Urban Thread
Newark, NYType/ Commercial
Time/ 2009
Client/ Competition
Status/ Design
The scheme explores how a visitor center can be a discovery device for the city based on the concepts of “thread” and “window.” For the former, the center serves as an interface between interior/exterior, nature/culture, and local/global. For the latter, it uniquely directs visitors’ attention to the city around it, thus encouraging exploration.
Concept
A single 50-foot-wide thread runs through the triangular site, defining a series of continuous interior and exterior spaces. It is stitched into the urban fabric in a joyful way and converges with two major pedestrian flows from the Penn Station and Riverfront Park.
Three program containers are inserted into the folds defined by the thread. Each is oriented to different urban views. Between them are a variety of outdoor gathering spaces.
