How can a site's physically relevant context become a
prescriptive code to design? Using a strategy of mimicry,
three typologies from a site in Lower Manhattan are
identified and utilized in the design process.

The Program, consisting of low-income housing, high-end
retail and park elements, is derived from the existing
conditions of the site and requirements of the area. The
investigation of three existing site typologies- parkscape,
towerscape, and waterscape- suggests a system of
integrated and clustered components. The clustering
strategy is implemented in the project in order to establish
porosity within the building, which creates oppurtunities
for public intervention within the interstitial spaces of the
vertically dense housing and retail components.

Using the three typologies as catalysts for redefining
program types helps to establish tectonic and programmatic
relationships, and a method to the design. By combining
the vertical element of the cityscape typology with that
of the parkscape and waterscape typologies, a new
interpretation of housing and retail transpires. The
aesthetics of the project derives from the interchangeability
and influential adjacencies between the typological clusters.