering [Scale: N.T.S.] East Elevation [Scale: N.T.S.]

[gwb green: market & plaza] [MELISSA MERMELSTEIN] [12]

Roof Plan [Scale: N.T.S.] Highway Plan [Scale: N.T.S.] Mezzanine Plan [Scale: N.T.S.] Bridge Plan [Scale: N.T.S.] Diagrams [Scale: N.T.S.] [Circulation] [Plaza Stalls]

Ground Floor Plan [Scale: N.T.S.] South Section [Scale: N.T.S.]

[gwb green: market & plaza] [MELISSA MERMELSTEIN] [14]

Plaza/Market Rendering [Scale: N.T.S.]

Exterior Rendering [Scale: N.T.S.] Wall Section [Scale: N.T.S.]

Like many of the neighborhoods bordering the Cross Bronx Expressway, Mount Hope is a neighborhood dominated by the intersection of vehicular infrastructure, which generates both a complex physical and social streetscape fragmented by the existing varied topography, exit lanes, and awkward, inaccessible patches of overgrown weeds. At the southwest corner of the neighborhood, sparse pedestrian bridges are dwarfed by the Grand Concourse which arches across the Cross Bronx Expressway that rumbles below.

Journeying from one end of Walton Avenue to the other is uncomfortably revealing—the blaring of horns and drumming of traffic lie exposed beneath you—you’re out in the open and viewing the stark stretch of the freeway through the rusted wire fencing of the bridge. Once across, you find narrow slivers of paths that border the expressway and gaps in tall multi-family housing, which serve as anything from parking spaces to spots for neighborhood children to play. These gaps and thin slices present throughout the neighborhood can potentially provide unique urban public space—space for informal social interaction beyond the control of city planning.

initiative members: Eliza Tan // Critic: Jeremy Edminston Christin Hu // Critic: Jeremy Edminston

The intersection of the Cross Bronx Expressway at Jerome Avenue and the Grand Concourse offer unpredictable opportunities to connect the neighborhoods above, below, and in between the voids generated by the clumsy infrastructure. The following projects explore ways of bridging and claiming the space lost to the destructive roadway to create valuable social space for the surrounding communities.

MOUNT HOPE

BRONX, NEW YORK

[community bridge] [ELIZA TAN] [18]

COMMUNITY BRIDGE The Community Bridge is a multi-layered walkway which reconnects Townsend Avenue across the Cross Bronx Expressway. Inspired by the complex intersections and topography of the site, the bridge is a combined study of a ribbed structural strategy and smooth landscape that communicates between multiple functions of roof, park, library, market, furniture, and sidewalk. The rigorous weave of ribs, like the knotted system of streets in the Bronx, creates an infrastructure for a layered, soft environment to grow over. It claims the space above the freeway, and offers a place and pathway where people in Mount Eden and the surrounding neighborhoods can gather and traverse, acknowledging both the gap and the bridge that spans it.

Interior Section [Scale: 1/16”=1’-0”]

[community bridge] [ELIZA TAN] [20]

Site: Education [Scale: 1:1000] Site: Sanborn [Scale: 1:1000] Site: Site to Food [Scale: 1:1000]

Site Model: Ribbed Construction [Scale: N.T.S.]

[community bridge] [ELIZA TAN] [22]

Section of Entrance: E174th Street [Scale: 1/32”=1’-0”]

Roof Plan [Scale: 1/64”=1’-0”] Ground Floor Plan [Scale: 1/128”=1’-0”] Second Floor Plan [Scale: 1/128”=1’-0”]

[community bridge] [ELIZA TAN] [24]

Site Model [Scale: N.T.S.] Exploded Axon: Layers of the Bridge [Scale: N.T.S.]

DON'T MIND THE GAP

Does a gap divide us or connect us?

Does a gap in our daily routines help or hurt us?

The following drawings are a personal exploration of the gaps between the neighborhoods surrounding “the gap” of the Cross Bronx Expressway itself between Jerome Avenue and the Grand Concourse. They describe a process of drawing—a geometric device— that measures the spaces between neighborhoods, buildings, and people, that is, the social space of the city. In combination with Edward Hall’s research in anthropology (The Hidden Dimension, 1966), this project presents ideas of social proximity in the context of the greater urban form to reveal that, maybe, we don’t mind the gap at all.

My x Miralles’s Croissants [Scale: None] Modules of Difference 1 [Scale: 1/8”=1’-0”] Modules of Difference 2 [Scale: 1/8”=1’-0”]

While the expressway is seen often seen as a obtrusive fissure that divides the people of the Bronx, I see it as an opportunity to develop unique social spaces, which connect people. The streets, sidewalks, and bridges of the city are where we encounter the most people after all. Jumping off from this idea, I shift from the scale of the city to scale of the building—of a potential dwelling space— and then to the scale of furniture—of the human body.

A final thought is that these drawings present a rather contrary approach to design. Instead of intentionally defining the spaces that will be inhabited, I let the geometric device define the edges of the space and, in turn, the gaps between them, because, there will always be a gap between drawing, intention, and performance—it’s the careful measure of proximity amongst them that I find to be the most interesting gaps of all.

[don’t mind the gap] [CHRISTIN HU] [28]

Geometry of the Gap [Scale: 1:800] Neighborhood Edges [Scale: 1:800]

Sight from the Site [Scale: 1:200]

[don’t mind the gap] [CHRISTIN HU] [30]

Aggregating Modules [Scale: 1/64”=1’-0”] Site Geometry [Scale: 1/128”=1’-0”]

“Gaps” in the Neighborhood [Scale: 1:200]

[don’t mind the gap] [CHRISTIN HU] [32]

Neighborhood Geometries [Scale: Multiple] Pieces of the Neighborhood [Scale: 1:100] Unfolding Neighborhood Folds [Scale: Multiple]

[don’t mind the gap] [CHRISTIN HU] [34]

Modulating Housing Modules [Scale: N.T.S.]

Scaling and Folding Modules [Scale: N.T.S.] Pinched Geometries [Scale: Multiple]

[don’t mind the gap] [CHRISTIN HU] [36]

Folding Body [Scale: 1/16” = 1’-0”] Geometries of Neighborhood Social Interaction [Scale: N.T.S.]

Crease Patterns of the Site and the Neighborhood [Scale: Multiple]

Bounded by a MetroNorth line to the West, and the Cross Bronx Expressway to the South, the neighborhood of Tremont sits between infrastructures in crisis, determined to connect yet inevitably designed to sever the existing neighborhoods to make way for regional car traffic. Tremont Park was once the site of the Bronx Borough President’s office and was connected to the rest of Crotona Park. After the construction of the Cross Bronx Expressway, it became disconnected and its fragments degraded along with the existing neighborhoods. Now, as a part of the NYC Department of City Planning’s Sustainable Communities initiatives, studies and analysis of Tremont have prompted redevelopment of the neighborhood, including restarting access via public transportation which was cut short in the 1960s and improving pedestrian facilities.

initiative members: Sara Vezelaj // Critic: Lance Jay Brown Anna Kwiatkowska // Critic: Lance Jay Brown Ivan Freire // Critic: Jacob Alspector Eirini Tsachrelia Egbert Paul // Critic: Jacob Alspector Eirini Tsachrelia

The following projects revisit Tremont’s lively past of transport and commerce, and introduce new community facilities that encourage art, environmental awareness, and health and wellness, while joining people back together across the expressway that divided them.

Source: Introduction to “Tremont: Emerging Commercial Corridors.” Sustainable Communities in the Bronx. https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/plans-studies/sustainable-communities/bmn/bronx_metro_ report/tremont.pdf

CROTONA/ TREMONT BRONX, NEW YORK

[site drawings] [CROTONA / TREMONT] [40]

Expressway Renderings [Scale: N.T.S.]

[site drawings] [CROTONA / TREMONT] [42]

Aerial View: Before [Scale: N.T.S.] Aerial View: After [Scale: N.T.S.]

Neighborhood Analysis [Scale: N.T.S.] Master Plan: Siting [Scale: N.T.S.] [Pedestrian signs: unfriendly zones] [Site locations: from left-to-right: Egbert Paul Car Museum Anna Kwialkovska Art Museum Sara Vezelaj Community Center Ivan Freire Sport Center] [Traffic analysis: red line: high orange line: medium yellow line: low]

[site drawings] [CROTONA / TREMONT] [44]

Site Analysis: Store Fronts [Scale: N.T.S.] Site Location [Scale: N.T.S.]

Popeyes Burger King Liquor Store Restaurant Furniture Store Carpets

Deli Grocery Capital One Bank

Family Health Care Auto Repair House of Miracles Gospel Assembly

Medical Center Appliances Furniture store National Link Inc.

Health Center Church ATM Bank Deli Grocery

Deli Furniture Club Cellphone Company Pharmacy

Deli Grocery Hardware Store Beauty Supply Furniture Jumbo Burger Pizza

Financial Services Health Care Deli MTA wireless Flower shop Hair Saloon Gold/cash/loans Deli

Barber Shop Medical Clinic Medical Center Nail Spa Medical Supplies

Tremont Ave.

Metro North Station

Cross Bronx Expressway

Child Care 99 Cent Pharmacy Barber Shop Nail Spa Deli Medical Service Insurance

Post Office Medical Care Pharmacy Subways McDonald’s

Chase Bank Bakery Foto Studio Chinese Food Metro PCS Barber Shop Nail Spa Pharmacy Little Ceaser’s Jewelery Deli

7 Eleven Radio Shack Vitamin store Tattoo Store Kennedy Fried

Vacant Building Pharmacy

Laundromat Deli Liberty Tax Nail Supply Mobile Service Chase Bank

Deli Western Union Nail Spa Discount Store

[site drawings] [CROTONA / TREMONT] [46]

Master Plan & Site Section [Scale: N.T.S.]

[ittner place: community center and plaza] [SARA VEZELAJ] [48]

COMMUNITY CENTER AND PLAZA

ITTNER PLACE:

“The end, the boundary between the Bronx and the world, would be marked with a gigantic ceremonial arch, in the tradition of the colossal monuments that Claes Oldenburg conceived in the 1960s.

This arch would be circular and inflatable, suggesting both an automobile tire and a bagel. When fully pumped up, it would look indigestible hard as a bagel, but ideal as a tire for a fast getaway; when soft, it would appear leaky and dangerous as a tire, but as a bagel, inviting to settle down and eat.�

Marshall Berman, All That Is Solid Melts Into Air: The Experience of Modernity In response to the waning industries which inhibit the already sparse commercial activity along the Cross Bronx Expressway, the Ittner Place Community Center provides community services along with the proposed spaces for economic development in the neighborhoods of Crotona and Tremont. By appropriating the voids left in the wake of the construction of the expressway as new commercial and public spaces, we begin to reconnect and activate parts of the city throughout the industrial zone, and reshape the landscape devastated by the expressway.

A part of this landscape is Ittner Place, a pedestrian path lined with small businesses that weaves through the site and connects Metro North Plaza to Ittner Park. With retail stores on one side and restaurants, bars, and lounges tucked in the expressway overpass on the other, the path provides more opportunity for public activity and encounter.

As we reach the end of the path, we arrive at a large indoor food market. A sliding facade allows the market to expand into the pedestrian path, while Tremont Park at the other end leads the way to an outdoor theater. Summer concerts, refreshing cocktails, and local performances - a little life at Ittner Place can go a long way.

[ittner place: community center and plaza] [SARA VEZELAJ] [50]

XBX Modification: Skylight Alternatives [Scale: 1/16” = 1’-0”] [From left-to-right: 1. Current condition 2. Large skylight w/ smaller lanes 3. Small skylight w/ lane width unchanged 4. Large skylight w/ two lanes removed] Model [Scale: 1/16” = 1’-0”] Sectional Perspective [Scale: N.T.S.] Rendering: Looking Under XBX [Scale: N.T.S.]

Model: Overhead View [Scale: 1/16” = 1’-0”] Model: Ground Level View [Scale: 1/16” = 1’-0”] Study Model [Scale: 1/64” = 1’-0”] Sectional Perspective [Scale: N.T.S.] Program Diagram: [Scale: N.T.S.] [Teal: office spaces] [Yellow: community spaces] [Pink: commercial spaces] [Brown: market pavilions]

[origami usa] [ANNA KWIATKOWSKA] [52]

Parti Diagram [Scale: N.T.S.] Structural Diagram [Scale: N.T.S.]

ORIGAMI USA She makes her way through the dancing shadows cast on the floor and scattered across her path. They climb their way up to the walls to define the boundary of the space. Looking up, she is mesmerized by the millions of paper cranes of different shapes and sizes suspended from the ceiling - the culprits of the kaleidoscopic movement of the flickering light on the floor - caught red handed. She reaches out and feels the smooth texture of paper slipping under her sweaty fingertips. It all started with one single sheet of paper, lying flat on a table, empty and void of purpose - it’s silent presence echoing with infinite possibilities that begin with a single folded line. To touch, fold, and create... A faint whisper of paper creases gives birth to powerful poetry that demands not just to be seen, but to be experienced. It is not just a simple statement, but an invitation to a beautiful journey of the process of paper folding.

The official motto of OrigamiUSA states that “...origami is for anyone, anywhere, anytime.” The Origami Institute of America focuses on sharing ideas through paper folding - an avenue of communication that transcends culture and language barriers. The museum celebrates the history of paper, origami, origami creators, artists, scientists, mathematicians, and historical figures from all over the world; while the hands-on activities organized in the museum workshops will ensure that the visitors will not only experience other people’s art, but also share pieces of themselves by creating art that will be showcased throughout the museum. Cantilevering over one of the most destructive expressways in the Bronx, the structure of the museum the dramatically leaves the ground below to offer public space for any person to enjoy origami in any place, accessible at any time.

[origami usa] [ANNA KWIATKOWSKA] [54]

Sectional Perspective [Scale: N.T.S.] Rendering: Looking Over the XBX [Scale: N.T.S.]

Model [Scale: 1/16” = 1’-0”] Study Model [Scale: 1/64” = 1’-0”] Section [Scale: N.T.S.] Rendering: Car’s View Underpass [Scale: N.T.S.]

[sports complex & wellness center] [IVAN FREIRE] [56]

The Cross Bronx Expressway has been the primary cause of the ever worsening decay of areas in The South Bronx, particularly in the neighborhood of Tremont. In The Power Broker, Robert Caro argues that Moses intentionally directed the expressway through this neighborhood even though there was a more viable option only one block south. The aim of this project is to bridge both the social and physical disconnect between the neighborhoods along the expressway by creating a landscape of outdoor community space and health facilities over the highway. The proposed complex aims to connect Tremont Park and Corona Park across the highway. The Sports & Wellness Complex will serve the people in the adjacent residential neighborhoods as well as many of the institutional buildings surrounding the two parks, including several public schools and churches. It provides spacious social and exercise facilities in hopes of drawing people to participate in physical activity. Many people in Tremont have difficulty accessing quality sports facilities and thus are not able to maintain a healthy lifestyle on top of paying the bills and caring for children. The welcoming landscape will surround the community with healthy activities on a daily basis. Ultimately the project aims to turn what would otherwise remain the parasitic space of the expressway into a healthy neighborhood within The Bronx’s existing urban infrastructure.

SPORTS COMPLEX & WELLNESS CENTER

Section Sketch [Scale: N.T.S.] Model [Scale: 1/64” = 1’-0”]

[sports complex & wellness center] [IVAN FREIRE] [58]

Concept Sketches [Scale: N.T.S.] Program Diagram [Scale: N.T.S.] [Program legend: yellow: interior circulation orange: office space purple: basketball courts lavender: fitness gym green: locker rooms & restrooms blue: natatorium brown: storage space and mech.]

Study Model [Scale: 1/64” = 1’-0”]

Ground Floor Plan [Scale: N.T.S.] Second Floor Plan [Scale: N.T.S.]

[electric vehicle exhibition & mechanic garage] [EGBERT PAUL] [60]

Whilst the Cross Bronx Expressway XBX is splitting the neighborhood of Tremont into two distinct urban fabrics, the multipurpose Electric Vehicle Exhibition and Mechanic Garage provides a public space underneath the highway to link the two districts back together again.

Building upon American automobile culture and the project’s unique position beneath the expressway, the architecture intends to reveal the cars, divorced from the noise and the past, to the people and streets, and steer them towards an environmentally sustainable future. How do we take something seen as damaged and divided, and turn it into a socially connective destination? Rather than masking an ugly scar, the Electric Vehicle Exhibition and Mechanic Garage embraces history and actively seeks to improve from it.

Sketch [Scale: N.T.S.] Plan of Balcony [Scale: 1/32” = 1’-0”] Plan of Exhibition [Scale: 1/32” = 1’-0”]

ELECTRIC VEHICLE EXHIBITION & MECHANIC GARAGE

[electric vehicle exhibition & mechanic garage] [EGBERT PAUL] [62]

Perspective Section: Facing East [Scale: N.T.S.] Rendering: Interior View 1 [Scale: N.T.S.] Rendering: Interior View 2 [Scale: N.T.S.]

Floor Plan of Mezzanine [Scale: 1/64” = 1’-0”] Ground Floor Plan [Scale: 1/64” = 1’-0”] Perspective Section: Facing North [Scale: N.T.S.] Rendering: Ground View 1 [Scale: N.T.S.] Rendering: Ground View 2 [Scale: N.T.S.]

Aside from the Cross Bronx Expressway, the Sheridan Expressway, another major highway in the Bronx, runs northsouth along the Bronx River, connecting West Farms to Hunts Point and the XBX to the Bruckner Expressway. The XBX, Sheridan, and the Bruckner work collectively to transport produce from across the country into New York City.

These highways, imposed on the Bronx have erected physical barriers between neighborhoods, leaving hostile residual zones at their intersections, where priority is given to vehicles rather than pedestrians.

initiative members: Matthew Mbamelu // Critic: Joan Krevlin

East of the Bronx River and south of the Bronx Zoo, West Farms/Van Nest contains the building blocks of a cultural hub. However, the site’s potential at the intersection of the XBX and the Sheridan is contingent on an intelligent strategy that brings light to the dark corners of these infrastructures. By relinking the neighborhoods above and below the expressway with public architectural projects, West Farms and Van Nest can begin to thrive as intersections for cultural and community activity, not just for zooming cars and busy busses.

WEST FARMS/ VAN NEST BRONX, NEW YORK

[site drawings] [WEST FARMS / VAN NEST] [66]

Analysis: Before, Current, Future [Scale: N.T.S.] [Green-park, yellow-current development, gray-current site paving & parking, black&blueproposed park addition and stadium] Figure-Ground: Entrance Analysis [Scale: N.T.S.] [Green line-current safe site entrance, red line-current dangerous intersection, bold&black-institutional buildings]

Site Plan [Scale: 1:400]

[site drawings] [WEST FARMS / VAN NEST] [68]

(1) CITY LINE The Bronx? Westchester border follows the original course of the river, which was later straightened to accommodate the parkway (2) HIKING AND BIKING Just yards from the parkway, miles of riverside parks meander under willows and oaks, drawing hikers, bicyclists and birdwatchers.

The two mile stretch from East 233rd Street to the northern end of the Botanical Garden is one of the prettiest and most accessible trails (3) NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN In the Bronx River Gorge in the New York Botanical Garden, the river passes through a 40-acre forest virtually undisturbed since Europeans first gegan exploring the region in the 17th Century (4) DREW GARDEN In the late 1990s, the community of West Farms marshaled thousands of volunteers for meetings, clean-ups, build-ups, plantings, and celebrations that led to the transformation of a one-acre vacant lot along the river into a thriving community learning garden (5) INDUSTRY For many years industrial development and highway construction have limited public access to southern trenches of the river.

Neighbors and local businesses are now working with the city to create new parks, walking trails, and boat launching sites on Hunts Point and between the Cross Bronx and Bruckner Expressways

Analysis: Diagrams [Scale: N.T.S.]

(6) DUNCOMB BRIDGES More than 75 bridges span the Bronx River, ranging from the historical stone ones built during the construction of the parkway to the modern steel ones supporting the Cross Westchester, Cross Bronx, and Bruckner Expressways.

Many people cross these bridges, but few stop to look beneath them. The stonearched Duncomb Bridges have carried the parkway over the river just south of Gun Hill Road since 1925 (7) BRONX ZOO In 1906 William H. Niles, a director of the Bronx Zoo, initiated the campaign that led to the creation of the Bronx River Parkway. The Wildlife Conservation Society continues to care for the section of the river that flows past the Bison and Rain Forest exhibits at the zoo (8) SOUNDVIEW PARK Rounding off the southern end of the Bronx River is the 158-acre Soundview Park, built on a former landfill known for its sports fields, fishing, and beautiful views back across Hunts Point to Manhattan

Note: The Bronx Greenway Plan on the page was redrawn from “Bronx River and Greenway Route (When Complete)� by Bronx River Alliance.

Site Versus East River [Scale: N.T.S.]

[new york city football club] [MATTHEW MBAMELU] [70] Situated at the intersection between the lowly, quietly flowing Bronx River and the elevated, concrete giant of the Cross Bronx Expressway, the New York City Football Club Stadium provides a destination for footballers across the city and an underlying construct of public space; it gives access to the otherwise hidden tranquility of the Bronx River amidst the throng of zooming cars above.

Section Perspective [Scale: N.T.S.]

By weaving through the structure of the highway, the stadium negotiates the heavy infrastructure of the city with infrastructure of the existing landscape. It enables further development of the park, extensions of green public space along the river, and smoother public transit with the relocation of the West Farms Bus Terminal. Just as the Bronx River flows smoothly under the expressway, regional traffic and the immediate community can begin to flow past one another, transforming the dead space left by the expressway into a teeming intersection of nature, the urban, and the people of The Bronx.

[new york city football club] [MATTHEW MBAMELU] [72]

Rendering [Scale: N.T.S.] Aerial View: Stadium Plan [Scale: N.T.S.] Ground Floor Plan [Scale: N.T.S.]

Our master plan, “Plugging Parkchester,� proposes to deck over and cover the twenty-foot deep Cross Bronx Expressway, which allows for local vehicular and pedestrian movement at ground level, leaving the traffic below undisturbed. In other words, by covering the expressway, we introduce a blank canvas, allowing for the potential to address deeper issues of traffic, urban design, community, noise, and social life.

At the center of the neighborhood of Parkchester lies Hugh Grant Circle, bordered by small shops and stores. Shops can also be found on Metropolitan Avenue and Westchester Avenue. North of Hugh Grant Circle is the Parkchester Housing Development, which is composed of 171 buildings, some of which are as high as thirteen stories. To the west and south of the roundabout are residential neighborhoods with two typologies: five to six story apartment buildings and two to three story multi-family houses, all of which the XBX intrusively divides.

initiative members: Lester Li // Critic: Lance Jay Brown Matthew Chirico // Critic: Lance Jay Brown Lenny Chen // Critic: Jeremy Edminston Talin Vakilian // Critic: Jeremy Edminston

The current strategy to mitigate toxic air exhaust in residential neighborhoods is to redirect pollution away from windows or a building’s air intake vents. This quasi-solution is feeble and ineffective. High asthma rates, which correlate with the pollution emitted along the highway, are prevalent throughout The Bronx.

Our approach emphasizes the urban experience while addressing the various issues associated with the XBX. We looked at multiple scales: from the close-up perspective of the pedestrian, train rider, and truck driver to the larger scope of individual buildings and infilling blocks. For example, some buildings and pavilions act as light shafts for the tunnel underneath. Thus, truck drivers would experience brief manicured moments of meditative and recreational spaces from below. At the building scale, some facades are coated with titanium dioxide paint or are made of photocatalytic concrete. These materials extract and collect pollutants from the air, which washes away when it rains.

The goal for this urban intervention is to explore how public infrastructural projects could contribute to a better quality of life along the expressway. The results of our proposed deck would be: (1) improved air quality, (2) reduced noise pollution, (3) pedestrian-friendly public outdoor space, and (4) reconnected streets previously divided by the expressway.

PARKCHESTER

BRONX, NEW YORK

[site drawings] [PARKCHESTER] [76]

Site: Topography & Figure Ground Overlay [Scale: 1:5000] Site: Topography [Scale: 1:10000] Site: Figure Ground Overlay [Scale: 1:10000]

Parks and Trees [Scale: 1:32000] Public Transportation & Highways [Scale: 1:32000] Cultural Centers [Scale: 1:32000] [Green-schools, blue-daycares, orangeafterschools, red-recreational centers] Driving Distances and Times to Site from Schools [Scale: 1:64000] [Red line-<10 min walk, orange line-<10 min drive/20 min walk, yellow line-<20 min drive/30-50 min walk] [Purple-high school, blue-middle school, pinkelementary school]

[site drawings] [PARKCHESTER] [78]

Noise Analysis: Data Map [Scale: 1/1032” =1’-0”] Noise Analysis: Creating a Form of Commercial Strips w/ Noise Pollution [Scale: 1/1032” =1’-0”]

Noise Analysis: Heat Map [Scale: 1/516” =1’-0”]

[site drawings] [PARKCHESTER] [80]

Urban Intervention: Combined Scheme [Scale: N.T.S.] Parkchester Analysis Plan [Scale: 3/1024”=1’-0”]

Photograph Topography Models [Scale: N.T.S.] Master Plan [Scale: 3/1024”=1’-0”]

[site drawings] [PARKCHESTER] [82]

Site Section [Scale: 1/128”=1’-0”] Site Plan [Scale: 1/128”=1’-0”]

[site drawings] [PARKCHESTER] [84]

Site Model [Scale: 1/32”=1’-0”] [Chipboard, pink foam, styrofoam, illustration board, basswood]

[site drawings] [PARKCHESTER] [86]

Site Model [Scale: 1/32”=1’-0”] [Chipboard, pink foam, styrofoam, illustration board, basswood]

SANCT[ion]UARY

sanc·tion

/ˈsaNG(k)SH(ə)n/

Political reform in the form of architecture

[sanct-ion-uary] [LESTER LI] [88]

noun

1.

Topic: Destigmatizing Rehabilitation a threatened penalty for disobeying a law or rule. “a range of sanctions aimed at deterring insider abuse” synonyms: penalty, punishment, deterrent; punitive action,

discipline, restriction, embargo, ban, prohibition,

boycott “trade sanctions”

sanc·tu·ar·y

ˈsaNGk(t)SHəˌwerē/ noun

1.

a place of refuge or safety. “people automatically sought a sanctuary in time of trouble” synonyms: penalty, punishment, deterrent; punitive action,

discipline, restriction, embargo, ban, prohibition,

boycott “trade sanctions” synonyms:

refuge, haven, harbor, port in a storm, oasis, shelter, retreat, hideaway, hideout “the island is our sanctuary” safety, protection, shelter, immunity, asylum “he was given sanctuary in the embassy”

Project Statement: Progressive proactive rehabilitation center in Parkchester, adjacent to the Cross-Bronx Expressway - with an emphasis on rehabilitation.

Thesis Statement: Architecture should seek to augment rehabilitative influence and should not deny its existence. Reimagining progressive policies which foster mental health rather than personal culpability brings stigmatization into the center of drug policy debate. Rehabilitation should be less about healing, and more about encouragement, sociability, and destigmatization of space for a more equitable humanizing experience.

Facility Statement: There is only one assumption that I take in this project, and that is the decriminalization of drugs have finally come to the States.

Thus, the building focuses on the destigmization of spaces.

Context Statement: The Cross-Bronx Expressway socially and physically divides the north and south neighborhoods of Parkchester.

Scope: Newly proposed 50,000 square foot infrastructural building which acts as a focal point for rehabilitation. The project will provide a master plan to deck over the Cross Bronx Expressway, air exhaust and air filtration for the proposed tunnel, positive safe spaces for users, and an adaptive reuse public meditation space from the remnants of the expressway.

What they discovered was startling. It turned out that the rats in isolated cages used up to 25 milligrams of morphine a day, as in the earlier experiments. But the rats in the happy cages used hardly any morphine at all - less than 5 milligrams. “These guys [in Rat Park] have a complete total twenty-four-hour supply” of morphine and they don’t use it.” They don’t kill themselves. They choose to spend their lives doing other things.1 Johann Hari on Bruce Alexander’s Rat Experiments.

Rehabilitation is the act of restoring something to its original state. However, society has stigmatized the word. It is now commonly associated with shame and humiliation.

This thesis explores the meaning of rehabilitative spaces, in the face of the drug war. It adopts sociological concepts such as social capital and collective participation. Social capital assumes the experiences and knowledge of like-minded individuals, or folks with similar backgrounds, is a form of wealth acquired through society. For example, social capital is obtained when one asks for directions to the nearest Italian restaurant or how to apply for food stamps. As I continue my pursuit, furthering my understanding of multidisciplinary design, I hope to continue this inquiry: which spaces promote and foster the exchange of social capital?

The form was developed to express a rehabilitation of the The following series of study models were inspired by a desire to fill the missing void that was stolen from

the neighborhood by the Cross Bronx Expressway.

The study started with the existing lot, of which solid ground permits foundation walls, and connects to the ephemeral rectangle, which can be seen from aerial view. This metaphor transcends to complete the urban grid while maintains the existing street-level views. In other words, the form contributes to the holistic rehabilitation of Parkchester.

The spaces for social gathering are along the facade, in-between the air filtration system, and noted in pink.

The volumes of social spaces and air filtration spaces were designed to provide a wide range of double height spaces, small intimate spaces, and large gathering spaces. The vertical circulation, seen in the plans, connect to all the social spaces. In addition, the large gathering spaces are connected through ambient ceiling heights and bilateral views. These spaces, along with the professional services provided in the back of the building, equip the once stigmatized and blighted user with the well-lit and large safe spaces, which is much needed for rehabilitation.

Johann Hari. Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs.

New York: Bloomsbury, 2015.

171-172.

1

Perspective w/ Site Plan [Scale: 3/256”=1’-0”] [Graphite, charcoal, paper, Photoshop]

[sanct-ion-uary] [LESTER LI] [90]

EXISTING LOT SHAPE

SINGLE SURFACE FACADE

FACADE VENT SYSTEM

PROPOSED BY MASTER PLAN

DOUBLE-SKIN FACADE

FACADE FILTRATION SYSTEM

AVOID BUILDING ON XBX

MOMENT FRAME & TRUSSES

MULTI-FOLD ACTIVE FACADE

Cross Section [Scale: 1/64”=1’-0”] Diagrams [Scale: N.T.S.] [Existing lot shape] [Proposed by master plan] [Avoid Building on XBX] [Structural bays] [Adjust structural bays] [Single surface facade] [Double-skin Facade] [Moment frame & trusses] [“Walk the plank”] [Pollution along XBX] [Facade vent system] [Facade filtration system] [Multi-fold active facade] [Social capital: social spaces] [Anchor: professional services]

STRUCTURAL BAYS

“WALK THE PLANK”

ADJUST STRUCTURAL BAYS

POLLUTION ALONG XBX

SOCIAL CAPITAL: SOCIAL SPACES

ANCHOR: PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Massing Study Model [Scale: 1/32”=1’-0”] [B:Safe space] Process Study Models [Scale: 1/32”=1’-0”] [1:Julliard] [2:Surface] [3:Surface w/ program] [4:Ribs] [5:Ribs w/ core] [6:Ribs w/ core & spaces] [7:Massing w/ straight cuts] [8-9:Massing w/ facade as a surface] [10-12: Surface casting studies]

[sanct-ion-uary] [LESTER LI] [92]

Ground Floor Plan [Scale: 1/64”=1’-0”] Nolli Site Plan [Scale: 1/256”=1’-0”] Second Floor Plan [Scale: 1/128”=1’-0”] Third-Fourth Typ. Floor Plan [Scale: 1/128”=1’-0”] Fifth-Sixth Typ. Floor Plan [Scale: 1/128”=1’-0”]

Wall Section [Scale: 1/4”=1’-0”] [South wall at grade, below grade, and typ. floor connection]

[parkchester community/rec center] [MATTHEW CHIRICO] [94]

Structural Diagram [Scale: N.T.S.] Process Diagrams [Scale: N.T.S.] Process Sketches [Scale: N.T.S.]

PARKCHESTER COMMUNITY/REC CENTER Within the “Plugging Parkchester” master plan, the Parkchester Community/Rec Center negotiates the intersection of the 6 line with the Cross Bronx Expressway at Hugh Grant Circle with the adjacent neighborhoods, visually activating the space around this massive transit web.

The project leaves the existing infrastructures intact as the neighborhoods toward the east are connected via the 6 line. Express stops include 3rd Avenue/138 Street, Hunts Point, Parkchester, and finally, Pelham Bay, which provide access to major residential areas, making the 6 line an elevated infrastructural necessity.

The Cross Bronx Expressway, 6 line, and ground level occupy three datums with a massive presence. At Parkchester, platforms are about 25 feet above ground level.

In contrast, the Cross Bronx Expressway sinks to an elevation of 20 feet below ground level. These divisive infrastructures dominate the physical and socioeconomic character and experience of the site.

“Plugging Parkchester” along with the Parkchester Community/Rec Center mediates the effects of these obtrusive infrastructures, by offering views to new recreational space and access over the freeway. On the west, where our master plan reestablishes the ground level, and is a library with direct views from inbetween bookshelves. On the east, an atrium awaits behind a narrow concave glass facade, marking the entry point while respecting the adjacent buildings around Hugh Grant Circle. To the south, horizontal openings allow curious train riders an opportunity to see buzzer beaters as they whiz by the basketball courts.

Underneath, drivers experience light from above and brief moments of pool side cheering. The Parkchester Community/Rec Center explores methods to connect spaces at various scales through views by curating the experiences of everyone who occupies, or passes by, the site.

[parkchester community/rec center] [MATTHEW CHIRICO] [96]

West Elevation [Scale: 1/64”=1’-0”] Green Roof and Courtyard Plan [Scale: 1/128” = 1’-0”] Ground Floor Plan [Scale: 1/128” = 1’-0”] Model [Scale: 1/16” = 1’-0”]

South Elevation [Scale: 1/64”=1’-0”] Program Diagram [Scale: N.T.S.] [Color coded legend: red: education green: community blue: recreation brown: circulation] Renderings: Southwest Corridor [Scale: N.T.S.] Renderings: Indoor Track / Basketball Court [Scale: N.T.S.] Renderings: Lobby [Scale: N.T.S.] Renderings: Southeast Corner [Scale: N.T.S.]

[parkchester community/rec center] [MATTHEW CHIRICO] [98]

Wall Section [Scale: 1/8”=1’-0”]

Section Looking South [Scale: 1/64”=1’-0”] Section Looking East [Scale: 1/64”=1’-0”] Sectional Perspective [Scale: N.T.S.]

[the onion] [LENNY CHEN] [100]

THE BLOOMIN’ ONION The Bloomin’ Onion is a theatre that filters the polluted air and piercing sounds from the Cross Bronx Expressway into finely lit spaces, and sounds of music and entertainment. It feeds upon the detritus spread by the freeway, and allows for the growth of culture and community in the neighborhood of Parkchester.

The theatre is designed over the existing Parkchester train station, surrounded by Hugh Grant Circle, the only traffic circle above the Cross Bronx Expressway.

In response to the uniquely central location and hectic traffic conditions, the building incorporates various layers of social space both inside and outside of the building as part of its structure and form, providing open views to and from the neighboring streets while also minimizing vibrations traveling through the building.

The theatre’s facade is made up of undulating perforated panels, which reduce light entering and exiting the foyer, allowing the neighborhood to get glimpses of the interior activities while reducing light pollution. Meanwhile, the performer’s section of the building, primarily active during the day, is located along the south facade. This facade is angled to reduce sun exposure when the sun is high, but the large glass panels allow natural light to penetrate into the spaces that require it. The east and west facades peel and fold out to allow light to flood the halls and corridors between the public and private sections of the theater.

Exploded Axon Facade Systems [Scale: N.T.S.]

The nature of this design utilizes the multiple layers of exterior surface area to produce interesting public spaces, which reveal the bustling interior activities to the neighborhood without disrupting the residents.

To address the poor air quality in this traffic-heavy environment, the building utilizes an air filtration system that starts from the exterior. The exterior panels are coated with titanium dioxide; when activated by solar energy, the facades create a chemical reaction with the smog, breaking down the nitrogen and sulfur oxides.

It also uses negatively charged electrodes to remove particulates from the air, bringing it into a contained filtration system that runs vertically along the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s elevator cores.

The theatre turns the bland existing station and traffic circle into an active social space - an icon that unfolds cultural events and activities to the public - allowing for the Parkchester community and spirit to bloom.

[the onion] [LENNY CHEN] [102]

Diagram: Facades-Off [Scale: N.T.S.] Diagram: Facades-On [Scale: N.T.S.] Theater Plan [Scale: 1/256”=1’-0”] Roof Plan [Scale: 1/256”=1’-0”]

Longitudinal Section [Scale: 1/64”=1’-0”] Subway Track Plan [Scale: 1/128”=1’-0”] [Subway tracks are isolated with a independent sound barrier shell]

[parkchester natatorium] [TALIN VAKILIAN] [104]

PARKCHESTER NATATORIUM The Parkchester Natatorium is a community pool that adds to the recreational ecosystem of Plugging Parkchester, contributing to an expansive network of community outreach in the form of public amenities.

With a public pool, library, theatre, parks, and recreation center, Plugging Parkchester transforms a once inactive polluted space into a hub for community engagement.

Plugging Parkchester and the Parkchester Natatorium is conceptualized as a juxtaposition to unusable space.

First, the XBX is an enormous avenue only accessible to vehicles at a lower elevation. To the pedestrian, it is nothing more than a noisy dirty sink hole. Second, the pollution produced by vehicles on the XBX has negatively affected the air quality of the neighborhood.

And finally, public space at and around the expressway is nonexistent due to the vast footprint needed for the XBX. Historically, the XBX, constructed by Robert Moses, is cited to be a catalyst for the social and economic inequality we see in the Bronx today. Many lives had been harmed by Moses’s work including those East Tremont where he had demolished 54 apartment houses, uprooting the homes of several thousand families. Before the families were evicted, East Tremont had been a low-income but stable community of 60,000.

Afterwards, East Tremont became a vast slum.

Plugging Parkchester and the other eight students involved with the Cross Bronx Expressway Initiative has taken this into careful consideration. Social justice via architecture and urbanism calls for a systematic revolution, which challenges existing practices. By organizing an extensive rehabilitation around the expressway, including various community facilities, such as the Parkchester Natatorium, Plugging Parkchester opens up the conversation to how areas affected by the Cross Bronx Expressway may begin to mend this scar.

Source: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1998/01/05/the-city-shaper

Site Plan [Scale: 1/64”=1’-0”] [Schematics of park layout and urban deck infill]

[parkchester natatorium] [TALIN VAKILIAN] [106]

Second Floor Plan: Plan of Pool [Scale: 1/64”=1’-0”] Ground Floor Plan [Scale: 1/64”=1’-0”] South Elevation [Scale: 1/64”=1’-0”] Sliver Sections [Scale: N.T.S.]

Section Looking East [Scale: 1/64”=1’-0”] Section Looking North [Scale: 1/64”=1’-0”] Roof to Glazing Section Detail [Scale: 6”=1’-0”] Roof to Facade Panelling Section Detail [Scale: 6”=1’-0”]