Ironic Contrastat Bryant Park

Yewon Shin || Planes in Space || Spring 2016 || CD 215.105 || Professor Asal Shakeri

About Bryant ParkBryant Park is a park located in the middle of busy city, Manhattan. When visitors are at Bryant Park, they will feel that the inner and outer parts of the park are two different worlds not only because each has its own unique setting but also because people in these two different places behave differently. Visitors inside the park are relaxed and talkative while people outside the park relatively seem to be more quiet and indifferent to their surroundings. The two settings are both busy; however, people inside the park are busy observing what others are doing, talking with their friends, eating, or ice-skating whereas people outside are busy because of their personal goals, final destinations, or calls on their phones. Bryant Park has an ability to give you a rest from a loud, active city and that is what makes this park unique.

ConceptThe concept of this space is the ironic contrast created between Bryant Park and its surrounding city. One may guess that due to the busyness of the city, the park inside it will also be chaotic; however, Bryant Park, despite being in the middle of Manhattan, is very calm and relaxed in the inside. Viewers will feel that they are starting their walk from the outside, understanding that they are entering a park in the first place, and then feel the calm yet vibrant feel of Bryant Park.

The objective of this space is to separate the central area and edges of the space using photos and planes to help visitors to physically feel how unique and different the Bryant Park is in relation to its busy outer space. The contrast between the intricate patterns of the panels around the edges and spacious area in the center collaborate to portray this interesting contrast.

Objective

Floor Plan

Exhibition Dimension: 26’ x 16’ x 10’ | Scale:1’= 3/8”

26’

6’

16’

10’

Elevation

8’10’

16’

6’

Exhibition Dimension: 26’ x 16’ x 10’ | Scale:1’= 3/8”

Plan View

Final Model: 19.5” x 12” x 7.5” | Scale: 3/4 “ = 1’.0” | Foamcore Thickness: 3/16“

Walk Through (1-3)

1. Viewer walks into the entrance and sees the name of the place. Tangent to the name is a photo of a metal net of the ping pong table at Bryant Park. The holes arouse curiosity.

2. Viewer turns right and sees the map as well as old style architecture. These two influence each other and become unexpected.

3. Viewer turns left and sees the negative space in the center divided by a big panel.

5. Viewer walks through a narrow aisle and ob-serves details found inside Bryant Park. In the back-ground is a photo of another modern architecture.

6. Viewer encounters a photo of a statue which does not dominate the patterns of architecture.

Walk Through (4-6)

4. Viewer starts the circulation and sees linear patterns with perpendicular angles on modern architecture.

9. Viewer walks again through the narrow aisle. The space each side of panels consumes is bal-anced.

Walk Through (7-9)

8. Viewer turns right and sees the old style archi-tecture that the viewer has already seen at the beginning. The photos of modern and old archi-tecture are tangent to each other.

7. Viewer also sees how Bryant Park’s is connect-ed to the intricate architecture with a photo of a cross-walk. The position of this panel is in the corner to not be too dominant.

Walk Through (10-11)

10. Viewer closely observes the photo of old style architecture and the map once again. They are positioned on a right angle.

11. Viewer exits from the entrance which acts both as an entrance and an exit. The neutral signage reminds the viewer of the place for the last time.

Previous Ideas

In this configuration, the closed space in the center draws you through the space and circulates your movement through the entire space.

Concept was developed from the complexity of mazes.

Viewers are able to explore the space and walk around more freely.

Concept of this configuration is freedom.

Viewers are able to get engaged into the space by viewing the elements that surround them.

The continuous panels at the beginning engage the viewers continuously, leading them to the spatial area with cafés.

Objective is leading the viewers until the space where they can enjoy the little, interest-ing objects in the Bryant Park.

Final Sketch Model and ReflectionFrom this project, I learned a lot about ways of thinking and dealing with smallest details needed to design a space such as the amount of space between panels, proportions of photos, etc.

The transparent contrast between the surrounding and the central area play very well together. If I were to try something different, I would change the unit in the center into a different shape.

Some of the highlights of this space are the interesting introductory photo, a signage on a garbage can with the name of the space, intricate pattern of some of the panels, and zoomed-in photos that engage viewers’ attention.

Photos of architecture are more abstract while photos of objects inside the park are more realistic, creating a balance in terms of complexity of ideas.

During the process, photo selection and position of different units consumed the most time. Too complex configuration at the beginning at to be reduced to a simpler version as well.

The negative space in the center made me play around more with the groups of complex patterns of the panels at the edges.

Other Neighbourhood Choice - Central Park

The other neighbourhood choice was central park. The main focus was going to be interesting textures or patterns that could be found inside the Central Park such as the tree trunks or bricks. This idea was going to be developed but then the concept of “textures” was way too broad and would have been confusing to the viewers since it is very abstract that the idea had to be thrown away.

Sketches and Notes