Public space is often designed to be generic in hopes of attracting a variety of users. Studying the city street as the ultimate site for community in New York provides a different picture. Taking a section through 30th Street in Manhattan, the lower border of the Hudson Yards development project yields an image of extreme specificity of program packed into a series of tightly spaced storefronts. The urban model of specific programmed strips repositions the possibilities for development within the New York City street grid, questioning the superblock model that the larger Hudson Yards project promises to follow, and suggesting an alternative to the developer-driven architecture it implies.

Columbia GSAPP
Olivier Touraine Studio
Spring 2006