LOWER EAST SIDING: Jialei Tang

how can kinetics become the driving force for social interaction, micro-economies and recreation through the composition of spatial conditions?

here lies a humble investigation into the harmonies of space.

existing conditions

to assume that i can know what a nycha resident needs or wants is a complacent epistemic fallacy for i do not share his or her life experience. yet in this landscape of absence, i can identify with what a confined circulated space can affect quotidian living: from the lack of amenities to a pedestrian disengagement that brings about an inconvenient reality.

this won't hurt: a minimally invasive procedure

close up of circulation model detail: the previous narrow staircase is extracted and redeployed into the exoskeleton, creating an elongated corridor as passage.

Drawing inspiration from the body, the project considers the mechanics of circulatory paths and orientation of entrance/exit points to facilitate a more interactive social condition. the increase of shared space affords easier movement and moments of stasis for social exchange, fostering a kinship between neighbors.

The underground: of stasis and movement

infiltration: light occupies the space as ray and particles

a quiet metamorphosis

The pupa envelope unites the new and old residents as the building integrates into one community of homes.

prototype i: if successful, proliferates over the entire vladeck estate

The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,

Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie

Open unto the fields, and to the sky;

All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.

…

Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;

And all that mighty heart is lying still!

- excepts from Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802 by William Wordsworth

A focus on circulation drives construction of channels underground to link between the LaGuardia and Vladeck estates to the piers in this project. These channels are underpasses which introduce new life into the area - human traffic, amenities and opportunities for micro-economies. A new habitat for the community to develop a thriving ecology. Aboveground affordable residential units are the Vladeck Houses reborn through architectural ecdysis. The homes lend inspiration from poetry — the couplet — while their sum remain faithful to the past Vladeck structurally. The configuration’s interstitial spaces provide opportunity for light wells into the channel. Inside, each iteration of the unit consists of two walls that extrude into the space between the lines to define functions of space. Its open ends and engineered skylights respire light and shadow for the life within. Indeed, (from God’s view), the very houses seem asleep; but beneath (and under) all that mighty heart is lying still!

FURNITURE: Interrogating how the body interacts with immediate surrounding

Creating the unit of body: Choosing the block and defining seat size

Defining social relationships through orientation of the body

Reinterpretation of the piece for a single person

Create mobile mats to turn the ground into inhabitable planes

Transformation of the furniture unit to create different social conditions (multi-person)

TRANSLATION: BODY UNIT TO LIVING UNIT

Lumen: to create a light, airy space where the two ends are "open" and the other two enclose to form a passage of light and view

STUDIO