It was a great opportunity to hear the urban design students talking their points of view and to see their models. They approached some issues that weren’t even visible to me before and they purposed solutions for problems such as safety and lighting that would bring a massive transformation for the neighborhood. I think our class really beneficiated from getting in contact with the urban design students, who have a keen eye to urban development and are so much knowledgeable about the Vinegar Hill area.

New York Public Library is well known for its magnificent exterior and interiors. I had chance to visit and tour the inside the library years ago, I was really impressed by their multiple divided reading rooms structure and main reading room’s ceiling decoration. Also, they have great book collections in the library and their branch right across the 5th avenue. From the reading, it was good to know how they put old maps together into digitized version and open to public to access their online resources.
I’m really looking forward to going this site visit. And I’m going to find out how I can use this map efficiently in our group project.

It will be an exciting visit to the NYPL Map Room- to be able to physical touch the maps is fascinating. Prior to this, I never knew this was open to the public nor did I know of this at all.

A cuple questions I would like to answer post site-visit are:

1. What was the demographic like pre-1940s and post-1940s in the Vinegar Hill/Navy ard area?
2. First sign of public schools in the area?
3. population density
4. conditions of the area?
5. Green space. Any parks visible on the maps?
6. Walking/pedestrian friendly? How wide/narrow were the streets pre-1940s and post-1940s?

Urban design studio class reflection:

Meeting with three different groups who primarily wanted one thing for the Farragut houses neighborhood, and that was more commercial space to bring more people into the area, all in hopes of erasing the negative and scary reputation. And utilizing all the open green area. Being a skeptic towards certain ideas observing the students in their field and them being knowledgeable about the structure and their examples was very interesting because it was what I had in mind come to life. I would really love to see the playground by the F train turned into something beautiful.

I’m beginning to trust our professors more. Every class is a new experience that I actually enjoy and take something of significance home with me. I think that seeing these maps are going to be really cool. I really want to find out what the “slums” of vinegar hill look like.

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I really enjoyed the visit to the urban life studio. We walked around the studio in different groups to listen to my peers talk about their projects, for the expansion of the Farragut houses. The students had also made a visit to the Farragut housing projects. They made representative scale models to show us their vision for the expansion of the farragut housing.They all made new buildings surrounding the older ones. New buildings were going to be built to be multi functional, with office space, commercial space and residential area. They cut the mega-block down into smaller streets with through-traffic. The ways that they created space for business,jobs, homes would help bring more traffic to this area and make it more inviting. This interaction very exciting and experience. I liked seeing urban renewal in its infancy stages.

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.