Context-- visual, statistical, and historical-- drove the design of the thesis' overall distinct form.  Extensive statistical and informational research, coupled with design exercises in surface manipulation and scale, combined to create a wealth of data and aspirations to inform the project’s final form.  By using real-world data and conditions, the thesis strove to derive an architectural strategy of meaningful consequence for myriad disjointed conditions.

Newark, New Jersey is a re-emerging gateway city to the New York Metropolitan Area that suffers from compartmentalization and a lack of consistent programmatic and human density.  The built thesis is comprised of a series of building programs selected to address one such instance in the city, between the Downtown and Ironbound neighborhoods, at multiple relevant scales of the site’s unique position in the city.

At its core, the project strives to unite two distinctly scaled neighborhoods separated by a mammoth, raised masonry rail-line, thereby making sense of a series of disjointed, fortress-like conditions.  The primary means of accomplishing this is with the creation of an expansive pedestrian Surface/Park, embracing the strategies of landscape urbanism to confront fragmented conditions.  Multiple public programmatic functions were interwoven with this surface at key intersections of scale, bringing multiple typologies and scales of occupancy into the project’s multiple folds.

The Surface and its program created a catalyst for urban cross-pollination and growth.  The resultant structure’s program includes a visitors center, community center, an outdoor amphitheater, open-air market, and a parking garage.