Why Knot?

An urban design solution. A competition Entry placing 4th overall.

In regional economic terms, the Bronx is an island of need in a sea of prosperity.
Is this radical resource disparity related to the preponderance of regional transportation networks that populate the borough?  How could these regional systems be ‘tamed’ to better serve local residents and communities?

WHY KNOT proposes to invert the conventional relationship of urbanism to infrastructure treating the urban surface as a linear, pedestrian
element that spans across vehicular systems (rather than vice-versa).  In this instance, three primary systems of urbanization are reconciled around a single urban event.  System ‘A’ is a narrow strand of low-density housing whose beginnings currently occupy the east bank of the River above Westchester Ave.  System ‘B’ is a wide swath of mixed-use urban fabric that extends the principals of the West Farms Rezoning to the east bank of the River below Westchester Ave.
System ‘C’ is the River, whose profile is reconfigured to engage the revised urbanism at its edges.  The ‘knot’ occurs at the confluence of these systems, where a large ampitheater presides over a primary water feature.