ARCH-4980.6 | Chris Perry, Assistant Professor

INFRASTRUCTURAL TERRAIN

SARAH MURRAY

The Post-War period was one of enormous technological growth. The emergence of the airplane and the automobile transformed the way in which people conceived of space, effectively shortening the distance and time it takes to travel between any two given locations. With this shift in the conception of space came a shift in design thinking and scale. A new culture emerged which was focused on speed, dispensability, and movement. Whereas the city was once designed to accommodate the scale of the human, now the automobile fulfilled that role, and the city now catered to the automobile.

It was during this same period that an enormous amount of infrastructure was constructed in the US. The now booming economy relied on a cohesive transportation network to bring goods throughout the country, leading to the formation of the Interstate Highway system. Although these large scale infrastructural projects effectively connected major cities, helped establish settlement patterns, and supported growth, their effect far less positive at the scale of the city and the pedestrian. Highways and bridges make certain areas accessible by car, while simultaneously dissecting the urban fabric and severing pedestrian ties between different portions of the city.

Many major cities are plagued with such an infrastructural condition. Sunken highways and raised roadways have changed the makeup of the city, rearranging neighborhoods and creating distinct shifts in the demographic. Looking to the Weequahic neighborhood of Newark as a region suffering from such a condition, I have launched an investigation into developing a new scale of urban infrastructure which acts as a catalyst for underprivileged communities.

This project seeks to answer several questions. How can infrastructure be scaled to both be effective as part of a national/international network as well as catering to the needs of the pedestrian network? How can infrastructure be designed to act as a transportation corridor and offset the environmental effects of automobiles at the same time? Can a former eyesore within the city be transformed into a destination and icon, providing social capital, needed green space, and utilities to the members of the surrounding neighborhood?