Manhattan´s public spaces by Ana Morcillo Pallarés
26/06/2022.
[ROUTLEDGE]
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
Spanish architect Ana Morcillo Pallarés has published "Manhattan`s public spaces", edited by Routledge, an interesting book that invites us to reflect on the necessary revitalization of shared spaces taking the city of Manhattan as a model, from all possible dimensions.
A reflection, analysis and presentation that looks at a contemporary New York, or better at a part of its city, Manhattan, which after more than two centuries continues to be an urban model and a laboratory that constantly reinterprets itself.
The publication invites reflection on the meaning of the revitalization of public space, understanding it as the interaction that it fosters between citizens, and that occurs beyond the intentions of the authors of the project. An opportunity that not only deals with the importance of the public dimension of the works that are analyzed, but also pays special attention to the process and management that makes them possible, something that is not always visible.
A reflection, analysis and presentation that looks at a contemporary New York, or better at a part of its city, Manhattan, which after more than two centuries continues to be an urban model and a laboratory that constantly reinterprets itself.
The publication invites reflection on the meaning of the revitalization of public space, understanding it as the interaction that it fosters between citizens, and that occurs beyond the intentions of the authors of the project. An opportunity that not only deals with the importance of the public dimension of the works that are analyzed, but also pays special attention to the process and management that makes them possible, something that is not always visible.
Cover Manhattan´s public spaces by Ana Morcillo Pallarés.
Cover Manhattan´s public spaces by Ana Morcillo Pallarés.
Detail. Section cut through Lever Houses´s privately owned courtyard. On the ground level, a columned plaza and a big aperture on the terrace for public use introduce light to the garden previously reserved for Isamu Noguchi´s proposal.
Section detail. Water fountain and marble parapet at Seagram plaza.
Detail. Section cut over Noguchi´s sunken courtyard and public concourse. Southwest corner between Pine St. and William St.
Detail. Reflection of Noguchi´s Red Cube on the tinted curtain wall.
Southeast corner plaza detail. Intersection between Liberty St. and Broadway.
Detail of the waterfall mechanism and the wall intersection of Paley Park.
Detail of the intersection of the Esplanade by Alexander Cooper and Stanton Eckstut (1983) and the curvilinear pavilion by Mary Miss and Susan Childs (1988).
South Gantry Interpretive Garden as a contemplative space; detail of the stepping-stone blocks, which provide the visitor with direct access to the water between the two exiting Gantries.
Detail of southern shaded area of Teardrop Park during the summer months, used for dynamic and exploration activities. An interwoven detail of elements (slide, rocks, platforms, vegetation) highlights the rock cascade and play area for toddlers with the stone layer horizontal ground in the background.
Detail of the outlook oriented toward 26th Street. In this case, the architects take advantage of the existing conditions of a former billboard frame to highlight a moment of pause and reflection while setting up a consensual space of observation and performance, but also framing something banal as traffic flow.
The book "Manhattan`s public spaces" is structured in three parts or large chapters: Production, Revitalization and Commodification, through which she analyzes a series of urban or architectural cases and their contribution to the public space of New York in recent decades, exploring a mixture of urban mechanisms, legal systems and planning on the transformation of the city.
The author understands the public space of Manhattan as a phenomenon and a subject of study, in which the reconciliation of various agents is necessary, without which the processes of creation and transformation are not understood. The challenge lies not only in the analysis of good projects but also in how to understand the mechanisms of the production of space destined for a specific use. The book recognizes a complex network of rulers, actors and market monopolies that invite the reader to participate in the debate on how these interventions contribute or not to an inclusive environment in the structures already built.
It is a study work that Ana began with her doctoral thesis and that is updated in this book, giving a new, interesting and fresh look at especially relevant topics that deserve special attention, such as Commodification or as the author expresses "constituting identities and antagonistic encounters within the neoliberal city" through three study elements: Battery Park City vs. Gantry Park, the logic of air rights and the identity crisis: with Lincoln Center and the High Line.
The book also contains an interesting set of photographic documentation and is magnificently illustrated with more than 50 black and white images (axonometric models of the case studies), made in collaboration with the architect Eduardo Mediero and the architecture student Evan Parness.
The author understands the public space of Manhattan as a phenomenon and a subject of study, in which the reconciliation of various agents is necessary, without which the processes of creation and transformation are not understood. The challenge lies not only in the analysis of good projects but also in how to understand the mechanisms of the production of space destined for a specific use. The book recognizes a complex network of rulers, actors and market monopolies that invite the reader to participate in the debate on how these interventions contribute or not to an inclusive environment in the structures already built.
It is a study work that Ana began with her doctoral thesis and that is updated in this book, giving a new, interesting and fresh look at especially relevant topics that deserve special attention, such as Commodification or as the author expresses "constituting identities and antagonistic encounters within the neoliberal city" through three study elements: Battery Park City vs. Gantry Park, the logic of air rights and the identity crisis: with Lincoln Center and the High Line.
The book also contains an interesting set of photographic documentation and is magnificently illustrated with more than 50 black and white images (axonometric models of the case studies), made in collaboration with the architect Eduardo Mediero and the architecture student Evan Parness.
More information
Tittle
Manhattan`s public spaces.
Author
Drawings
Realized in collaboration with architect Eduardo Mediero and architecture student Evan Parness.
Cover / Pages
183 pages. Hardcover.
ISBN/EAN
978-1-032-05640-1.
Language
English.
Year of publication
2022.
Publisher
Routledge.
Ana Morcillo Pallarés
Ana Morcillo Pallarés is an assistant professor of architecture at Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan. Her work interrogates social, spatial, and material realities, focusing on the continuous negotiation of urban agents, citizen demands, private interests, and political agendas.
At Taubman College, Ana initiated her academic career as Walter B. Sander Research Fellow from 2014-to 2015. She received her Ph.D. in architecture from the Escuela Técnica Superior de Madrid (ETSAM) and her professional degree in architecture from the Escuela Técnica Superior de Valencia (ETSAV). Her dissertation “New York City: the revitalization of public space after 1950’s” received the ETSAM Honors Award and it has been recently published as: “Manhattan Public Spaces” (Routledge, 2022).
Morcillo Pallarés is co-founder and partner of Morcillo Pallarés + Rule Arquitectos since 2005. MPR is a design and research practice based in Spain and Michigan whose work explores the architectural project at a variety of scales. Morcillo Pallarés + Rule design proposals have received numerous awards and exhibited broadly, most recently receiving an award for research at the XIV Spanish Architecture and Urbanism Biennial.
At Taubman College, Ana initiated her academic career as Walter B. Sander Research Fellow from 2014-to 2015. She received her Ph.D. in architecture from the Escuela Técnica Superior de Madrid (ETSAM) and her professional degree in architecture from the Escuela Técnica Superior de Valencia (ETSAV). Her dissertation “New York City: the revitalization of public space after 1950’s” received the ETSAM Honors Award and it has been recently published as: “Manhattan Public Spaces” (Routledge, 2022).
Morcillo Pallarés is co-founder and partner of Morcillo Pallarés + Rule Arquitectos since 2005. MPR is a design and research practice based in Spain and Michigan whose work explores the architectural project at a variety of scales. Morcillo Pallarés + Rule design proposals have received numerous awards and exhibited broadly, most recently receiving an award for research at the XIV Spanish Architecture and Urbanism Biennial.
Ana Morcillo Pallares, Jonathan Rule. MP+R Arquitectos
MP+R is an architecture firm led by Ana Morcillo Pallares (Cieza, 1980) and Jonathan Rule (Brooklyn, 1980) both architects and partners at MP+R based in Cieza, Murcia and Ann Arbor, Michigan. Since 2014, both are assistant professors at Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan. Their speculative work, built installations and professional practice focus on ways of contextualizing our relationship to the city and to each other, offering mechanisms of individual and collective actualization.
From their projects, proposals such as Hotel Delicias (2011), the Waterfall (2012) y A.W.E. (2013) transformed existing and underutilized infrastructures into tangible reconversion statements. However, the foundational ideas of our practice are more clearly expressed in built works such as CIV Jumilla (2015), large-scale master plans as MUDEM (2017), recipient of the 2017-18 ACSA Faculty Design Award, or collaborations in educational institutions as The School at Marygrove (2022). Recently, Morcillo Pallares published the book Manhattan Public Spaces: Production, Revitalization, Commodification (Routledge, 2022). Research brings together a series of architectural works and their contribution to New York City’s public realm. A critical analysis highlights that public space is not a concrete reality but rather a delicate negotiated condition. MP+R design proposals have received numerous awards and exhibited broadly, most recently receiving an award for research at the XIV Spanish Architecture and Urbanism Biennial.
From their projects, proposals such as Hotel Delicias (2011), the Waterfall (2012) y A.W.E. (2013) transformed existing and underutilized infrastructures into tangible reconversion statements. However, the foundational ideas of our practice are more clearly expressed in built works such as CIV Jumilla (2015), large-scale master plans as MUDEM (2017), recipient of the 2017-18 ACSA Faculty Design Award, or collaborations in educational institutions as The School at Marygrove (2022). Recently, Morcillo Pallares published the book Manhattan Public Spaces: Production, Revitalization, Commodification (Routledge, 2022). Research brings together a series of architectural works and their contribution to New York City’s public realm. A critical analysis highlights that public space is not a concrete reality but rather a delicate negotiated condition. MP+R design proposals have received numerous awards and exhibited broadly, most recently receiving an award for research at the XIV Spanish Architecture and Urbanism Biennial.
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