Gowanus Housing

Brooklyn, New York

2009

This building is a fiction based on the collective memories of the Gowanus Canal -regarding the relationship between spaces and landmarks. Aldo Rossi's concept of Collective Memory and Kevin Lynch's The Image of the City drove the theoretical basis for this work.

The sightlines were volumetrically indexed to generate the form that frames critical views of adjacent landmarks.  The series of mise-en-scenes curate the landmarks while reinforcing the self-image of the users occupying these charged spaces.