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Washington Heights
is an ethnic enclave in Northern Manhattan situated at
the crossroads of Interstate 95, the major north/south route
for the eastern seaboard of the United States, and Broadway,
the historic thoroughfare that runs the length of Manhattan.
Washington Heights boasts the largest Dominican population
outside the Dominican Republic. The global economy propels
this community into transnational exchange; between people,
goods, services, and ideas.
While the global economy drives Washington Heights into the
next century, the community remains isolated on multiple
levels, both geographically and physically. The strategy of
the District Plan is to break the isolation of the enclave,
and reconnect the community at the local, metropolitan, and
regional levels. Two of the four probe developments are
proposed at locations along Interstate 95, while the
remaining two probes address development strategies along
Broadway.
Interstate 95 Corridor
Probe One
McNally Plaza, which once anchored the
intersection of 181st Street Amsterdam Avenue, and
Highbridge Park, was a casualty lost during the construction
of the Interstate 95. The creation of the Interstate, in
effect, separated Washington Heights from the greater
metropolitan community. The probe attempts to develop an
anchor node, and establish new linkages between the
fragments of the local community, as well as greater
metropolitan, and regional levels.
Probe Two
System of Reflectors and Receptors based on the constant
Dominican community interchange between New York and the
Dominican Republic, creating new connections between the
site and the rest of Manhattan area.
Broadway
Probe Three
The Unconnected Connectors - Mitchell Square - The
site located at 168th Street and Broadway is intersected at
multiple levels with potential connections that remain
fragmented and unconnected. These infrastructural pieces all
work independent of one another, it is the intention of the
probe to create a facility designed to not only complete
these connections but relate the structure of this intricate
intersection with the fabric of Manhattan.
Probe Four
Broadway and the subway are two major transit facilities
bringing immigrants in and out the ethnic enclave of
Washington Heights. They play important roles for the
transnational identity of immigrants. The spaces generated
in between the Broadway, subway, existing infrastructure,
neighborhood, different countries, languages and cultures
argue new roles of transnational spaces in the immigrantsı
enclave.