Reflection of the Urban Design Studio Visit
I got there a little late but immediately I joined a group and was really intrigue when I saw the work that these students have put towards the project of building 3D Modeling/ blueprints of the Farragut Houses and how they can transform to make a difference towards change in Downtown Brooklyn Neighborhoods.
My Pre Site reflection Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
On Monday, October 19, I accidentally went to the Stephen A. Schwarzman building, thinking that I was supposed to meet the Professors and the class for our site Visit. I arrived at 9:45 am so I waited outside till 10 o’clock because that is when the library opens. This library is a New York City landmark and it was my second time I entered this building for a short time. This library is a masterpiece from the architecture of the building and the marble staircases to the murals, it is simply breathtaking and I can’t wait to return to investigate and study it some more. I am excited to visit the map because it is new to me and there was so many different rooms that I would like to explore and learn more about.
Pre-site reflection NYPL
On October 21, 2015 the class will meet in the New York public library in Bryant park to go to the map room. I am excited to go on this visit, I have passed by the library many times but I have never been inside. I am particularity excited to observe the historical maps. It will be amazing to observe the physical history on the topography of New York city throughout history. I expect this visit will be vital with our gathering of information for the Farragut houses and the neighborhood of Vinegar Hill for the Wikipedia page.
Urban Design Studio Post Vi
On October 19, 2015 we went to the Urban design studio to meet with students studying urban design and architecture. We talked about the Farragut houses and the neighborhood of Vinegar Hill. During our visit we discussed on how could the neighborhood of the Farragut houses could be improved and revitalized. There were propositions on changing the layout of the land where dividing the “super blocks” into more sub blocks to give more accessibility to the public and to give a more welcoming atmosphere. Also they proposed that with the change of the super blocks, it would give more opportunities for more businesses to open up and therefore hopefully revitalize the area where there will be more people going about and more positive activity in the neighborhood.
After meeting with the three groups and seeing on what are they planning about the Vinegar Hill neighborhood, i got a lot more knowledge about the area. Basically, the three groups that presented their plan for the neighborhood is to make the area better in life society and also safety matters. The purpose of their projects are very similar, with planning to build more residential buildings, more stores and also using the empty land with making more roads in between the Farragut Houses are so inspirational and i think it will be making a very great progress to the neighborhood to become a better future.
I thought the visit to the students of the Urban Design Studio was very interesting and informative. Seeing the different ways that the NYCHA grounds at the Farragut Houses can be better utilized, was an eye opener. I really liked aspects of each teams ideas, in what I would think would be an improvement to the area.
I am very excited to visit the NYPL in Manhattan tomorrow. I have never been to this library, or any library in the city as of yet. I have also never been able to study historic maps in person. My groups research topic is built environment, so these maps will greatly help our research.
In regards to the reading “Unbinding the Atlas:..” I thought it was very interesting. I completely agree with what all of these institutions are doing through these programs to digitize these historic maps. Many people do not live close to a library like the NYPL (like myself) and having these digitized maps make it easier to do research. Also, digitizing mops makes it possible to search databases, where you would have to look through countless maps in person to find what you are looking for. Again, these digitized maps make research much easier.
I am looking forward to Visit the NYPL map room and the library in general since I have never been there and I think will be a great learning experience . I think the idea of focusing on old maps to figure out what was on the piece of land where the Farragut houses were built is a very brilliant idea. Although everything is online and digitized many people would not see the purpose of visiting a library map room but like Professor Mogommery mentioned when you have something in front of you it is important to block everything out of your head that you may be thinking about before and just focus on what’s in front of you to see what’s there to discover and appreciate the preservation of history. I imagine the library to be a very busy touristic place with a lot of people going in and out. I personally, always enjoy spending time in a library because it is always very peaceful and quiet and it allows me to refocus in order to finish any school work I may still have pending. In addition this visit will also allow us to access maps that may not be found online since they may be very old and fragile. Lastly in the article, ” Unbinding the Atlas; Moving the NYPL map collection beyond digitization” it basically speaks of how maps go to the web as scanning images which makes it easier for information seekers to share the common desire to better understand a place through time and space as represented on a map and as a result most map libraries are converting their map collection into a digital world to make it more time consuming and accessible to the public and people who share common desires to discover places.
I have only been to the new York public library once before, I am hoping to find at least 4 maps that have information about the transportation systems used near our site from the 1960s untill today. I hope to be able to use as much information I can get from the map room as I can to help complete our site reports.
On Monday the 19th we visited the architecture class that is working on our site and we we’re able to see and hear how they would have done changes if possible, I was truly impressed by all the ways they thought of to improve the safety or the area and get more people to live there and enjoy being there, all the groups had great ideas but most of them we’re similar to the others so none of them really stood out but they we’re all very interesting.
After exchanging ideas based on a researcher perspective and a designer perspective I think both groups took away a lot from each other whether we offered suggestions or asked my they designed the Farragut houses the way they did. According to the three groups they wanted to encourage more commercial activity in order to promote safety because in this way there would be more people at nights except for just the residents that live there. they also wanted to have more residential buildings for middle class residents so that vinegar hill wouldn’t be seen as an area for just people who are struggling. they stressed that it was hard to tell the use of the land and whether it was private or public space of if the park was open for everyone to use or just the residents that live there. In addition they wanted the F train to be visible and they wanted to make the streets smaller and not as wide as they presently are since it seems to cause separation between the residents. Also they mentioned they wanted to add more rite aids, grocery stores, barbershops and nail salons which are resources that would make this area busier and less secluded. I was very mind blown of how the students re created the Farragut houses and how they incorporated their own ideas and improvements that they thought should be made to make the area more safe and commercial friendly.
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