project: Approximate Disjunction /Process Configuration
location: New York City
involvement: full, student thesis
date: 2004 May

The lower sector of Manhattan is characterized by many contrasting rotated grids. The grids are conforming to contextual conditions along the coast line and cultural conditions along the city's historical timeline. Each grid's geography dictates a distinctive identity separate from other grids. Despite their individual differences, the grids must share an overall cohesiveness as a singular city. One grid sharply transitions into another grid forming an interstitial space where inimitably fashioned cross sections of land and culture exist. The formed cross sections are significant connections between contrasting grids and become vital in maintaining the city's identity. The transitions vary in scope becoming anything from a void, mass, collision, slice, push, pull, or morph. Ultimately, the transitions all share one similar trait: they are transitions isolated to space. However, the movement of individuals throughout the city also moves the grids. An individual has the capacity to sense a shift in grids and is forced to interpret a transition based on its form and scope. The translations are then collected within the individual and displaced through their movement. Recognition of similarity occurs subconsciously when advancing into a grid with shared or same characteristics of another grid. Recognition results in alleviation of alienation.
The site is located at the center, both culturally and geographically, of the contrasting grids in lower Manhattan. Additionally, it is located within a transitory cross section occurring from the immediate cultural conflictions of Little Italy and Chinatown. The design of the building involves not only the creation of connection between and awareness of contiguous cultures, but all cultures. Hence, formally, the design apprehends the dynamism of the grids creating a microcosm of lower Manhattan. Individuals approaching the structure subconsciously recognize similarities within the form and are eased into the experience of the building. Building functions are based on grids and circulation formulated through manipulation of interstitial spaces.