Manhattan Diagonals
with teammate Abigail Smith; with critic Aniket Shahane
with teammate Abigail Smith; with critic Aniket Shahane
“A subway shutdown is really a pedestrian problem”
-final presentation remarks, as quoted by Vice reporter
This urban studio was centered around the effects of the L train shutdown. In researching the alternative methods of transportation the DOT recommended for Williamsburg residents, we came to the conclusion that the subway shutdown revealed a deeper pedestrian problem: that although stations serving different lines may be only three blocks apart, the start/stop grid of vehicular roads and lights are the main contributing factors to a longer commute.
Our urban solution is a simple one: reprogram the city grid to properly account for pedestrian flow between train stations and other nodes of dense population.
A network of pedestrian oriented, through-block corridors (shortcuts) could create a new public realm within the street grids of Manhattan and Brooklyn - alleviating not just the L train shutdown, but future impairments as well.
These corridors carve into existing architecture and mid-blocks to expose new public frontage and park space. This network is not a stagnate creation: it expands and contracts over time in response to public reception and private market reactions.
Originating from a need to travel efficiently from A to B, these corridors foot traffic of these corridors would expose existing program and magnetically draw in new tenants. Rearrangement of affected ground floor interiors - and in certain cases vertical circulation – to accommodate these corridors would create dynamic urban experiences unique to each block for the pedestrian.
