Abstract

Introduction

Buildings account for 40% of the green house gases emitted into the global environment.  I seek to expand upon the incremental progression of knowledge on how urban development patterns affect our environment overtime and how those changes may affect our environment in the future.    My research is a focus on comparing the transitioning between the oldest historic buildings to the newest development in each of our site locations: Columbus Circle, Atlantic Yards, Times Square, and The High Line in terms of scale, usage, and social impact over time.  With this I hope to understand how large scale-influential projects transitioned within each location and to document the socio-economic and architectural conditions that impacted each succeeding development.  I hope to gather specific data on site conditions, leisure activities, building typologies, and background research to demonstrate the societal impacts of each site.  From this information I hope to then produce a more detailed story into how and why we have developed and where our cultural impacts have led.

 Methods

§  Field visits to gather information through observation of pedestrian use of the site, record data in a spread sheet to compare sites.

§  Research historical and modern building types and chart materials, structure, uses, etc.

§  Diagram and chart activities and development patterns

Results

After charting the materials, site impacts, and evaluating the use patterns during each site development I noticed a trend in the need for taller structures to accommodate population demands, the movement towards greener building, and architectural styles following significant social changes in the U.S.  After charting the activities at each location, I noticed that the buildings surrounding the sites significantly impacted the sites’ focal range, activities, and use of space. 

Conclusion 

The High Line is an example of an anti- thesis to the perception of bigger and stronger.  After studying its program and development, there were no oppositions to its development, as a natural resource, it provided what the large scale structures seem to take away: the human scale, a sense of space and place, and visual continuity.  I conclude that as a nation we are transitioning from a need to express the might of our nation to a realization in the finite application of consumption; a need for conservation and adaptive reuse have become more evident.