williamsburg, brooklyn

throughout my architecture education, i have realized that in order to really understand an architectural site a person must visit the site. pictures and articles do not do the site justice. after visiting  williamsburg, brooklyn i got a comprehensive feel for the city. through walking around the city and inspecting the stalled construction sites many ideas sparked for my project this semester, however after deep thought today about my project i am not quite sure how i will execute these ideas. we are not suppose to build a building, but rather an installation.

the most prominent aspects of williamsburg that caught my attention were:
1. the "hipster" and artist culture
2. the beautiful, political and conscientious artwork, murals and graffiti
below is a collection of some of the artwork i found throughout the city:

for my project i really want to incorporate this idea of artwork and graffiti. all the artwork i saw was very provocative and many of the pieces responded to current events. i was thinking of making an installation in which artwork and painting can be done. as i was researching williamsburg i found a bunch of guided tours showing the artwork and graffiti in williamsburg. rather than a guided tour around the city, my space can act as a museum, which people can walk through and view artwork. furthermore, williamsburg has recently experienced extreme gentrification. it went from a city being heavily populated by the polish, puerto ricans and hasidic jews to currently being populated with white, young artists. a quote from the washington post described williamsburg as being populated by "more white hipsters per square inch than anywhere on this continent". according to many articles this young population of artists are struggling financially and recently many residents of williamsburg have moved because they could not afford the price of living in williamsburg with an unstable artist salary. creating a gallery in which artists can display their work (hopefully the museum will do well enough to be able to pay the artists for their work) has the potential to help the society financially and create a community center where local artists and residents can hang out. i want to create a wallenberg studio project to respond to the many artists, musicians, writers, etc. that currently reside in williamsburg.


although, i didn't see any, there are many homeless people roaming the streets of williamsburg according to multiple articles i have read. i should mention that it was 4 degrees outside with wind chill, meaning the homeless might have found shelter and warmth for the day. however, i am very interested in affordable housing. as a law, all the new residential buildings built in williamsburg must allocate twenty percent of the housing to affordable housing units. the need for affordable housing in new york and every city in the entire country is in desperate need of affordable housing and california is the only state truly addressing the need for affordable housing. i was thinking of using one of the sites on north 7th street because it is close to transportation via subway and bus. however, the intention of this studio is not to make a building with a specific program, but rather an installation addressing aspects of the student's focus, so i might have to push aside this idea for affordable housing. if i do decide to incorporate affordable housing into my project, i can make a space designated to people worthy of receiving affordable housing . it won't be individual rooms, but an open space for them to receive shelter. maybe a co-op of sorts. people eligible to receive affordable housing can do various jobs to upkeep the space and in return receive shelter and food.  also,  a big component of affordable housing is not only the shelter received but the programs offered within an affordable housing unit. such as daycare, tutoring services, classes, etc. perhaps classes will be incorporated into my project for those who qualify to receive affordable housing.

while in williamsburg i went to brooklyn bowl. brooklyn bowl is an abandoned warehouse that has been transformed into a popular bar, restaurant, bowling alley, dance floor and performance space for bands and dj's. this idea of converting an abandoned warehouse into an attraction that responds to the communities interests is what i want to capture with my wallenberg project. brooklyn bowl was a mundane, large rectangular warehouse that was easily transformed into a highly utilized place for locals to hang out. very little of the original warehouse had to be reconstructed to accommodate this place. hopefully, the site i choose will not have to be altered a great deal and rather i can build my ideas upon the structure currently standing. below are pictures of the  brooklyn bowl :