This studio is specially designed for incoming post-professional students to introduce them to the School’s educational program and faculty. Each student is given the opportunity to examine in depth a sequence of design problems.
This years fall Post-Pro studio will be devoted to creating design proposals for mixed-used ferry terminals for the Citywide Ferry Service, an initiative launched by Mayor De Blasio in 2017 to link the five boroughs. The ferry service, which will cost the same as a subway ride, will eventually stop at 21 landings across the city and offer free transfers to other boats in its network. Three ferry routes—the Rockaway, South Brooklyn and Astoria routes launched in 2017 and the Soundview and Lower East Side routes are slated to launch in 2018. The city estimates the ferry service, operated by San Francisco-based Hornblower, will make an estimated 4.6 million trips a year. City officials say the ferry will be a more environmentally friendly alternative than more polluting forms of transportation.
The studio explores the potential of the Ferry Service to not only offer alternative means of metropolitan transportation but for the ferry stops themselves to become catalysts for neighborhood improvement.
Phase 1: Research and Analysis: During the first phase students, working in teams, will analyze of one of the following ferry landing sites that each represent a different urban and demographic characteristic of NYC’s outer boroughs. Teams will explore series of inter-related issues including urban context, demographics (race, ethnicity, religion, income), environment (climate, flora and fauna) and accessibility.
Teams will compile their finding in reports that include analytic drawings and diagrams that analyze each site taking into consideration physical, cultural and environmental issues. The outcome of the study will be the identification of potential programs and amenities that can be combined with the ferry terminal that will enhance the lives of the local community and raise the profile of the neighborhood as a citywide destination.
Phase 2: Design: During the second phase, students working in pairs, will select one site, and use the research and program recommendations conducted in phase one to generate design proposals for a mixed-use Ferry Terminal complex. The objective will be the creation of a well-developed proposal that employs sustainable materials and techniques to create an inclusive facility that integrates the transit hub and its adjacent site in a way that foster productive relationships between boats, bikes, cars and pedestrians moving at different velocities, building, and landscape.
• Astoria, Queens - (classic NYCHA site with nearby cultural sites - Socrates Sculpture Park + Noguchi Museum - across Hallets Cove) - East River ecology. Dense Urban.
• Rockaway Beach - (leisure/recreation & emerging neighborhood for artists/musicians) - Jamaica Bay ecology. Low Density Urban.
• LaGuardia Airport - Port LaGuardia, a multi-nodal transportation hub. Part of Cuomo’s 2015 initiative to revamp LGA. Future infrastructure - Flushing Bay ecology.