Walking Around Urbanism
Both architecture and cities are defined by repetition of elements that form larger configurations. Buildings are a sequence of rooms defined by a network of structural elements, while the city is a sequence of blocks defined by a network of streets. Such repetition in the built environment is hierarchical with smaller things nesting inside larger ones, all working together to create “urban tissue.” Learning to observe the similarities between architecture and the city will help us understand the built environment as a continuum of scalar components linked together in a complex, multi-layered form.
This is a map of Manhattan Island in New York, specifically SOHO and Chinatown. SOHO takes up 215 acres of land in Manhattan, but it is dwarfed by the size of Chinatown which spans 492 Acres. SOHO stands for South of Houston Street, located in the Lower Manhattan District. The area consists of branded stores, which is a contrast to Chinatown, where the area focuses more on market, food, and culture.
The site that we are going to focus is a block that is right between on the edge of Chinatown and SOHO. I chose this block because it represents the two different environments from Manhattan. We can see from this bird’s eye view that the east side (right) of the block retains the curved eaves reminiscent of designs we come to expect from Chinatown. While the west (left) of the block houses shops that are more aligned to the SOHO area.
The annotated map display information about the block between SOHO and Chinatown. The block’s main road is Canal Street. The block has 4 owners: China Buddhist Association (P4), City Urban Member (P5), Centre Plaza (P3), and 123 Lafayette LLC (P2). There is no information for who owns lot P1, but since it is mainly a residential building, we can assume each unit is privately owned. Underneath the block, we can access 2 subway lines: N-Line and 6-Line. The N-line goes all the way down to Coney Island, while 6-Line goes uptown to the Bronx.
The following image shows an alternate representation of the location if it is in the coastal area instead of downtown Manhattan. Coastal area will have more interesting structures, like the Sphere from Amazon headquarters in Seattle. It would also have a Pier where pedestrians would enjoy their times with music, exercising, street food, or just a simple walk by the coast. Since it won’t be in a downtown area, there would be less light pollution and we could see the stars at night.