The Timescape exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York encaptured New York City’s rich history in a brief twenty-one minutes touching upon its earliest settlers and how they cultivated the land to the 80s crack epidemic and through modern times. What the exhibit failed to encapture was the rich, diverse groups of […]
Sustainability has become a popular topic in recent years. In a city that’s rapidly growing, architectures and landscapers are searching for new ways to preserve the natural environment. Our lecturer, Constance Haydock discussed many examples of how newly constructed parks and open spaces aim to be sustainable and environment-friendly. Our visit to the Center for […]
New York City is full of rich history. The development of this magnificent city is taught in all of our history classes. But sometimes, teachers leave out minute details or figures that played a role in shaping this one of a kind city. In “Island at the Center of the World,” Russell Shorto offers readers […]
Joseph Maugeri IDC4001H Who is Adrien Van der Donck and why have I never heard of him? The story of this man is one of the most interesting things I’ve learned all week. He was a man that seemingly had it all in his Dutch Republic homeland. There were tolerant attitudes, clean and safe streets, […]
Konstantin Dukhovnyy, IDC 4001H – Prof. Maciuika, 3/3/14 New Amsterdam, New York, New World, yet nothing new in the greed of the few. One of the most surprising yet understandable events that Russell Shorto’s Island at the Center of the World highlighted was how the settlement of New Amsterdam was taken by England and renamed New […]
To be marked as a history, one must always be the first, best, and the finest that are triumphed not for his or her procedures but the victorious outcome itself. However, Russell Shorto in his writing overturns this stereotypical perspective of context of what history should be. He overthrows the concept of history as a […]
Konstantin Dukhovnyy, IDC 4001H – Prof. Maciuika, 3/3/14 The evolution of sustainability in today’s society has led to a better understanding of the world we live in and the ground we walk on. As the “New York Restoration Project and ‘Edge-ucation’ Pavillion” showed us, more emphasis is being put on creating a sustainable landscape and public space, […]
Helen Li IDC4001H The Power of Monopolies over Government In modern society, setting up a business is easy. One just needs a sponsor who can provide funding. The hardest part is to find this sponsor or multiple sponsors who are interested. Most, if not all, sponsorships today are long term economic investments and funding usually […]
It’s not the same. Living in the city is a completely different world compared to living in an area where there are miles and miles of green grass surrounding you. When you live in the city it’s difficult to connect with nature. You aren’t able to appreciate it as much […]
Joseph Maugeri IDC4001H 3/2/14 There is now a plan to transform the depressing, neglected waterfront slice of land on the Harlem River back into a usable space for residents. Supposedly at one point, the land was used as a medium for residential water-sports and other recreational. But once the industrial revolution begun affecting the city, […]
Visiting the Sherman Creek Park exhibition at the NYC Center for Architecture served as a perfect segue to Constance Haydock’s “Sustainable Sites Initiative” presentation. During her presentation, Haydock mentioned that the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation planted a number of little gardens along sidewalks throughout NYC. The gardens’ purpose was to create a sustainable […]
In architecture, as with anything else, design is crucial. Designing an aesthetically pleasing building is just as important as designing its ability to stand tall and just as important as portraying a certain message with the design. Designing a museum dedicated to architecture then proves to be a difficult task. The NYC Center for Architecture […]
European arrogance and technology determined the future of Native Americans in the New World. American history paints a picture of the bravery of pioneers crossing the Atlantic Ocean, exploring foreign lands, and taming “barbaric peoples”. Somewhere in the midst of it all, we briefly acknowledge that we decimated and displaced these people. A couple of […]
Helen Li IDC 4001H-Prof. Maciuika March 1, 2014 The Difference between a Gallery and an Exhibit The exhibition, “New York Restoration Project” in the NYC Center for Architecture does not provide visitors with an educational and serious, exhibit-type feel, instead, it offers a quiet and relaxing atmosphere that of a mini gallery. Lacking the […]
Our visit to the Center of Architecture was a great synopsis of our guest professors’ brief lecture of beauty of landscape architecture and its sustainable methods to our environment. The Edgeucation Pavillion Design competition of a small, 15 acre, park between 163rd street-201st street is a great practice of the principles of SITES as their […]
Alessandra Rao Prof. Maciuika 2/26/14 You would think the Center for Architecture would have decent architecture. Unfortunately, the Center for Architecture did not meet my expectations. I was disappointed by the small size of it, and the way it was curated made it very difficult to step back and have enough room to actually look […]
Derick Liu IDC 4001H MTBH Deyan Sudjic seems to be claiming that all architecture holds a deeper social meaning, that every building we see is a product of the ego rubbing of the politically powerful, and influences the public’s perceptions. I can’t fully agree with Sudjic on this complex. Not all structures are built by […]
