This design proposition is an investigation into the notion of hybrids as a strategy for connecting the inside of the site to any development at the water front edge.
The hybrids within the site are both fragments of the built fabric and points of connection to the invisible tensions or frictions which exist within and beyond the site's physical boundaries.
The overall site strategy focuses on facilitating movement through to the waterfront from the inside of the site. This is a reaction to the discovery during the site construction phase of various barriers at the waters edge which prevent or frustrate the possibility of percolation and therefore connection to the waters edge.
The Jacob Javits Convention Centre probe was developed with a waterfront cafe and shopping strip, a casino on the water, ferry terminal, hotels to the east of the convention centre and a sporting stadium over the existing railyards.
The West Houston Street probe was developed with a cafe strip as a median, housing on the piers with parks, a ferry terminal and a marina facility.
The four hybrids found during the site construction process titled: on + above, along, through and beside were paired and used as a tectonic representation of the hybridised condition. These were used as connecting devices between the programmed functional mix and resulting movement at each probe site.
Rockefeller centre was selected as a paradigm for further invesitgating the issue of the hybrid. Beyond the obvious functional mix and sectional connections, what was more interesting was the discovery of points of tension between the movement and static object. Pieces in this study explored notions of instability due to motion at the base of a monolith, suspended ambiguous space for activity in the air, the relationship of a moving skater in relation to a fixed background and the "plotless theatrical energy of the rockettes". (Delerious New York. Koolhaas) The paradigm studies determined points at which the hybrid connections were made.