The most surprising thing I learned from reading Russell Shorto’s “Island at the Center of the World” was that Henry Hudson attempted to sail across the “top of the world”, on a wooden boat with only 11 other people onboard and powered only by the wind, an excursion that Shorto comments is “pure madness” (p. […]
Stephen Elliott IDC 4001H Sustainable development has long been an abstruse, esoteric concept that has less cohesion than the mud in Sherman Creek. It is a relatively new field of interdisciplinary studies involving principles of economics, an understanding of sociology, theories of urban planning, and a hefty dose of idealism to tie it all together. […]
I borrowed the phrase for my title from an environmental equality visionary named Majora Carter. Although I was not in class last Tuesday, reading through my fellow students reviews on the New York Restoration Project exhibit and the discussion from guest speaker Constance Haydock, I felt that if the exhibit and the speaker’s missions were to be […]
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, […]
Island at the Center of the World by Russel Shorto reveals the history of Manhattan, the detailed and personal accounts of the figures, especially the Dutch, that would transform the history, culture, and ideology of America. In the prologue and epilogue, Russel Shorto explains his desire to tell the tale of Manhattan in a cohesive […]
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 […]
The New York City Center for Architecture was quite a surprise. When we got there, we could hardly recognize the building. In fact, we walked past the building and had to backtrack before actually locating the place. Being a building of architecture, I was quite surprised that it did not stand out immediately or was […]
