The Dissimilar-Similar Parks

Two parks, an eleven minute walking distance between them, but so much more separates them. 

Manhattan is filled with many of these small areas located in between tall buildings for the tired, walking pedestrian that roams its roaring roads. The two being focused on are Samuel Paley Plaza and Greenacre Park.

Samuel Paley Plaza, or more commonly known as ‘Paley Park’, is located on 3 East 53rd Street between 5th and Madison. Its entrance is a wide opening that immediately opens to the park and the eyes to its massive 20 foot high walls- that shade the entire area for most of the day- and then turn toward the placid waterfall that fills the back wall. It is flat ground, but stone benches line the sides of the park to allow visitors to use the ample space to place their belongings down comfortably. The walls are layered with leafy vines that add a natural texture to the rough walls. 

Within the center area, trees are placed near the tables to produce privacy while being able to enjoy a private meal with oneself or a friend while simultaneously being able to be mobile and rotate the chairs to enjoy the waterfall. The waterfall is highlighted toward the end of the day with flood lights so the park can maintain its serenity and availability at night. In front of the waterfall are two steps that lead up to the “splash area” where one can receive a light sprinkling from the water as it lands in the small pool that spans the width of the water fall.

Greenacre Park, is located on E 51^st St, between 2^nd and 3^rd Avenue. Already as one approaches it, there is a grander statement made by its entrance that is two steps, lined on both sides with wheelchair accessible ramps, and the overhead. The landscape, within the park, explodes with floral arrangements and tropical islands, if one were to let the imagination run wild. At a first glance the park is an exotic getaway from the city commotion, but the eye is brought back by the midtown backdrop above the waterfall. 
On the left, and a few steps up, is a shaded area that overlooks the lower level of the park that sits in front of the waterfall. On the right, the stone benches are just as movable as the chairs in the middle of the park, as one would turn around and see the flowing water that is below the ivy-dressed walls. The waterfall is in the back, roaring louder than the streets, allowing a peaceful, spiritual moment. Trees are used to divide the chairs that dance in the middle, and the flowers-of all magnificent colors -give the eye something to gaze at when not watching the cascading waterfall that is so splendiferous it demands the attention of everyone sitting in the park.

There are many similarities between Paley and Greenacre. The waterfalls, obviously. The use of trees, the sitting areas, the walls that create the authentic “pocket” effect of the parks (meaning the detachment from the city). These are the general similar qualities. Their differences are not as subtle once one is settled down in a chair. Greenacre Park is loud and colorful, much like the people who go there. Paley Park is much quieter and simpler, especially in its colors. Greenacre creates four different levels (the entrance, the sitting area, the shaded area, and the waterfall seats). Paley, has but one flat area, but it’s so quiet and large that one wouldn’t notice someone passing and would not need the extra level to move away.

Although the waterfalls are an obvious similarity, they are also the essence, or the physical character of each park symbolically. As was mentioned, Greenacre has four levels, so does its waterfall. The water falls from one level, down to the next and has an extraordinary volume. Paley has a long, flat and quiet waterfall that is simple like the park it is in. This is what makes two very similar parks so dissimilar in the most phenomenal manner.

~ArchiTalmud

Moving ahead and onward...

Post first days of Passover, I was greeted with an email from my professor about an hour and half before the Havdalah services. She was warning me about failure since I have not been showing progress in a few weeks.

I do not like threats.

But she had a point, I haven't been moving much. Which is a complete bummer on my morale and it doesn't help anyone. SO from 8:45 pm until 6 am, with a small break between, I put together a model that had some interesting pieces, but was not complete.

I brought it into class, and the professor again asked for a previous model that she had liked originally but I never seem to bring along. SO she had me tear apart the model I had made and to start over with the anchor piece in the center and to build everything around it.

My project has an emphasis on "Floating Elements" which was mostly due to my project never having a complete model done for class.

I have until midnight to send her images of the completed model which entails:

• completing the site.
• raising the bedrooms.
• adding the studios.
• adding a roof.
• adding the roof garden.
• and finishing the stairs
• and adding more stairs or bridges to emphasize the floating elements.

This is my task. I will do it. It's not a lot of work. It's just a long list. Speaking of lists...

Later after class, my studio mates entrusted me to rate the current class rankings.
needless to say, I am at #9. because I am far behind. The rest is hidden in my sketchbook.

But please note: Lists can get you into trouble, as well as offend others. Especially when they know who wrote it. Oddly enough, in elementary school I had made a list then too. That got me in trouble. High school's list of girls... Only got me into a smaller trouble.

Keep that in mind, dear reader ;)
~ArchiTalmud

פסח וחופש || Passover and Freedom

The significance of this holiday... They say it's about freedom, they say it's about remembrance, they say it's about a lot of things. What it is is a holiday of realizing that we are not free. We are not in our homes. Six months ago during Sukkos, the same message was applied but on a physical level of actually leaving our homes for eight days. Now we sit indoors and digest that thought spiritually.

Tonight, we will sit at our seder tables (which are the same dining room table but has an extra holiness added to it when you dress the table in a chometz-free table cloth), and we will, briefly, have a glimpse of what freedom is.

For those who have not yet understood, this Yom Tov is not about being free or physical freedom, contrary to belief.
It's a reminder of how we are not free yet and how this Yom Tov is about spiritual freedom.
At the end of the Hagaddah we say, "L'shona Haba B'Yerushalayim"

Next year we will be both physically and spiritually free.







Freedom is not a feeling of non-dominated periods. Freedom is a spiritual moment encapsulated within our souls momentarily.


If we were free all the time, we'd have nothing to do.

In recent events, we are reminded again how free we really aren't.

Chag kasher V'sameach, dear reader :)
~ArchiTalmud

Waiting for Superman... or at least a crit

It's the weekend before Passover is set to begin and I'm still stressed from the midreview which did not go as well as I hoped for.

Reminding myself, the rule is:

"Fix it, don't start over" 

unless you have a really good reason for it.

Today, sitting in studio, I have had nothing prepared, but I did come for a reason, I needed to get out of the house one more time before the holiday started so I can say good bye to my studio mates. They're very receptive of my occasional antics. I don't know why. I'm unusually moody today. Probably because of the heat in the studio.

So I sit down and work on a 1/8" scale model based on my floor plans, and I'm realizing all of these issues that are surfacing.
I had only completed two floors. But I could see now where I need to push my model around.

The professor passed by, asked if I was ready for a crit. I wasn't. And later she would be ok with it as a friend would tell me over a phone call, whilst commuting.

I've always waited for a crit, whether I was ready or not. I have had a total of 3.5 critiques-not including mid review and finals and group sessions.

I'm not complaining. But for this project I have been unclear on many details. But today, I am receiving clarity. Although I can't do much before Passover starts.

But this mindset I'm in currently, is what I'll need as soon as the חג is out.

Thanks for reading, dear reader :)

~ArchiTalmud

Project UPdate 7 April 2014

Game of Thrones aired last night, still haven't seen the whole episode... I'll watch it on the bus ride home.

Spent most of the night drawing plans and singing on the top of my lungs... or as loud as I could without the rest of the house hearing me.

I completed the site, but not the model. Which is fine.

In class, I waited til around 1pm (We only have 10 people left in the studio group, but It still takes forever to get a crit). The professor took a few looks at my model, and the site, and she did not like it. There is no overall scheme. She suggested looking at my final model which was all about a continuous folded plane. The frame, in that project, was a separate entity. This is exactly what my project needs to move forward.

I'll be incorporating that into the model that I'm going to stay up tonight building out of foamcore. I'll also have time to redo the plans and sections.

**Note: When drawing stairs, add a directional arrow in the lightest lineweight pointing up to the next floor.

Also, i should really be thinking about a grid of columns that aligns straight with the cube. There shouldn't be any random columns lying around anywhere in the project.

The site itself, is a separate project of Mass & Void. It should be treated as such while following the guide lines of the floors above it.

The cistern that I'm using is going to be the one penetrating object that breaks through all the floors, it'll have a multipurpose of air circulation AND the cistern for water.



Days until midreview: 2.5 days...


Wish me luck, dear reader ;)
~ArchiTalmud

BANNED!

From the start of this project, I have been making a fuss about the one and only bathroom required in this project. ON purpose of course.

I've been setting myself up to be able to make bathroom jokes when ever I felt it necessary.

Yesterday, I pushed it too far. We were asked to make Pathway Diagrams- a kind of map of our project- and I had easily linked my bathroom to be the epicenter of my project.

When I had mentioned it in class, it got a laugh out of everyone. It was Thursday, notably, and everyone is normally abnormal that particular day of the week.
My professor then asked I try to avoid mentioning it. So I decided to use similar words.

"...And as you go through the entrance there's three pathways--"

"Did you just say bathrooms?" The professor interrupted.

 "No, no! PATHWAYS one can take. Going down the center brings you straight to the potty room where everyone gathers."

"Did you just 'potty' or 'party'?!"

The class laughed again. My professor was amused for a few minutes, and then...

"Alright, let's make a new rule. YOU cannot mention the bathroom unless someone explicitly asks you about it. No more bathroom talk."


And that, dear reader, is How I Was Banned From Talking About Bathrooms.

~ArchiTalmud

April Architecture Fools! (Update)

We're about three (TREE!!!) weeks into the Cliff Dwelling project. I'm behind right now in drawings. There's:

• a frame/structure model 
• the site
• study of the site

Due Thursday morning.

Right now I'm trying out making floor plans for the first time in AutoCAD... I don't know right now. It's fast and easy. Less measuring time. But, like, I'm worried. I have every right to be. Oh well.

The reason I'm behind is because of spring break week when we were assigned an amount of homework that is in-equivalent to the amount of work the other two studios were assigned the whole semester so far.

I got some of it done. But, oy vey.
I'll get there. With only six weeks left to the semester. Eight days until the mid-review. Thirteen until Pesach (Passover).

This is going to be interesting.

Actual Project Updates:

I've a basic grid layout for the program conditions. nothing too complex. which is how I like it. but the final product needs to be in a modern style. I really like this concept, but the approach is very wrong.
We've done a frame/wire model construction. It's not very useful. we could have just put columns into the site and infilled the belly of the structure where needed to support rooms and structure.

Idea: Cave elements... Yeah. Just talking to myself.

Midreview: 10 April 2014 9:00:00 AM

Talk to you later, dear reader ;)

~ArchiTalmud