Majed_3bdul9amad@GSAPP @majedabdulsamad-blog - Tumblr Blog

Week 9: Designing Within Context

Majed abdulsamad Ma3572 It is without a doubt a dream to see flying drone taxis, zero traffic jams, permanently lit green traffic lights on super highways, and flawless movement through beautifully built clean cities. Research and recent technological advancements indicate that we aren't that far from achieving most of the prior and more even in the places we least expect. All of which sounds beautiful until we look a little closer, beyond the blinding glare of the reflections of skyscraper modernist facades and flying taxis like those of Dubai. Who is building this new technology we are fantasizing about? And who is governing it? Can those two be decoupled? The city we aspire for the conditions and context in which it operates? Depoliticizing the huge project of a smart City designed and run by giant tech firms in cooperation and partnership and funding of governments is a trap, and not a new one. Governments in young countries have often resorted to architecture and monumentality to construct the national identity and pair the nationalist agenda to the modernist movement, like that of Egypt, UAE, and Syria. While doing so, these countries, through their governments have produced, and continue to produce landmarks in the urban fabric that become symbols of the "rise" of the country and the "evolution and modernization" of these states. But these projects to increase efficiency and accessibility, should not be taken as comprehensive solutions to current city crises. At the end of the day, many of our issues in the cities we currently live in, don't result simply from inefficiency in management and decision making. On the contrary, they are the outcome of informed and intentional planning and design that was tailored to serve political agendas. And thus, before countries like those of the middle East jump to impress the world with their openness to smart technologies and their support to optimization in city governing, they need to catch up with the remainder of the world on other fronts like those of human rights and freedoms fo speech, which will in their turn allow for the change of the urban fabric, on the route to one day reach a social context that is ready to embrace smartness in governing and daily life.

Gone Deaths in America by FiveThirtyEight.

33,000 annual gun deaths in America, all visualized in this interactive chart to reflect the enormity of suicides, especially among under 45-year-old men. The data also shows gun violence effect on males, predominately African-Americans, comparing to females. The data is derived from death certificates from all 50 states, and D.C., from a database on death causes. It helps to put police-related killings and terrorist acts into perspective.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/gun-deaths/

#ma3572

Fluctuating Edges- Majed Abdulsamad A study on the adjacency conflict caused by the fluctuation of the east river edges due to the rise of the water level. The goal of this investigation is to quantify the loss in area square footage, and therefore the loss in dollar amount, for property value whether private of public, resulting from the flooding of east river.

#dteq17 #eastriver #estuary #adjacency #conflict

Assembling the Commons Story Board: By presenting East River as this body occupying a space with fluctuating edges, we start to think of the spaces taken over in MN and QN by the River water when it floods. This loss in common areas can be, and should be quantified. Every square foot, whether residential, commercial or public space, is real estate properties with monetary value, and it drops to 0 when can’t be used anymore. Thinking of the flood from this perspective might serve as a motivation to reconsider the way we deal with climate change in our city and its rising levels of water ways.

#dteq17 #estuary #Ex4A

Through the use of GH, I am aiming to quantify the loss resulting from the expansion of East River in times of storms or severe weather over residential, commercial and public lots in Manhattan and Queens. The next step is to put GIS maps and GH tools into use to identify the total SF of lost space from each program in the lots surrounding the flood areas. Video should clarify the way I am hoping to present these information for the final

#dteq17 #estuary #ex3b

Through the use of GH, I am aiming to quantify the loss resulting from the expansion of East River in times of storms or severe weather over residential, commercial and public lots in Manhattan and Queens. The next step is to put GIS maps and GH tools into use to identify the total SF of lost space from each program in the lots surrounding the flood areas. Video should clarify the way I am hoping to present these information for the final. https://vimeo.com/176387506

#dteq17 #estuary #ex3b

For the next phase in researching my commons, I will look into the quantifying the damage/loss that could result from the river unstable edge conditions. How many SF of residential and commercial spaces are reclaimed by the water? How much is the dollar value of the lost property and what alternatives could be implemented to cut our losses in times of natural catastrophes.

#dteq17 #estuary #ex3a

East River is one of NYC’s defining edges. But where is the line that separates the land from the water?

While doing these renderings my focus was on the edge condition of the river and I am thinking of the following questions: 1- How does the edge condition change over time, from one season to another and from one time of the day to another.

2- How does the rising water level in times of crises, Hurricane Sandy as an example, effect the river immediate surroundings?

3-How would the river walk, the dead-end streets leading to the river, and even the residential buildings on Roosevelt Island and Manhattan’s Midtown East get affected by the fluctuation of the water levels of East River changing its place from a destination to a problem that needs an urgent solution.

For the next phase in researching my commons, I will look into the quantifying the damage/loss that could result from the river unstable edge conditions. How many SF of residential and commercial spaces are reclaimed by the water? How much is the dollar value of the lost property and what alternatives could be implemented to cut our losses in times of natural catastrophes. My video can be seen here: https://youtu.be/JVtuUI9y2l8

#dteq17 #estuary #ex3a

http://www.failedarchitecture.com/notes-on-la-maddalena/ A sample of an architecture documentary which uses long steady shots of a site within its surrounding context with a voice over narrating the history of the image we are looking at.

#rnyu17

River East: Middle First attempt of using After Effects to bring sections/axons to life through the use of simple line motions.

#dteq17 #estuary #ex2b

Gabriela Fiorentino Majed Abdulsamad Andrea Benavides

Gabriela, Andrea and myself chose Roosevelt Island for our Reading NY Urbanism Final project. However, while filming this video we found that the way Andrea describes her city, Lima, and the transition to New York is interesting and decided to share that for our first attempt at conducting an interview.

@andreabw @gabrielafiorentino

Far from perfect, I chose to upload whatever I had at this point over skipping the assignment. East River; Middle Section

#dteq17 #estuary #ex2a

Roosevelt Island itself is the last thing you see once on the peaceful floating peace of land between Queens and Manhattan. The noise, colors, reflections, the sunset and the cars rushing on the other side of Roosevelt Island make for a perfect platform to take a step away from the Nation most populous city and take it all in. We spent 4 hours on Roosevelt Island and came back with not a single picture of the island itself on any of our cameras. @andreabw @gabrielafiorentino

andreabw-blog

Sketching my daily journey.

River East /Middle/

RoadBeds: What roads are blocked with a dead-end versus Continuing over/under the river into Queens and Brooklyn.

WaterFrontGreenSpace: What parks/Vacant lands form a natural extent to the river and filter the run-of water before sending it back to the river.

Historic Flood Lines: How does the size/shape of the river change over time, specially in times of storms and severe weather conditions making it a danger to its surroundings.

Affected Buildings: From enjoying a nice view on a sunny day that increases the value of the property, to being trapped inside on a windy/stormy day, how are the adjacent properties affected by River East.

#dteq17 #ws2 #estuary

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