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LARA FISCHER GODFREY
ABCSM
Alphabet City Social Market
M. Arch thesis - 2020 - Parsons
ABCSM - Alphabet City Social Market
My thesis focuses on finding an architectural solution to promote upward social mobility, the movement of individuals from one social class to another, in Alphabet City. ABCSM, the Alphabet City Social Market, is a community base center that has extracted its design from the study of the neighborhood, combined with movable architecture to advocate mobility and interactions.
SITE HISTORY
As a resident of this neighborhood, it has always been clear to me that the historical past of Alphabet City, made out of artistic and musical movements as well as protests, and the contrast between restaurants, stores and communities are imprinted in the neighborhood. Walking in the streets of Alphabet City, those differences are like part of puzzle, making a whole that stands out for its diversity, like a bento box made of multiple layers.
Historically, immigrants families have settled down in Alphabet City since the 19th century. Over 20 different nationalities are represented through the neighborhood’s restaurants and small businesses and make together a charismatic neighborhood engraved in people’s mind.
Historically, immigrants families have settled down in Alphabet City since the 19th century. Over 20 different nationalities are represented through the neighborhood’s restaurants and small businesses and make together a charismatic neighborhood engraved in people’s mind.
SITE COLLAGES
The ABCSM needed a site that is well known by the entire community. The Dry Dock Playground, located on 10th street between Avenues C and D, is unused 10 months out of the year. This site is being brought back to life during the summer when the residents come to use its pool and basketball court. The goal is then to revive this site with a warehouse type structure that will allow transfer between open and/or close spaces, influenced by the weather and/or programs.
PROGRAM
Programmatically, in order to gain social mobility, possibilities arose from social connections and developing opportunities. Theories have also proved that the access to greater education, the access to more secured jobs, and the promotion extracurricular skills lead to more social mobility. In this mindset, the ABCSM is composed of an affordable day care to allow parents to go to work, a restaurant also used as a culinary school to stimulate social interactions, social skills, and job opportunities, an open space program to promote the development of unknown skills more or less taught in regular schools, an after school program to help with homework and more, and the development of professional connections.
DRY DOCK PLAYGROUND
SITE MODEL
My study of Alphabet City, of its residents and of the theories of social mobility, has drove me to the moves that I based my design on: the communities have engraved their culture in the neighborhood, while transferring in and out of it, and the diversity of the communities embossed a sense of whole. My site model is a representation of those moves, creating a bento box of 3 different maps. Each map is divided into similar sized portions, allowing transfer and comparison.
Following the same process, ABCSM was designed accordingly to those moves.
Following the same process, ABCSM was designed accordingly to those moves.
ENGRAVE
First of all, I focused on the idea of engravement. As explained previously, communities always engraved part of their culture in ABC city, shown by the diversity of restaurants. To translate this cultural engravement, I embedded the limits of my site by 6 feet which multiply visuals connections and access points. The circulation roads become hang out and meeting spaces for the community. The pool is also located on this engraved level to reinforce the memory of the Dry Dock playground.
LEVEL -1 + RENDERS
TRANSFER - ELEVATORS
Secondly, the previous communities transferred in and out of Alphabet City a lot more than the current ones. To revive this idea, movable architecture is a main aspect of ABCSM from inside out. Extra large glass elevators are put into focus at the the corners of the building as they are an architectural translation of the upward social mobility that this building is built for. Interiorly, floors and walls move laterally and vertically to create smaller or bigger spaces, depending on the needs of the programs and the users. While the pool can be covered during the winter months by a sliding floor, the second floor’s rooms have different movable elements.Partition walls on tracks and a second layer of transferrable floors are all elements that create interaction between the users different spaces. Above the pool, rotatable wood panels open up to let sunlight in or flatten to cover from rain or snow. Exteriorly, the façade responds to the natural elements: ABCSM gets natural ventilation through its fully openable panels surrounding the pool on all its height, keeping the idea of the outside pool intact. and allowing sunlight through while protecting the interior from the cold air and strong wind during the winter months. On the street level, the walls panels on the side of the basketball court unfold to create benches and tier seating, creating air flow and more sun light on the court.
TRANSFER - NIGHT VIEW
TRANSFER - LEVEL 2 + SECTION A
TRANSFER - LEVEL 3 + SECTION B
TRANSFER - LEVEL 2+3 RENDERS
TRANSFER LEVEL 4 + RENDER
TRANSFER - BIG SECTION 3D
EMBOSS- ELEVATIONS
My third and last move consists of an embossment strategy. The main idea was the emboss the feeling of smaller pieces as part of a whole. The façade hides its components when closed and users discover its different parts as it opens up. Its brick facades make it common to New York City. The curved given to the corners of stairs and façade elements reminds of the street, currently the most used space for residents’ gatherings. The street corners have great definition: they fold down to allow wheelchairs and strollers a smooth passage, while their curve contrast with the buildings’ corners. I brought this curve in order to bring this aspect of the street to the inside.
EMBOSS- CURVES + RENDERS
Finally, by capturing the essence of the communities of Alphabet city and understanding the complexity of its history in pieces and as a whole, the ABCSM is a place of movement and social interaction. Its program has for goal to connect people, engraving the idea that we need each other’s knowledge to rise, while the building’s floors and walls move to fit the current and future needs of the community.
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