Poor But Beautiful (2014)
Brief summary
Regardless of its negative impact on the environment, it is hard to imagine the automobile disappearing from our cities in the foreseeable future. In recent years there has been an increase in cycling as well as train travel, but the car is still the transport mode that keeps having the biggest impact on how cities are shaped.
And although modern-day economy relies hugely on vehicular transport (of either people or goods), the link between the two is often forgotten about. As a result, anything relating to traffic is considered in a perspective of maintaining, rather than improving. Cheaper is better. This is true not least for structures like public parking garages - they are generally seen as a necessary evil, and built as cheaply as possible. Problem is, since they are by nature large structures located in central areas of cities, they often become an eyesore for the general public.
Poor But Beautiful is looking for solutions to this problem. How can a parking garage be integrated with the surrounding streetscape, as well as serving a greater purpose for all those not using it to accommodate their car? To be a welcome addition to an area, as opposed to a large chunk of nothing that you pass by as quickly as possible.
Sometimes it’s the thing that receives the least interest that deserves the most attention. Rather than designing yet another concert hall or library, the main challenge here is to turn something neglected into something celebrated.
The goal of the competition is to design a multi-storey parking garage in the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Area in Manhattan, NYC. The structure should house at least 250 parking spaces. In addition to car parking, the design should also integrate a secondary function. This can be virtually anything, from a bowling alley to a house for abandoned dogs, but it should be clear how and why it contributes to the overall design and/or the surrounding area.
The design should benefit everyone- from a fictional client to the general public, via the actual user.
The site is located in the Hudson Yards Development Area, offering close proximity to everything from The High Line to Madison Square Garden, along with coming developments of the area.
Awarded proposals
1st prize - Parking Tower by Jonathan Benner and John Bassett
JURY’S COMMENTS: Parking Tower responds perfectly to the brief by considering “experience of space” as the alternate programmatic use. Although there is a roof garden at the top and a farmers market at the bottom, it is the more intangible gateway idea - and the convincing way it’s visualized - that becomes the main secondary feature. The play between the slender floor slabs and the heavy top is beautifully designed and the visualizations show a very believable structure - engineering and architecture melt together. Internally, the staircases are amazing spaces, and would surely provide not only a transitional space between driving and walking, but also an opportunity of tranquillity and reflection. Its overall appeal is strengthened by the fact that it does not rely on technological feats like car elevators - keeping all fictional running costs to a minimum. Presentation-wise everything is very well tied together, and helps conveying a feeling of grandeur.
2nd prize - Park Your Soul in Heaven by Pedro Martins, Ana Santos and Miguel Pereira
JURY’S COMMENTS: At a first glance, Park your Soul in Heaven has a fairly general approach of dealing with cars, by hiding them rather than addressing the issue more directly. But at a closer look, it relates to cars and urbanisation on a much larger scale, and over a longer time-frame, by drawing on the notion that cars have, by being a crucial part of how modern cities are shaped, forced cemeteries out of cities. Additionally, it makes an interesting point in times when traditional methods of burial and memorial, using vast areas of land, are coming to an end as the world population (and numbers of deceased) continues to expand: a new vision for commemorating our dead is required. Park Your Soul in Heaven helps to place this in a context that prevents it from coming across as morbid, and sets up a dialogue about dealing with death in the future. While the two programs are physically separated from each other, they are tied together not only by their theoretical relation, but also through their uncluttered and contained design, where the columbarium distinguishes itself with a softer, warmer feel. The slim arches supporting the top volume lends a dignified air to the ceremonial space. The clear diagrams explain structure and concept convincingly, and sit well among the renderings.
3rd prize - The Community Actuator by Manson Fung
JURY’S COMMENTS: This is a concept that looks beyond the car, and proposes a way of using the building both with and without vehicles. It is especially interesting at a point in time when the automobile is facing more and more criticism, and many cities are seeking to reduce the use and dependence of cars. The approach of treating all spaces in the same manner would lead to the composition of the building changing over time - based on how the tenants decide to utilize the compartments – and by doing so puts a finger on the possibilities/issues with the vast areas (in central New York City) that would become available if the car gave way to other uses. The pragmatic way of stacking and shifting the volumes gives the building a dynamic look and feel, and the almost filigree structure makes you think of Crystal Palace – a legion of delicate structure forming an overall volume that is both confident and considerate. Everything is well explained, and the lightness of the board layout mirrors that of the building.
Honorable mention - High Line Cinemas by Will Fu and Logan Steele
JURY’S COMMENTS: The drive-in cinema is a straightforward idea with an exotic appeal within a city. By choosing a secondary feature that operates in the night-time the daily cycle of the building is extended, and a day-time parking garage lends to a natural transition between the two. This is enhanced by the screens façade positions: they transform the building from a quiet structure during the day to a glowing beacon during the night.
Honorable mention – Park(Ing) by My-Linh Pham
JURY’S COMMENTS: By having no defined use allocation, Park(ing) allows the user to dictate the programmatic space, which in turn promotes interaction not only between different user groups, but more importantly, also between motorists and walking visitors. The strong sectional quality of the design works as a unifying gesture throughout the structure.
Honorable mention - Soundpark by Jochen Kreuter, Joscha Treeck, Jakob Braun and Sebastian Haumer
Soundpark takes an invigorating approach in dealing with cars – taking what is often considered as their worst feature, and celebrates it. The proposal is also holding back on adding a multitude of features, allowing this one to stand out even more. The simplicity of the concept is consistent with the various public art sound installations that have occurred in NYC over the years, and this has the potential to become something truly special. As seen in the coherent presentation, the sound output objects become sculptural objects, artworks in themselves.
