bushwick’s extended grid: re-identifying the expanded realm of the street

7/22/2019 BUSHWICKS EXTENDED GRID: Re-identifying the expanded realm of the street

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Although this thesis is a personal work, the c

insights and ideas are instigated and inspired by the

experiences and engaging encounters of a four anmonth stay in New York City, from January through M

with the Atlantis Exchange Program with Parsons, T

School. This thesis, for the Master of Urbanism and

Planning at KULeuven, was in this respect the

opportunity to elaborate further on the wealth of ideas

by the journey. It did not only evolve from the work of t

at Parsons From Urban Homesteading to a New

of Housing that focused on Bushwick, but enco

many of the concepts encountered in the other cou

by actually living in and walking the streets of the me

I would like to thank all the people who introduce

these new insights and experiences, who made the

exchange possible and supported me in the ensuing

of composing this thesis.

First of all I would like to thank professor Bruno De M

KULeuven and professor Brian McGrath of Parsons,

School, for their stimulating comments that really pu

forward.

Thanks to all the teachers of Parsons: thanks to

Rendon and Frank Morales for the guidance of th

to Victoria Marshall, William Morrish, Kimberly Ta

McGrath and Paul Goldberger for their passion and en

with which they introduced new topics.Thanks to all my friends and students at Parsons. A

thanks to the students of the Atlantis Exchange

Jonas De Maeyer, Luca Fillipi, Wendy Van Kesse

Salis, Ferhat Topuz and Stefano Aresti, for all the in

and the great time in New York.

Thanks to all my friends and the teachers of KULeu

thanks to Maura Slootmaekers for taking care of evespecially the Atlantis Exchange.

Finally I especially want to thank my family and frien

the support they gave me along this journey.


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

CONTENTS

BATTLEFIELD BUSHWICKVS URBANISMS OF INCLUSION FRONTIER BUSHWICK

EXTENDED GRID BORDERS

AVENUES

STREETS

OUTSIDE THE GRID INFRASTRUCTURE FRAME

EXTENDED AVENUES

EXTENDED STREETS

MICRO-STORY: STOOPS

OPEN SPACE

MICRO-STORY: COMMUNITY GARDENS

EXTENDED GRID

RE-IDENTIFICATION GRID

CONTRACTED BLOCKS THE CONTRACTION AND EXPANSION OF BUSHW

BLOCKS

MICRO-STORY: R6 ZONING

THE BLOCK

STREET-GRID


COLLECTOR MANIPULATING THE GRID EMPHASIZING

TOPOGRAPHY CORE & BORDERS

COLLECTOR OF RAINWATER

COLLECTOR OF A FRAGMENTARY PARK

COLLECTOR OF DIVERSITY

STREET WATER COLLECTOR

CATALOGUE

WATER TREATMENT SYSTEM

MEANDER

RESERVOIR

PARKING LOTS

BUFFER

TOWERS

CONTENTS


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BATTLEFIELD

BUSHWICKVS URBANISM

OF INCLUSION

Slowly an unsuspected offensive is penetrating th

of Brooklyn, strategic pawns are placed in battle fo

driving the natives from the current frontier of B

Here the signs of battle mark the faades of old war

that have fallen into disuse. Now, they are scarred

strokes like blood streaks of large murals announ

arrival of the gentrifying army: the artists. The rst

the battle is written in paint and grafti. The inltrato

appropriate the expressive building-high typical m

the local Spanish-speaking inhabitants, claiming the

the underused territory. And, like every battle, also

has its war reporters, observing the movements of

battalion dispatched to the battleeld. The main cthe movement was tracked down to be the L-train w

pioneering artists had to leave their strongholds of S

the East Village that they had established in the 19

the 1980s and crossed the East River to Williamsb

1990s. These hip and creative pioneers were closely

by a migration of young settlers attracted by the w

the large open loft spaces the artists had uncovere

old industries of Bushwick. The ever more afuen

Bushwick in New York City


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THE HISTORY OF NEW YORKS

FROM GREENWICH VILLAGE INBUSHWICK TODAY SHOWS THA

CONSEQUENCES OF UNPLANN

OCCURING AREAS WHERE ART

ARE HIGHER HOUSING PRICES

CAPITAL INVESTMENT, AND EVAND GENTRIFICATION.1

Sharon Zukin & Laura Braslow,

The Life Cycle of New Yorks Creative DistrictsARTIST PIONEERS

HIPSTER CATALYSTSREAL-ESTATE SPECULATION

atmosphere in this new development as exists in re

loft buildings. An article in The New York Times, app

titled An Artful Way to Rent, looks into Swartz his ta

Drawing on Bushwicks cachet, Castle Braid is being m

by its developer, Mayer Schwartz, as a world cus

to enable the artist, and is aimed at art lovers willin

Williamsburg prices to live in an area sorely lackin

trees and retail. The grafti murals were commission

Schwartz as part of Brooklyn Artillery, a six-week art

house last fall that converted the 125 then-vacant ap

into temporary galleries.

The tactic appeared to work exceptionally well th

concluded: only two units remained to be lled after t

INCLUSION - However, the renewed attraction of B

should be no reason to start battling all changes. Bot

bring something valuable to Bushwick: The new ar

also looking to put down roots and contribute to thof the active and engaged existing community, but o

also to enrich the vision(s) for Bushwick with their ow

Both groups already show this in a multitude of loca

organizations where new and old residents dream ofuture for example the Bushwick Eco Action Netw

actively takes care of the streets or dream of a loc

scene for example the Bushwick Starr where loca

directors make plays with the local youth and ma

In this light it is clear that Bushwicks challenge is n

for a battle strategy to stop change, but how to env

changes in a more inclusive way. It is a search to

potentialities and possible synergies in all areas and


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100 m 1000 m

main borders of Bushwick

L-train

Broadway

FlushingAvenue

Myrtle Avenue

Fulton Street

before the grid

BORDERS

Contrary to Manhattans grid, Brooklyns grid was no

as a uniform pattern covering the whole territory, bu

became a fragmented inll of an existing framework

and through this process inherently followed the log

landscape. This early delineation of the landscape cr

frame of the future neighborhoods, each with its own

grid characteristics: orientation of avenues and stree

size,

Bushwicks grid spans four major borders. The easteof Bushwick today is formed by Flushing Avenue, it

can easily be traced on historic maps before the

of the grid as a winding road around the wet are

Newtown Creek in the north of the map this clater transformed into the docks that boosted Willia

industries. The southern border of Bushwick

Broadway as a linear offset of the perpendicular m

that crossed Flushing Avenue. This border was later

with an elevated subway. (The original crooked roa

Evergreen Avenue still forms a small winding anom

the current rectilinear grid.) In the west the grid is e

by a double border. The hills of the Evergreen C


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100 m 1000 m

cemeteries and parks

OUTSIDE THE GRID

Green open spaces form a sudden disruption in the co

patches of grid with the Maria Hernandez Park takin

blocks by far the largest green space in the area is f

the Evergreens Cemetery. The sudden hills that appe

a remnant of a glacial moraine hindered the expans

grid in this direction and it was left as an open green

Envisioned as a rural cemetery by Andrew Jackson D

the cemetery/park took shape in the hands of Calv

and Frederick Law Olmsted and was one of New Yoattractive public green spaces before Central Park

Their works and the works of Robert Moses left behin

green gure of cemeteries, parks and parkways span

Queens and Brooklyn where green areas and transinfrastructure intertwine. The cemetery forms par

gure that is now also connected as the 64 kilome

mile Brooklyn-Queens Greenway. The cemeter

its own logic of picturesquely winding roads through

from where, over the graves of 526 000 people, the s

Manhattan can be viewed. However, the world of the c

is not only outside of the grid, its hills are also hid

view by the stacked tracks of the railroad and subwa

cemetery of the Evergreens with the skyline of Manhattan in the dis


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100 m 1000 m

infrastructure network

subway subway stop bus bike lane railroad

L-train

M-J-train

A-C-train

williamsburg

bushwic

green-

wichvillage

soho

eastvillage

artists and hipsters following the L-train2

INFRASTRUCTURE FRAME

The borders between the patches of grid in Brooklyn

the obvious carriers for the main transportation, re

the framework of major roads. However, even thou

are the main car-trafc arteries, the punctual nature o

entrances and exits produces local small centers o

activity. The elevated trains of Broadway and Myrtle

create a more continuous commercial strip, with s

larger stores near subway stops. The current reno

Myrtle Avenues stops creates local speculative driven by a close vicinity of metro stops.

The L-train especially instigates small nucleuses of sp

activities, often art-related. The L-train is seen as t

artist-led gentrication artery tying together the madistricts of past decades and now penetrating deepe

interior of Brooklyn.1Especially the Jefferson Stree

rst stop in Bushwick is a clear settlement of artis

every single wall is covered with intricate murals.

succession can be abstracted from the artists mo

always looking for cheap places to work and displa

areas they discovered: The pioneer artists are the rs

revealing the potential of the spaces, and are rapidly


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100 m 1000 m

extended avenues - the commercial structure of bushwick

commercial use mixed use industrial use

EXTENDED AVENUES

The avenues form the commercial backbone of B

with Myrtle Avenue as a central spine. The rectangu

structure created by the wide spacing of avenues c

to the short distance between streets ensures grea

and as a consequence commerce at the heads of th

The avenues are, so to speak, extended with the co

space of the shop, which often also extends into t

with merchandize.

The commercial backbone spans the entire neighfrom the industries of Williamsburg to the warehous

the railway line. The usual shops at the blocks e

are reinforced by the superimposition of the concen

and added foot trafc, created by the subwaBroadway and Myrtle Avenue become the main

routes and especially at the crossing of the L and

shared shopping cluster is formed between Bushw

Ridgewood. Where most of the streets are lined w

delis, corner shops, hairdressers, eateries, the cr

Myrtle and Wyckoff Avenue clusters larger superma

chain restaurants,

It is noteworthy to indicate how this commercial

commercial spine


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100 m 1000 m

extended streets - the public-private interface of the stoop

EXTENDED STREETS

The streets make the quiet counterpart of the bustling

and are the heart of the residential realm of the neigh

almost invariably lined with rows of similar houses,

then interrupted by a church or another religious in

However, the street is also in social terms the hea

residential realm as an extension of the often s

crowded living quarters of the residents.

The interface of the public life of the street to the p

of the building is mediated by the stoop, a small areof the house with a, often steep, staircase giving

to the house or apartments. The origin of the stoo

linked to the particular grid of New York that is lackin

alleys trough the centers of the blocks - following a smaximize land values - and was later unchanged d

in Brooklyn and Queens. As a consequence all

concentrated on the street side and the exterior

provided access to the principal parlor oor of a sing

house. The entrance at the street level, or a few ste

grade, gave access to the kitchen and other service

this area still forms one of the principal places to m

neighbors, a quiet spot to watch the daily life, a corne

churches


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BLEACHERS IN A STADIUM AR

STOOPS, A DRAWBRIDGE, A CO

TOO. SAFE SEATS IN THE AREN

WHICH TO WATCH THE PARAD

Will Eisner,

New York, Life in the Big City

The stoop became, after its origin as a dividing tool to allow

and guests to enter the house without crossing servants, a

brings people together instead and carries next to its practica variety of social functions. The houses are no longer sin

houses and are now divided into multiple apartments a

through the small stairs that leads to the front door. The

this architectural component comes from the Dutch word

sidewalk and thus literally means an extension of the stree

The stoop is a place of short encounters with your fellow

Michael Sorkin dedicates a whole chapter to his stoop while

his daily walk through Manhattan:

Because of the brief enforced pause, and because every

building must repeat the same process coming and going,

is also the site of many holdings of the door, vettings of

reading the bell, schmoozings with neighbors, sidelong g

kids, tourists, and homeless people. [] Along with being

place, the stoop is a space of spectatorship.2

On ne days it becomes the preferred spot for watching pe

a lateral stadium, to observe the dance of daily activity. Th

especially stressed by Jane Jacobs as one of the crucial co

to ensure safety on the street; eyes upon the street, eyes be

natural proprietors of the street:

[T]he sidewalk must have users on it fairly continuously, bot

the number of effective eyes on the street and to induce thebuildings along the street to watch the sidewalks in sufcient

Nobody enjoys sitting on a stoop or looking out of a win

empty street. Almost nobody does such a thing. Large n

people entertain themselves, off and on, by watching street

But above all I observed the stoops primarily as almost co

occupied even in winter when clearing snow on the stoo

priority. Though usually just occupied by a couple of chattin

one stoop being especially popular in the street I lived on in

it also instigated some unique uses, such as stoop ball

that I never observed and stoop sales. Once spring a

neighbors across the street invariably put up the contents o

wardrobe and other odds and ends along the sidewalk, tra

the small fence of their stoop into a colorful display of cl

MICRO-STORY: STOOPS


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100 m 1000 m

porosity of Bushwick

parks and community gardens parking lots vacant lotssemi-public spaces

public parks cemeteries

OPEN SPACE

Once the cemeteries are extracted from the pub

space, Bushwick is left with hardly green openings

parks add up to three blocks of green space. The b

can hardly be added since they are hardly green and

not a single square.

However, looking through another lens, including

owned spaces in Bushwick, reveals a great poros

large surface of small, semi-public open spaces, mos

very functional in nature. One type stands out clearly nparks: a number of community gardens and small co

playgrounds periodically opened to the whole neigh

Also many of the school playgrounds, basketball

are often open after school hours. In this category magreen open spaces of the public housing projects pla

similar role. But the majority of the ne-grained ope

is little used, often just as a car parking lot or wareho

future sale when property value has risen even mo

add air and light to their streets, others are garba

dumps.

Even though Bushwick hardly seems to have publi

space a ne network of semi-accessible gardens, play


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The well-groomed formal parks of New York and Bus

contrasted by a multitude of small, highly personalized c

gardens with a multitude of appearances: sometime

organized with neatly planted vegetable patches, sometim

jungle of sprouting plants, or occupied by a density of henh

almost become a new delirious chicken city. All of these par

speak of a strong personal involvement of their communiti

small places play and have played an important role in the

of the neighborhood, equal to the role of other, more traditi

spaces as Sharon Zukin points out:

Against all odds, between the 1970s and the 1980s c

residents and their outside supporters transformed nearly a

vacant lots into havens for their neighborhoods survival. C

gardens gave them the means and opportunity to put do

[] But few people would have predicted that this form of r

survive.2

However, this type of semi-public space invariably lo

gate and fence still unites engaged residents and its ch

re-invented with every new generation. The Earth Day ce

at Bushwick Campus revealed the evocative nature and

of these spaces when enthusiast local groups promoted

visions to the youth of the campus. Newly founded grou

for support to claim an untouched vacant lot, the Bush

Action network hosted a workshop of guerilla gardening, b

latest technological visions were present with an array of h

aquaponic farming systems of Boswyck Farms and of the sc

THE STREET However, the engagement to actively

disused spaces and collectively improve the neighborhood a

its green space, also expands to the public realm of the s

street is not left to the authorities, but for example the Bus

Action Network actively mobilizes its members both new

in Bushwick and long-term residents and supporters to g

MICRO-STORY: COMMUNITY GARDENS

1

leaets of the organizations present at the Earth Day celebrations


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100 m 1000 m

extended grid

EXTENDED GRID

Although the autonomy of the block within the grid

celebrated as an element that can change within the x

of the grid, the Brooklyn grid clearly directs the deve

of the blocks where the exchange between street a

becomes the extended public realm of this communi

Perhaps Bushwick has hardly public space such

and squares, but added up all together the small f

the intermediary space of the stoop along the stree

surface to the streets almost the size of Tiananmen(the stoop surface is approximately 435 778 m

fragmented wealth of small, close at hand outdoor

is perhaps more valuable than one vast public

generating its own particular street life specic to NCity. The distribution of a usable porosity provides,

demands, a greater personal proprietorship and an

and engaged personal relationship with the neare

community garden, playground, The creation, upk

survival of these places is the result of often small co

locally grounded groups of people, literally improv

street and neighborhood themselves with their own h

incrementally extending the public realm.

public parksparking lots

community gardensvacant lots

semi-public spacstoops

ALL


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fborders infrastructure frame

avenues

streets

outside the grid cemetery of the Evergreens

typical street of Bushwick

Wyckoff Avenue

L-train exit Jefferson Street Morgan Avenue

Myrtle Avenue

open space community garden

the stoopextended streets - stoops

extended avenues - commerce


Decomposing the grid of a neighborhood in its

components borders, avenues, streets and w

outside the grid shows rst of all its strong relationlandscape. The gridiron is not arbitrarily dropped on th

but instead feels the lay of the land and tries to ration

as good as possible in a new geometric gure. Ho

the process introducing many anomalies that follow

irregularities of the landscape.

Secondly the different components are far from equala different spacing, distribution, orientation, that d

clear hierarchy. Each level corresponds to a traditio

level of the city: The borders dene rst of all a dist

city, but together with the avenue they also mark c

quarters within the larger neighborhood where speci

or activities are clustered, etc. The street enco

yet another smaller increment of the community,

community gardens and other small semi-public spa

nucleuses of small engaged communities.


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CONTRACTED

BLOCKS

The grid of Bushwick provides a game board

simple rectangles. However, the game pieces do

an archipelago of independent islands, but are inste

interdependent. Counter-intuitively the blocks of Bus

not interact as simple solid components, but instead e

of a block has to be compatible with its opposite ne

becomes a game of mirrors tied to the lines of the

shops on one side of the avenue reect those on

side, a continuous row of urban town houses faces a

identical faade, a broken line of houses complem

openings in the other side. The blocks become the

blocks of the game board, following their own st

as they intertwine with the irregularities of the glocation within this grid becomes key. The edges of t

board allow for multiple, diverse compositions, whe

juxtaposition of similar blocks in the center of the g

the blocks of the inner core into a more homogeneo

As changes of expansion and contraction sweep thr

blocks the distinction between borders and core

ever more pronounced.


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10 000 AFRICAN-AMERICAN PEOPLE


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AMERICAN PEOPLE

PEOPLE

HISPANIC PEOPLE

10 000 HISPANIC

10 000 WHITE NON-

1126

34PEO

PLE

8.5%WHITE

20.1%

AFRICA

N-

AMER

ICAN

65.4%HISP

ANIC

1025

72PEO

PLE

5.4%WHITE

24.9%

AFRICA

N-

AMER

ICAN

65.0%

HISPA

NIC

1378

95PEO

PLE

38%WHITE

30%AFR

ICAN

-

AMER

ICAN

27%HISPA

NIC

1230

00PEO

PLE

100%

WHITE

124800

PEO

PLE

89%WHITE

7%AFR

ICAN

-

AMER

ICAN

5%HISPA

NIC

93497P

EOPL

E

15%WHITE

26%AFR

ICAN

-

AMER

ICAN

56%HISPA

NIC

10435

2.9

2

the New York Ring of devastation, area of population loss exce

between 1960-19801

demographic changes in Bushwick(based on: NYC Department of City Planning 1980, US Census Bureau 1980 and 2010, 2000 and 2010 Census PL)

started to torch down vacant property to clear those

crime and drugs. On blocks like Himrod Street and

Avenue between Central and Wilson Avenues eve

building was abandoned, the central core of the neigh

became a ghost town with burned out carcasses o

lining the streets.

INFILL I The great attention the looting and res

attracted put Bushwick on the agenda for recovery

investments of the city in the neighborhood. Th

problems facing Bushwick precluded the use o

investment to support housing development. A prev

of the 1960s to insert a new school in the heart of B

became obsolete since this area had depopulated m

the project was transformed into a large housing p

the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). How

project took long to materialize and immediate ac

taken by rst demolishing the dangerous abandone

houses as a tactic to improve safety, most of the vacbecame city owned. As a second short-term tactic to

recovery several thousand street trees were plante

the late 1970s targeting those stable and organized b

well as those areas that were especially vulnerable

deterioration. These are the blocks where the trees


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100 m 1000 m

cleared fabric since original inll of Bushwicks grid

and hip bars and restaurants. The typical esthetmarketing) principles of this wave make that it coinc

the border of old industries around a center of main

and affordable inll houses. This center is further ext

the large site of the Rheingold Brewery that the city

for the construction of affordable housing units for

middle class.

Although Bushwick started as a more or less homo

neighborhood of houses interspersed with brewe

other industries, successive waves have created difcompositions of the blocks. The houses and factor

heart of the neighborhood were cleared almost co

and reassembled to a lower density (affordable) c

the larger old industries, especially at the northern b

now the locus of new investments. Instead of a unif

the successive waves of changes have left behind

diversity within the blocks themselves, but also within

emphasizing the difference of its borders and inner c

1 PLUNZ, R., A History of Housing in New York, CUniversity Press, New York, 1990, p. 323-325.2 LYON, D., Let them kill themselves, Le Point

Editeur, 1996, p. 43.3DERESZEWSKI, J., Bushwick Notes: From the 70s

Brooklynhistory.org, http://upfromames.brooklynhi

uff_resources/images_resources/bushwick_notes2.p4 MALANGA, S., The Death and Life of Bushw

Journal, Spring 2008, vol.18 no.2.5GOOGLE MAPS, https://maps.google.com

images:

(1) MERLIS, B. & GOMES, R., Brooklyns Bushwick a


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100 m 1000 m

demolished blocks during decline of Bushwick (1908) new inll blocks since the recovery of Bushwick (2010)

residential industrial and commercial residential industrial and commercial


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100 m 1000 m

The R6 zoning regulation of Bushwick draws two potential

for the bulk regulation of the residential fabric of a block. Th

variation does not manifest itself uniformly, but pronou

different evolution of the inner core and more industrial b

Bushwick even more strongly.

QUALITY HOUSING REGULATIONS The quality

regulations dene a cuboid envelope, closely wrapping th

height variations of the old buildings. The height limitatio

that the new buildings blend with the old structures. The

coverage that is allowed and great oor area ratio (building

/ lot area) of 3.0 or 2.2 and therefore high number of a makes this the predominant envelope, even for new deve

HEIGHT FACTOR REGULATIONS The height factor regu

not specify a xed horizontal limiting plane, but requires tha

volume remains within the limits of a huge shed-like volum

exposure plane. The oor area ratio ranges from 0.78 fo

story building to 2.43 at a typical height of 13 stories. The o

ratio ranges from 27.5 to 37.5. However, the requirement

parking space for 70 percent of the dwelling units invariab

the newly gained open space to a huge parking lot. The new

this zoning type sprout form a sea of cars.

These requirements of the double option become a de

equation for new development. The second option only

MICRO-STORY: R6 ZONING

quality housing regulations envelope

zoning map of Bushwick1


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SIDE-

WALK

STOO

PHOM

E

5 m 50 m

the open spaces of a block between Stanhope and Himrod Street

stoop vacant / parking lot backyard

THE BLOCKThe rectangular shape of the blocks and the differ

between narrower streets and larger avenues h

consequence the accumulation of shops on the

servicing both street and avenue, and at the shorter

the block. However, even though each block seems

and interchangeable piece of the grid, they behave v

as domino blocks where the location of one piece de

a matching neighboring piece.

When walking through the streets and avenues on

a block can have a quite different character than

side, the streets on the other hand will usually h

same character on both sides, unless in the case

structures that span a whole block or take up the who

When people talk about their block they usually refe

street the length of a block rather than the rectangle

their home belongs. This is also the basic entity of

community in a neighborhood as Michael Sorkin poin

Block associations are generally organized not arsquare block, but the street block, so opposite sidestreet are conjoined, despite belonging to differen

blocks. This is another manifestation of the importan

face-to-face. Neighborliness stems from contact,

and experience. We are far more likely to encoun

living on our own streets than those living a block ov

able to identify where a neighbor lives if we see he

her house each morning. Thus, the logic of organi

experience trumps the logic of organization by prop

direct democracy of building committees, co-op boa

block associations exists at a scale of intimacy that

typical house


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5 m 50 m

street grid

public use semi-private use

STREET-GRID

The extended grid, and consequently extended

accumulates a wealth of particular spaces of collec

ranging from a more public to a more private charapublic parks, the school playgrounds opened after scho

the stoop as a semi-private mediating space, the co

garden where each member has its own patch,

of the extended street can be redrawn as a new g

that looks at the claim made on the clearly delineat

usually fenced spaces. A new irregular grid gure

with the street as central spine branching in more divisions: a parking lot, a community playground,

by tracing the use in this way the appropriation of the

street as a huge parking lot seems a bit disprop

Each spot along the road is claimed by a more priva

people to park their private car. The street is claim

personal use much in the same way as a vegetable

a community garden is personally claimed. Questio

omnipresent and in a certain way highly private us

street as a parking lot could open a vast new territo

block community in their street.


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100 m 1000 m

core and borders

open spaces of core commercial and industrial strucure of borders

CORE & BORDERS

Closely following the valley structure the rainwater

has a very different impact and interaction with th

core, with the main meandering canal, and the bordegrid fragment of Bushwick.

CENTRAL CORE The central core hardes

previous decline knows today a higher porosity

lower density public and affordable inll houses. He

remaining open spaces have been taken over as co

gardens, playgrounds, The remaining lots are s

less suitable for big developers. In this respect the be characterized as an inhibiting heart of the co

that has been strengthened in the past to absorb be

gentrication and decline. The public housing and pa

houses are less affected because of public and privat

ownership. However, hidden within this core is an un

wealth of open spaces. The existing community

strongly engaged in their streets can take the oppo

the new water infrastructure to transform this in a co

semi-public green spaces, transforming for example t

housing project at the heart of the neighborhood from

into a major asset for its inhabitants and the larger co

porous core


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10 m 100 m

su

mptank

waterfall

aquaponicslearningcenter

typicalconversionofwarehouse

verticalgreenhouse

fs

htank

tilapia/catfsh/trout

hy

droponicgardening

stettlingtank

windpump

longitudinal section aquaponics greenhouse and water treatment park

AQUAPONICS

WATER TREATMENT The water treatment ponds

an upscale of the treatment system of the stre

collector to serve the larger productive cluster. The l

treatment pond with bulrushes is breached with sma

paths and dotted with picnic benches under small elm

row of windpumps forms a linear waterfall for oxygen

the water again cascading over large steps for UV

towards the second treatment pond.

AQUAPONICS The aquaponics system is a clos

circuit using far less water than traditional agricu

the parallel system of shponds efuents accumula

water. This ows into a settling tank where the s

fr

sttreatmentpond

bulrushes

windpump

fr

sttreatmentpond


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bushwick’s extended grid: re-identifying the expanded realm of the street

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