Elliot Mistur Final Project

F P ` 1 2S O A

ELLIOT MISTUR

Techno-FuturismArchitecture, Science, and Technology

Final Project, Fall 2010 - Spring 2012Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute School of Architecture

Design Critic: Chris PerrySecondary Critic: Michael Oatman

T H E N E W F U T U R E G R O W T H :a recreated tactile locality and regional connectivity

Elliot Snow Mistur

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute School of ArchitectureTechno-Futurism: Architecture, Science, and TechnologyFinal Project , Fall 2011 - Spring 2012Design Critic: Chris Perry

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

INTRODUCTION 02

DESIGN PROPOSAL: Proposal Strategies Outline Projected Regional Growth New Industry and Power Regional Power Cord Growth and Zoning Mechanism Site Development Example Callout New Urban Typology Sources

CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH:

Site Introduction History of the Hudson River Valley The Modern Dilemmas Shoreline Conditions Rebirth of the River as Commodity Systems and Technology Fullers Vision for the Future Sources

POSTWAR RESEARCH: Dichotomy of the Post-War Era Buckminster Fuller Projections of Implicated Change Examples of Fuller Projects Systems and Physical Integrations Beyond Fuller Sources

04

36

78

1

The industrial revolution set up a period of rapid change and technological advancements that allowed a number of overlapping critical thinkers to gain perspective into the ever shifting time flux of scientific inventions and discoveries. The new found possibilities in material, fabrication, and even virtual-electronic technologies were drivers of, and were driven by, World War Two leaving the post-war period one of massive change. The new machine technology sparked imaginations and awoke the ability and realization that our world is not a static entity, but rather one of energy, probability, and time. This paradigm shift met with architecture causing similar disturbances and uncomfortable ideas crashing down on many formalists. The question and clash remains.

Society quickly adopted the technological advances, mechanizing and mobilizing every function of life and society as a whole. Architecture was resistant however, and even when some of the new materials and fabrication techniques were used, architectural practice was, and still is, applied in a completely pseudo-retro stylistic manner and dialogue. The architects rather put energy into making the new technology look formally like the buildings of yesterday, not only spatially, but functionally and materially. There has been however a few individuals dedicated to techno-experimentation and conceptual extrapolation, relying on the performance for the formal manifestation rather than traditional aesthetics. These individuals and ideas originated in other technological fields and socio-energetic discoveries, and in part sparked by the world of virtual and electronic.

R. Buckminster Fuller was one of the most exemplary post-war thinkers in the broadest range of issues within architecture and extending all the way through global-socio-economic issues. He dubbed himself a Comprehensive Anticipatory Design Scientist and called for all to be of similar character in the search for a marriage between design, science, and technology. His rhetoric was one of Anticipatory Design driven by the ideas of global fluidity...and the irrepressible patterning processes created by the inherent need for changes (loads) to flow from one place to another in the universe. The automobile industry (and airplane) was a key reference for him because of the constantly evolving mechanistic production informed by economic and productivity organization patterns.

Traditional Functionalism, which was the dubbed essence of architecture of the day, was described by Fuller as demonstrated fashion-inoculation without necessity of knowledge of the scientific fundamentals of structural mechanics and chemistry. This included Le Corbusier in the eyes of Fuller as he practiced in the discourse of the machine aesthetic, but Fuller felt that such an exclusive discourse accomplished nothing. Fuller designed actual pragmatic machines of living, some of which were even produced in airplane factories then flown to wherever the purchaser desired and deployed as ready-made tools of habitation.

Not only did many of Fullers projects function as directed architectural machines, but they also were developed with an intense understanding of multi-scalar issues,

THE NEW FUTURE GROWTHA Recreated Tactile Locality and Regional Connectivity

both within the projects on the smallest level of detail and beyond the project in relationship to how the project would affect its surroundings regionally, and even globally. Also his projects were designed to respond not only to programmatic needs, but also respond to economic, energy, and social forces. In order to respond to these issues beyond the traditional architectural responsibilities he collapsed systems into his project, integrating the conceptual framework and also the actual tools of response, further rendering his architectures as fully integrated systems or machines.

Today the Hudson River Valley is in need of just such an ambitious and pro-active project. The Hudson River Shoreline historically was reconstituted as an infrastructural regional cord consisting of railroads, which combined with naturally eroding shorelines, resulted in the need for engineered edges along the river banks. This transformation took place at the turn of the century when the Hudson River Valley was a massive industrial production and transport conduit, reminisce of a mass-production line exploded to the regional scale, a megastructure of production. With the end of the industrial age and major production in the Hudson River Valley the region suffered a mass exodus. What remains is the skeleton of an industrial landscape with the various types of manufactured edges and railroads along the shorelines. Currently the railroads are inefficient, and the manufactured shorelines are degraded which cuts off natural wetland zones from the river water; both of these factors combined cut off pedestrian and boat access to the riverfront. Today the Hudson River Valley is beginning to comeback with remediation of the industrial waste and an annual 6 percent increase in population, a higher rate than Brooklyn. This growth trend in the region is due to the historic and natural qualities of the region and the attraction for metropolitan residents to buy affordable historic houses in the landscape celebrated by the historic Hudson River School. This Brooklynization, as described in The New York Time, is feeding new cultural growth across the region, however only inhabits the current degraded, but valued, state of the Hudson River and does not foster further growth or improvement to the waterfront.In the spirit of Buckminster Fullers post war proposals that imagine massive functionally integrated structures with massive social implications for change this re-imagination of shoreline for condensed strategic growth arrayed along the new high speed rail with integrated power generation, as an infrastructural backbone, will foster new waterfront communities that interface people, natural ecosystems, urban communities, and multimodal transport. The ultimate goal is a regional connection generating a commuter market while creating a new type of waterfront accessibility fostering a local relationship to the river at a massive scale.

I N T R O D U C T I O N

2 3

P O S T - W A R R E S E A R C H

F U L L E RPOST-WAR

HISTORICAL RESERACH

TECHNO-FUTURISM : Architecture, Science, And Technology

4 5

The Aesthetic Echos of Yesterdays Technology

The industrial age changed the world in numerous ways to a degree that had never been seen before. Everyday people (in the civilized world) immediately felt and saw the effects as new machines, technology, and forms of energy not only came into existence, but quickly dominated every tool, technology, and way of life throughout society. Never before had such an exponential increase in development and technologies been seen on Earth and Humankind embraced the changes in everyday life enabled through the new technologies. The modern forms of production, materials, and industrial ability came so quickly along with the new technologies and energies that people did not even always see the opportunities or fully utilize the potential of the modern developments, especially between different industries as most of the new achievements were driven by the economies of companies looking to make the greatest profits as quickly as possible.

This intense rate of change and direct effect on peoples lives and public industries meant two things for architecture and design as a whole: the old aesthetics were used to mask the modern function and the massive number of modern technologies were not understood enough to drive and influence architecture and design in a profound way. Both conditions have exceptions and extraordinary cases that eventually caused modern design to progress beyond the prior

stall, but it can be argued that even great modern architecture like LeCorbusiers Villa Savoye (although extremely important) did not truly embrace the modern possibilities of materiality and production. When modern materials were utilized in design, they were often deployed in the same strategies that would have been used before the new technologies became available, because the modern possibilities were not understood. Similarly people wanted the traditional aesthetics they were familiar with, especially in their personal lives and in something so permanent as architecture. The new modern machines were seen as ugly and brutish (although architects like LeCorbusier did write about embracing the machine) so buildings for example were often constructed with modern steel frames (which is how sky scrapers were now possible), but clad with brick wall as a stylized traditional aesthetic covering to what the modern materiality and technology made possible. Today such strategies are often still visible throughout the world.

The questions that arose in the field of architecture became focused on just such issues, after a little bit of time based so that people had a moment to process what was happening. So much effort was being put into making the modern performance driven changes look like the old fashion, which after all must also have once been modern and a new aesthetic.

SCIENTIFIC DESIGN IS LINKED TO THE STARS FAR MORE DIRECTLY THAN TO EARTH. STAR-GAZING? ADMITTEDLY. BUT ESSENTIAL TO ACCENTUATE THE REAL SOURCE OF ENERGY AND CHANGE IN CONTRAST TO THE EMPHASIS THAT HAS ALWAYS BEEN PLACED ON KEEPING MAN DOWN TO EARTH .1

| R. BUCKMISNTER FULLER, NINE CHAINS TO THE MOON

[tradition] StYLiZEd[faShion] aESthEtiC

[modErn] fUnCtionaL[pErformanCE] aESthEtiC

VS

6.1

d i C h o t o m Y o f t h E p o S t - W a r E r aTHE NEW FUTURE GROWTH: A Recreated Tactile Locality and Regional Connectivity

6 7

WHY IS TECHNOLOGY NOT DRIVING ARCHITECTURE AND WHAT ARE NEW AESTHETICS OF THE MACHINE AGE?2

MEGA INFRASTRUCTURE - MACHINES - MOBILE - PLUGIN - MODULES

poSt-War Era arChitECtUraL proJECtionS

Post-War Architecture Theory

Archigram led the pack of modern architectural thinkers in the post-war era with projections and provocations about an entirely new architectural rhetoric based around flexibility and adaptability. This led more defiant architectural thinkers to ask questions about what it would be for machines to be our architecture, or further what architecture would look like as developed with these principles. Hans Hollein asked this question in 1964 about aircraft-carriers, what would they look like as architectural infrastructure imbedded in the

landscape and how would they function? Another infrastructural pondering was the Comprehensive City Project where the structure stretched across North America, both of these however were images of provocation, without extensive development. The plug-in city, drawn by Peter Cook, was another example where an infrastructural framework, a scaffolding, would be developed that pods of habitation and program could be plugged into or change out according to adapting requirements, an evolving architecture.

8.48.3

8.5

9.2

9.1

TECHNO-FUTURISM : Architecture, Science, And Technology THE NEW FUTURE GROWTH: A Recreated Tactile Locality and Regional Connectivity

8 9

8.1 8.2

FULLER WAS THE F IRST DESIGNER IN HISTORY TO UNDERSTAND STRUCTURE AS A PATTERN COMPRISED ENTIRELY OF ENERGY AND INFORMATION (AND) CONCEIVED OF THE UNIVERSE ITSELF AS AN ENERGET ICO - INFORMATIONAL CONTINUUM, SOMETHING DYNAMIC, AND ALWAYS TR ANSFORMING . . . TO THINK OF FORM IN TERMS OF CONSEQUENT PHASES OF FORCES AND MATTER .4

| SANFORD QWINTER, FULLER THEMSELVES

Networks quickly became a culmination point of many ideas, as they emerged and became revealed with technologies that gave us awareness. They are an example of a technology that after familiarization then appear everywhere and can explain prior mysteries. Buckminster was the first to conceptual regard structure as energy flows of information in his design process, which was a major driver for his geodesics. The Synergetic Weaves sketch by Fuller is part of an exchange and collaboration between Fuller and Arthur H.C. von Hochstetter, M.D. where they discovered similarities between structure, human anatomy, cellular structures, and virtual infonetic networks.

Synergetic Weaves

10.2 10.3 10.4

THE INVENTION OF THE TRIANGULATED SPACE FRAME BY ALEXANDER G. BELL IN 1902 - NOT BY CHANCE . . .WAS ACTUALLY PRODUCED. . .BY THE SAME PERSON WHO INVENTED THE TELEPHONE.3

| MARK WIGLEY, NETWORK FEVER


10 11

10.1

(Un) Anticipatory Design

The Collage of Parts to Retro-Actively Compile functions

(Un) Anticipatory but Multi-Functional Design

The Junction of Standards, Un-Integrated

NEW TECHNOLOGY(OLD FORM)

TRADITIONAL FORM

NEW TECHNOLOGY

NEW PERFORMANCE

CRITERIA

DISCONNECT

FEEDBACK OF TECHNOLOGY

AND PERFORMANCE


12 13

[modErn] fUnCtionaL [pErformanCE] aESthEtiC

[tradition] StYLiZEd [faShion] aESthEtiC

NEW TECHNOLOGY AND DESIGN FEEDBACK

12.1

12.2

13.1

13.2

Fuller more than embraced the functional performance driven aesthetic. He was not an architect by trade, so he was not laden with the prejudices of the practice. He was an anticipatory designer, with knowledge of futuristic technologies, and he speculated pro-actively, but within his ambition every project was based in reality and detailed with systematic checking for the reality and possibility of the ideas. He borrowed from technologies and industries other than the building and architecture professions and developed his designs symbiotically between multiple scales, both at the material, physical, and structural level and at the global, infrastructural, and conceptual levels. He self-dubbed himself a comprehensive anticipatory design scientist, which was not far off. Fuller is often disregarded as an engineer want to be architect who puts geodesic domes over everything, while in fact his wonderfully complicated structures are only a small library of his multi-faceted endeavors. The shape of the geodesic

Ambitious Functionality and Radical Societal Invention

domes to him were irrelevant, they could be any shape, while he was concerned with the implications beyond, the operations of spaceship earth, as he titled one of his dozens of self-authored books ranging from engineering theoretics to poetry to childrens books.

Fullers dome over Manhattan is a good example of the scope and projective nature of some of his projects. The tensegrity structural system and detailing of connections was the only structure in the world that actually gains strength with size, which made the idea theoretically possible. At the larger scale however he was proposing the dome because saw the problem of smog in New York City and thought an 80 block canopy would provide climate control to save energy, filter smog, and provide cover, a section of the city where buildings would not need envelopes.

B U C K M I N S T E R F U L L E RTHE NEW FUTURE GROWTH: A Recreated Tactile Locality and Regional Connectivity

14 15

14.1 14.2

Fullers willingness to borrow from industries other than architecture and engineering in order to transcend the traditional rut of thinkers within their respective practices and to use current and even future technologies as drivers of design separated him from most post-war designers, and many aesthetically pre-occupied modern architects. The Dymaxion Car is a primary example of just such an exercise, developed by a design scientist, where Fuller saw the problems of the current cars and learned from the airplane industry and science of flying in order to create a lightweight extremely fast and efficient vehicle that could transport a large family (even up to 8 people).

The scope of design for the DYMAXION car not only included technology, science, and engineering beyond that of the rest of the automobile industry, the physicalities of the transportation, but addressed the issues beyond the shell of the car imbedded as metadata of automobile use and the end users. Society was burdened by antiquated cars that were slow, small, un-maneuverable, and inefficient, which affected everyday lives. Fuller decided not to make a stylish new model of a car, but saw the social implications of the current inadequacies of the cars in current use and looked to new technologies to drive the detailing and design. In this way DYMAXION (which is a portmanteau Fuller titled from dynamic, maximum, and ion) defined his work.

Performance [re]-Appropriation


16 17

CROSS-INDUSTRY DESIGN INNOVATION

16.1-16.2

17.1

17.2

17.3

17.4

AND FOLLOWING FROM THIS, THE APPLICATION AND EFFECT OF THE TECHNOLOGY ON ECONOMICS AND ULTIMATELY, THE EFFECT OF THE NEW TECHNOLOGY ON SOCIETY ITSELF.5

| R. BUCKMISNTER FULLER, THE YEAR 2000 (ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN)

This chart of the chronological discovery of the cosmic absolutes (the 92 elements) reveals the profile of the Industrial Revolution with the effects of time and technology. This was quintessential in many of Fullers writings in developing his arguments in the relationship of human curiosity, knowledge, technology, and society. As he states we are now in command of the complete inventory of building components with which the universe is structures, which means in a way that we have comprehensive knowledge of the foundations to the material world. This argument in and of itself illustrates the importance to him of the

word comprehensive and its implications in terms of being able to establish design and progress on a thorough understanding and frame, providing the ability to innovate and respond to more than personal preoccupations. In the world game Fuller believed that if computers were given all of the physical and metaphysical resources (catalogues) of the earth, then all human trends could be mapped, implying that to a certain degree now that we have such an extensive knowledge of the earth and society (and it continues to grow) we can exponentially foresee human trends. He was writing and developing these arguments

The Industrial Revolution Profile: Discovery Trend of the 92 Elements

in the 1950s, when computers barely existed as we know them today. Fullers continual pursuit of correlations between technology, science, and humans (which embodies a variety of concepts) is always visible in his projects, while writings and charts that developed such as this one not only demonstrates the connections that he attempted to reveal, but even touched the beginnings of opening up whole new worlds of collaboration, and cross-disciplinary sciences.

150

The Age of Reason Marked by Scientific Rigor, Empericism, and Reductionism Revealing the Trend Correlation of Technological Advancement to Scientific Knowledge

Approximate Cummulative Total Number of Inventions in Science and Technology 10,000

THE ENLIGHTENMENT


18 19

16.1

DYMAXION MAP

Global Data andRelationship Representation

Through Energetic-Synergetic Geometrical Projections

DYMAXION BATHROOM

Pre-Fabricated Wet Cell Bathroom for Cheap and Efficient Production

and Use

MONTREAL EXPO GEODESIC

A Geodesic Dome with Dynamic Shading

EnclosureControlled by Sun-Trackingand Computer

Technology

Geodesic 50 Foot Hangar

Pre-Fabrciated LightweightStructure for Living:

A Functional Machine Deployable by Air

DYMAXION HOUSE

Mass-Production House with the Efficiency of

Umbrella and Bicycle with Singular Units or

Plug in Large Structures, Tensile Structure

Technology

DYMAXION CAR

Performance Informed Design, Functional, and Efficient

Transportation, Technology from Aerodynamic Airplanes

CONNING TOWERS

Broadcasting Stationsat Global Universitiesto Network Learning

and Knowledge - Synergetic Education

TRITON CITY

Self-DependantFloating Communities Near Metropolitan Downtowns

with Water to Solve Congestion and Provide Housing

CLOUD NINE

Speculations on Future Structures to Solve Climate Issues and Help

Energy Efficieny, Lightweight Struc-tures Utlizing Enviromental HeatGain Principles for Performance

21.1 23.3

21.4

D Y M A X I O N F U L L E R P R O J E C T STHE NEW FUTURE GROWTH: A Recreated Tactile Locality and Regional Connectivity

20 21

20.1 20.2

22.3

20.4 20.5

21.2

ACCOMODATING HUMAN UNSETTLEMENT, ARGUING THAT IT IS PRECISELY THE STABILITY OF UNSEEN INFRASTRUCTURAL NETWORKS THAT MAKES GLOBAL PHYSICAL INSTABILITY POSSIBLE AND DESIREABLE.6

| MARK WIGLEY, NETWORK FEVER

distortion created when translating the geometry of globe to a flat map, but also in order to reveal the character of the world, and the spatio-information implications simply visible in the oceans and continents.

Dymaxion map is an accurate world map for global data and relationship representation for the emerging international society through energetic-synergetic geometrical logics. Buckminster developed it not only for the sake that it is the most accurate existing map in terms of overcoming the

Global and Representational Geometries for Networking


22 23

DYMAXION MAP22.1

22.223.1

MORE AND MORE WITH LESS AND LESS UNTIL EVENTUALLY YOU CAN DO EVERYTHING WITH NOTHING.7

| R. BUCKMISNTER FULLER, NINE CHAINS TO THE MOON


24 25

FULLERS 1950S DATA MAPPING

The word DYMAXION means maximal gain of advantage or performance from minimal energy input The Dymaxion House, and Buckminsters other similarly related housing projects, is predicated on efficiency of structure, cost to build, performance of enclosure, and mobility. The units can be produced off site in a factory for efficient and economical construction then transported to the desired location. When the user is tired of the house in a year or two, then they can simply pick it up and move it to your next favorite place or plug into a different infrastructure. Land could be publicly owned and houses could be sold as models similar to the economics and industry of cars,

Anticipatory Design

FULLER RE-DEPLOYABLE HOUSINGYOU MAY SAY, WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH OUR PRESENT CUBICAL BUILDING? WE HAVE BEEN DOING PRETTY WELL. JUST THIS: THAT IT IS WASTEFUL.8

| R. BUCKMINSTER FULLER, DYMAXION HOUSE MEETING ARCHITCTURAL LEAGUE NEW YORK 1929


26 27

26.1

26.2

26.3 26.4

27.1

27.2

OPENOPEN

26.3

CLOSEDDYNAMIC

2001 : A SPACE ODYSSEY (FILMED IN 1968)

The Montreal Expo is a geodesic structure and designed with a dynamic shading aperture system to control the sun. This was an early and very advanced understanding of the implications of built ecologies and informational systems related to the globes environment in architecture. The dynamic shading was controlled by sun tracking devices that calculated the sun angles and a computer that would automatically close and open the apertures. This computer control and form of artificial intelligence was designed a year before the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey was released in 1968, which questions artificial intelligence, perhaps in a time that there was fear in the face of a type of technology that transcends the mechanical.

Enviro-Dynamic Facade

OPEN

INTEGRATEDDYNAMIC FACADE The building was extremely futuristic in its technologies, but in a practical, useful,

and efficient manner with the user in mind once again. The facade essentially was the total eseence of the building as it was fully-integrated with envelope, structure, shading, and intelligence. Every systems was compacted into one built design, into the detailing of the facade, in order to minimze, streamline, and make such a complicated building practical and possible. Additionally the sturcture and facade formed the architectural space as the program essentially only needed one open space, so the one system Fuller designed, the facade, integrated the programming and systems of every requirement, and more, which he needed to meet.

MONTREAL EXPO 1967

28.3

29.4

29.5

29.1

29.2 29.3


28 29

28.1

29.2

A WHOLE NEIGHBORHOOD CAN BE TREATED AS A SINGLE BUILDING FUNCTIONALLY AND ALL MECHANICAL SERVICES. . .CENTRALLY PROVIDED9

| R. BUCKMINSTER FULLER, A STUDY OF A PROTOTYPE FLOATING COMMUNITY

A 20 storey prototype floating community that is possible in 80% of metropolitan areas of 1,000,000 or more, mobile and self-sufficient is a steep order, but Fuller not only dreamt this socioeconomic world changer, but engineered it. He conducted social and economic information studies in order to ensure that the infrastructure would work and could support itself. He also physically detailed and engineered the structure,

Proven Mobile Community

which he proved was possible, similar to the steel plated concrete hull of the S.S. United States (the largest ship ever built) carrying 3,000 people weighed more (over 200,000 tons), and his city weighed less. It was also comprehensively systems integrated as it included power, housing, schools, shops, transport, mobility, and addressed the larger issue of urban crowding for major metropolitan areas with access to water.

TRITON DATA CALCULATIONS

TRITON CITY FLOATING COMMUNITY PROTOTYPE30.1


30 31

30.2 31.1

31.2

31.3

Fuller stated that three-quarters of our planet Earth is covered with water, most of which may float organic cities...floating cities pay no rent to landlords. This is consistent with his other ideas about mobile housing where people do not own the land so that they can move around as they please. Triton city is much more than that though. This culmination of Fullers work was developed by him first for the Tokyo government and then for the United States government, both seriously considered it as a solution to many overcrowded urban center problems, but the project eventually fell off the radar for various reasons. These floating cities would be placed in calm water, when not being

Infrastructural Community Comprehensive Systems Integration

moved, so transportation bridges could be placed connecting to them for daily commuting to urban centers, in this way alleviating traffic and allowing thousands of new people to move in close to jobs, and in communities of very cheap rental. Not only where these floating neighborhoods, but they were self-sustainable as they had nuclear energy generation embedded within them and for quality of life along with all the apartment units Fuller incorporated parks, docks, and even some systems for schooling and shops for daily items. The scope of this project demonstrates Fullers concern with the lives of the end-user as he carefully considered every aspect of

SELF-SUSTAINED MOBILE FLOATING COMMUNITY

MOBILE COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE

S Y S T E M S A N D P H Y S I C A L I N T E G R A T I O N S

society that would required and desired for an entire community of thousands of people to work, while at the same time he engineered the construction to safely float, and developed the necessary systems of support. The project was meant to provide good quality of life and cheap available housing for people who could not afford to live close to where they worked in expensive urban areas, and also aimed to solve larger problems of urban congestion, pollution, commuting.

THE 5 EMBEDDED

1. Housing

2. Energy Production

3. Public Gardens

4. Commuting

5. Water Port

THE NEW FUTURE GROWTH: A Recreated Tactile Locality and Regional Connectivity

32 33

32.1

33.1

33.2

S O U R C E S

Image Credits

A.1 Buckminster Fuller, Geodesic Structure Monohex, 1965B.1 Fuller and Sadao, Expo 67, 19672.1 Fuller and Sadao, Toronto Spadina project, 19704.1 Fuller and Sadao, Cloud 9 Project, 19626.1 Andreas Feininger, S.S. United States in New York, 19528.1 - 8.2 - Mike Mitchell and Dave Boutwell, Comprehensive City Project,19698.3 - 8.4 - Hans Hollein, Aircraft Carrier Projects, 1964 8.5 Elliot Mistur9.1 - Peter Cook, Archigram, Plugin-City, 19659.2 - David Green and Chalk and Herron, Cushicle and Capsule Housing (101), 196710.1 Alexander Graham Bell, Tetrhedral Space Frame, 190710.2 University of Washington, Hyaline Cartliage, 200510.3 Chest of Books, Muscles of the Human Body, 200112.1 Arquelogia del Futuro in Popular Science, Mobile Homes of the Future, 194112.2 Public Domain, Soviet Snowmobile, 197013.1 Buckminster Fuller, Dymaxion Car Diagram, 193313.2 Public Domain, Airstream Trailer, 200914.1 Buckminster Fuller, 90 Strut Geodesic Dome Tensegrity, 198014.2 Ferininger, Smog in New York City, 194316.1 Buckminster Fuller, Portrait, 195116.2 Buckminster Fuller, Portrait TIME Magazine, 196717.1 - Buckminster Fuller, Dymaxion Car Diagram, 193317.2 Public Domain Wichita Photos, Travel Air Airplane, 192917.3 NASA Langley Research Center, Airfoil Wind Tunnel, 199017.4 Buckminster Fuller, DYMAXION Car, 193318.1 Fuller 2000+, Buckminster Fuller, Profile of the Industrial Revolution, 193720.1 - Buckminster Fuller, Dymaxion Map, 194320.2 - Buckminster Fuller, Dymaxion House, 192920.3 - Buckminster Fuller, Dymaxion Bathroom, 194020.4 - Buckminster Fuller, Geodesic 50 Foot Hangar, 195420.5 - Buckminster Fuller, Triton City, 197321.1 - Buckminster Fuller, Dymaxion Car, 193321.2 - Buckminster Fuller, Montreal Expo Geodesic Dome 67, 196721.3 Shelter Magazine Buckminster Fuller, Conning Towers, 193221.4 - Buckminster Fuller, Cloud Nine, 196022.1-24.2 Buckminster Fuller, Dymaxion World, 195423.1 - Buckminster Fuller, Dymaxion World, 195424.1 - Buckminster Fuller, Dymaxion World, 195426.1 Shelter Magazine Buckminste Fuller, 10-deck Dymaxion House, 193226.2 Public Domain, Ship Mast, 196526.3 Buckminster Fuller, Triangulated Intersections Sketch, 1935 26.4 Buckminster Fuller, 4D Dymaxion House, 27.1 Buckminster Fuller, View from Dymaxion House, 195427.2 Buckminster Fuller, Structure Energy Flow Sketches, 194028.1-28.5 - Fuller and Sadao, Montreal Expo 67 Geodesic Dome, 1967

29.1 - Fuller and Sadao, Montreal Expo 67 Geodesic Dome, 196729.2-29.3 2001: A Space Odyssey, 196830.1 - Fuller and Sadao, Triton City, 196530.2 Buckminster Fuller, Triton City Model, 196531.1 - Buckminster Fuller, A Study of a Prototype Floating Community, 196531.2 Public Domain, S.S. United United States, 195231.3 Edward Robert Armstrong, Seadrome, 192732.1 Elliot Mistur, Diagram with Buckminster Fullers Triton City33.1 Ron Herron, The Walking City, 33.2 Elliot Mistur, Conceptual Diagram

Quotations & Notes

1. Fuller, R. Buckminster. Nine chains to the moon. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. 1963.2. Banham, Reyner. Megastructure: urban futures of the recent past. New York: Harper and Row, 1976.3. Wigley, Mark. Network Fever. Grey Room 04, Summer 2001, pp 82-122. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 2001.4. Kwinter, Sanford. Fuller Themselves. ANY 17, Forget Fuller?. 1997.5. Fuller, R. Buckminster. Nine chains to the moon. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. 1963.6. Wigley, Mark. Network Fever. Grey Room 04, Summer 2001, pp 82-122. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 20017. Fuller, R. Buckminster. Nine chains to the moon. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. 1963.8. Fuller, R. Buckminster. Dymaxion House Meeting. Architectural League. 1929.


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C O N T E M P O R A R Y R E S E A R C H

H U D S O NANALYSIS

EXISTING CONDITIONS

36 37

TROY DAM

CENTRAL PARK, manhattan

137 miles

As technology developed and the industrial age fully evolved the Hudson River and its surrounding water resources became a key infrastructural tool for manufacturing and transportation for multiple reasons. It is perfectly located in a prime east coast location, with its outlet into the ocean at the center of New York City and 137 miles north a connection to the Mohawk River and Erie Canal leading to the Mid-West. The metal works along the river was one of its most important industries and instrumental in winning the civil war (and did not slow down until after World War II). The Lower Hudson (beginning at the Troy Dam including all south of that point) was characterized as being utilized for transportation and commerce of the industrial goods, but the resource of the river also provided goods such as fish. The Lower Hudson is

Hudson River Industrial Conduit and Resource

a tidal estuary as the salt water from the ocean mixes back up the river as northern as Poughkeepsie, and the water level undergoes tidal shifts, which provides very unique and rich fishing conditions as ocean species such as Striped Bass swim up the river for mating. Never the less there were also many other industries as the rich valley offered particularly unique resources that lent to manufacturing such as ironworks, brick making, cement manufacture, logging, ice harvesting, and even the railroad and steam boat transportation on the river. Without this corridor New York State would be a completely different place, not to mention its impact on the United States. The corridor connects internationally through New York Citys harbor, nationally through the westward Erie Canal link to the Mid-Wests coal, and even to Montreal in the North. 137 miLE WatErWaY rEGion

S I T E I N T R O D U C T I O N

38 39

39.1

39.2

39.3

The Dichotomy of the river is the result of the potential resource for industry found in the power of the river current, while the beauty and recreation of the river is jeopardized by the industry. The Hudson River and surrounding area was extremely important when it was utilized for production as a regional assembly belt during the industrial revolution, which resulted in damaging the natural beauty and recreational resource of the river. When the industry left the region

due to various socioeconomic changes after World War II the recreational beltway had already been overrun by the industry, so the River was left without identity or support. As the current trend for growth in the region is increasing, how can the area find a new industry and support for development, while at the same time promote the rivers beauty and recreation? How can local relationships be established and encouraged by the infrastructure of the new industry?

HUDSON VALLEY REGIONgrowth trend [ percentage ]

BROOKLYNgrowth trend [ percentage ]

2010 us census

5.8% 1.6%

The River Dichotomy and Potential Rebirth


40 41

40.1

The river is actually an estuary as the waters are tidal and partially brackish. Native Americans called it the River that Flows two Ways as the unique condition of the tidal waters and river current provides for a very rich and robust ecological system that allows ocean fish species to swim up the river to mate, but also fosters shoreline wetlands and vegetated shallows important to biodiversity. The 300 (plus) miles of shorelines are quite important to the river as the deeper waters provide for robust fish species and large vessels to pass, while the shorelines host the vegetation and species critical to the biodiversity that is important to the survival of the ecosystem of the river, the valley region, and also tidal mitigation. There are over 7000 acres of tidal wetlands and 6000 acres of vegetated shallows that coalesce along the shores and provide shelter from the currents

Hudson River Ecological Traits and Damaged Biodiversity

and industrial traffic of the river, while provide a buffer zone of ecosystem processes important for nutrients, sediment removal, and oxygen enrichment. Most importantly they provide a mitigating buffer zone of floodwater storage, as floods are common to the river seasonally as the Hudson swells with melting ice from northern mountains and the tides. Since the industrial age the wetlands have been rapidly destroyed as the shorelines are developed and evolve into hard engineered shorelines, while a the same time the water levels are rising and there is no room for the wetlands to migrate because of the hardened shorelines. In order to save the ecology of the river the shorelines must be soft engineering in some sense in order to reverse the loss of habitat, biodiversity, flood storage. water filtering, and stop the increase in water velocity,

137 miles

TROY DAM

CENTRAL PARK

hUdSon riVEr tidaL WEtLandS


42 43

River as Assembly Line and Access to Coal

The Erie Canal was one of man-kinds greatest feats in construction as it connected the western United States, especially coal from the mid-west, to the east coast, which meant the Hudson River waterway. This junction happened at the Troy dam and the Mohawk River Industrial Waterway so historically Troy was one of the most important cities in the United States, at one point it was the wealthiest city, and the heart of United States iron works. The manufacturing energy source of the time was primarily coal, where water power was unavailable, so the connection by barge to the mid-west coal was essential for the Hudson river industry. This also rendered the

E r i E C a n a L L o C k S a n d L E V E L p r o f i L E

Hudson river transport all the more important as it was now a safe, convenient, and fairly easy route of transportation from New York City to Chicago or other destinations west of Troy.

Beyond all of the regional and national connections vital to the infrastructure of the industry the mechanics and systematic approach of assembly that the industries used the Hudson River for was beneficial to business and efficiency. The entire region of waterway from north to south (with the current) could be understood as an assembly line, both between companies and even within companies for particular products. As

factories were located directly on the banks of the river they could dump products onto barges directly on the river ready to move rather than creating an extra step for themselves within production. If a factory had to be located in a particular location in relationship to a resource, or simply for the need of waterfront access, rather than creating massive factories with interior large assembly and transportation mechanism, the river was utilized and particular tools and processes could be located next to their required resources.

t r o Y

n Y C

H I S T O R Y O F T H E H U D S O N R I V E R V A L L E Y

45.1


44 45

44.1 - 44.2

Distributed Industry and Transportation Locality

There were two types of workers along the Hudson and similarly two dimensions to their experiences: the local passing along good, and the traveling worker distributing goods locally or passing through and stopping in locally. Of course the commerce and economy supported huge populations of people throughout the regions in all of the cities, but there were hundreds of thousands of industrial workers along the river. Many would be traveling along on the ships or even with the goods on the river, like loggers, but also many would be in the factories along the river. Both had very different, but similar, relationships to the region. The workers living along the river and working every day in a

hUdSon riVEr indUStriES

local shop had intimate relationships and lives with their correlated locations, but they spent their time working on the goods and being affected by each end of the river. They existed physically on a locality along the river, but felt the presence of the beyond extending in each direction along the flow of the river. Similarly the traveling workers were coming from a distant place and going to another place, they were familiar with the riverway just as the trip, yet they were stopping along the way experiencing the localities along the river and intimately experienced the riverway. Although it is two different conditions both felt the other, as the river has a continual locality yet presence of what lies beyond yourself.

Ice and Logging Industries

Ice harvesting and logging were two of the largest industries that benefitted directly from the river as the goods were floated in the water down the river to transport, while also some ice and some trees could be collected in the valley itself. Although the Hudson has current and some salt water and tidal forces the river often freezes, in many places solid. Ice was important before refrigeration and was continually in demand, while logging is always required like anywhere else. Another factor to the river freezing is that ice boating was a sport very popular in that time and enjoyed by many well-off such as the Roosevelts. It is an example of the recreation once important to the river, also paddleships.

46.1

46.2

46.3

47.1


46 47

Even with all of the success and apparent dependence on the region the industry left with the decline of the industrial age soon after World War two. This is directly reflected in the city of Troys population graphed over time, its peak being in 1910. As the are became completely consumed with exactly what was so important to it, the industry along the river, its fate became entangled with the businesses. The qualities of the river itself were completely overrun and fell by the wayside. This was not for reasons of social, philosophical, or unexplained reasons, but is directly tied to two spatial and physical consequences of the industry of the river; the consequences were that the river was largely polluted and damaged from improper industrial waste management, and that the riverbanks were largely occupied by industrial facilities and in most areas had rail road lines directly built on the shorelines, even on both sides in some places. These two problems were present during the use

Industrial Shadow and Aftermath of Decline

TROY (EXAMPLE POPULATION TREND)

us census

10,000

90,000

1800

19101950

2010(1946 end to WW II production)

of the industry and were left as shadows of the past for the last 60 years. As early as the 1960s people realized the waste mistakes that had been made and actions were taken to try to resolve the pollution problems. Along with many policies and public acts to try to help the ecosystem and prevent further damage extensive dredging has been enacted in order to clean up the waters.

Today the Hudson continues to improve and return to a state of natural equilibrium, which it needed help to do. As many points still are, the water was too contaminated to swim in and fishing was prohibited or limited to prevent sickness. Although it has been found that some fish have evolved already to survive in PCB (the pollution leaked) contaminated waters the river was damaged beyond what it would naturally recover from. The Hudsons reputation was also damaged as people err on the side of safety and today many people assume it is unsafe to use.

T H E M O D E R N D I L E M M A S

48.1


48 49

PCBs and Dredging the Hudson

As the Hudson has suffered from the industry that also allowed this country and region to thrive, the pollution caught up with the ecosystem. Much of the waste and dirty manufacturing happened before there was any care or guidelines to hold companies responsible, there was also not enough general knowledge to realize what the materials used in the new technologies and modern industrial processes could cause. PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) were rampantly dumped in the river and until the 1960s and 70s there was no realization of how harmful they were to the environment. Now the first phase of the dredging Hudson cleanup project is completed and second phase under way. The goal is to remove PCB deposits (by digging and removing from the river bed) as they will not naturally degrade or disappear. This was greatly debated as it means that some toxins will be re-suspended in the water, but it is a necessary cost, as was decided.

The dredging is only taking place north of the Troy dam, and mostly in one stretch about 2 miles long. This is because most of the industry that dumped the PCBs happened in that area and even though the whole river is contaminated to a certain degree much of it is dependant of being downstream from these deposits where the current brings them from to contaminate the rest of the river. Dredging is very expensive and time consuming both in removal and processing. To de-water the sediments is a large process, then the left over material must be taken away by railroad to isolated and contained dumps. To complete the first phase and with the dredging projects completion in site the Hudson is on the upturn of recovery.

DREDGING PROCESSING PLANTThe process to de-water the removed contaminated waste is extensive.

DREDGING REMOVAL AND BARGESWhen digging contamination is re-suspended in the water so the process is delicate.

PCB MICROBIAL DEGRADATIONThe PCBs do not naturally degrade, which is why they are so harmful, but research is finding ways for microbial degradation (a natural process).

KEY (Water Pollution)Muncicipal Water IntakesPollutedSuitable for BathingSuitable for Water SupplySelected Urban Areas

WatEr poLLUtion(1966 rEport)

50.1 51.3

51.2

51.1


50 51

Industrial Skeletons and Facility Degredation

Historic industrial warehouses have been prized as real estate commodities for years. Today in Manhattan retrofit industrial sites with modern lofts are among the most expensive and most coveted flats in the world. Although there are still some facilities in use along the Hudson, there are countless industrial ruins that are abandoned, condemned, and even forgotten occupying the shore line, or adjacent space. These waterfront commodities would seemingly be prizes in the real estate world, however they are absorbedly expensive to retrofit and for a variety of reason are out of reach of interested prospectors of such gems. There will always be great difficulty in restoring such facilities as they were used for heavy industrial purposes in a time when many safety precautions were not taken and the dangers were not understood, so many are toxic brownfields or at least structurally dangerous buildings. There are a few examples of beautiful sites being revamped for modern use, such as in the city of Hudson where a warehouse has recently been turned into a venue for music, however the vast majority are rapidly decaying. If they are not decaying and acting as problematic sites themselves they often also simply create restricted areas along the river front leaving areas of inaccessible

river shore. The riverfront ruins need to be addressed, and can be an asset for the region, with the proper means and support, which today does not exist. Although many are still detrimental to the environment and considered EPA brownfield and remediation sites, there is no investor capable of resolving the situation or even retrofitting them without some sort of return or support system, and as many are rural (outside of the cities along the river) there is essentially no use for them. With the proper support and surrounding infrastructure, both for access and promotion of inhabitation and demand, then the current ruins caught in limbo (similar to the Hudson River) will be an important historical network of distributed reminders of the past glory of the river, and also the mistakes. In the same way that the historical manors and country homes of families such as the Rockefellers are today beacons of tourism and attraction for the Hudson River Valley, the historical industrial facilities have potential. The problem of todays very fast rate of decay must be slowed, and stopped however as the buildings are reaching a critical age and the decay rate is only increasing.

rEnSSELaEr roLLinG miLL

52.1

53.1


52 53

Trains Along the Hudson River Shoreline

The corridor from New York City to Albany has been an important transportation connection since the industrial age, and before. Even today without the need for the canal connections to the mid-west for coal energy, the connections through New York are centered around touching New York city and the triangle of the Capital District (Albany). They act as a double and inseparable node, even though they are simultaneously distant (150 miles). During the industrial age when the extremely fast industrial development of the river valley

Changes to the River Bank

New York City is a special case because of the overpopulation and limited space, but it is a good example of riverbank buildup and morphology in order to extend the land to inhabit. Battery Park City is a perfect example, a whole neighborhood of high rise residential buildings built on engineered land. The treatment of the river bank is positive in that it is being addressed and utilized (again because of space), but this hard edge engineering is also precisely what is destructive to the ecosystem of the river. Manhattan hasnt had a natural edge for a long time, but it is also far from a soft engineered edge system, which will also contribute to helping the ecosystem.

S H O R E L I N E C O N D I T I O N S

MANHATTAN WATERFRONT BEFORE BATTERY PARK CITY (1959)

SHORELINE DEVELOPMENT FOR PROGRAM (2009)

MANHATTAN POINT MORPHOLOGY occurred they were required to lay the tracks as efficiently as possible, and cheaply. The river banks were the perfect opportunity to follow for two reasons; the industry occurring along the river could directly load and off load products and materials from the water to trains and their facilities, the second is for the easy terrain to navigate as the banks would be fairly flat and fairly free of obstructions. It would have taken a great amount of energy and means in order to go around blockages and through mountains if they did not go on the riverbanks. As the train railroads run adjacent to much of the river shoreline, some local spatial implications are problem some, except where they

are extremely advantageous for industrial reasons. Railroad tracks effectively cause a hard and close to impassable boundary, they exist for the passage of the trains in the dimension of time and movement as the trains pass, from one distant place to another distant place, however the tracks exist locally so should respond locally. There are a variety of conditions for the Hudson tracks, including passing over water areas to cut down distance, however the majority exists on grade and if there is a way to pass them to reach the river banks it occurs by bridge or tunnel, above or below, and these accesses are very limited as directly next to the train tracks is typically the waters edge.

54.1

54.2

54.3

55.1


54 55


56 57

INDUSTRY ON THE BANKS

Deserted Industrial Skeletons

Contamination Brownfields

Waterfront Real Estate

Restricted Areas Cutoff River indUStriaL ZonE

W A T E R F R O N T D I S C O N N E C T S

56.1

57.1

57.2

57.3

DETAILING A DREAM: The Post-War Dichotomy and Buckminster Fuller

58 59

DETAILING A DREAM: The Post-War Dichotomy and Buckminster FullerTECHNO-FUTURISM : Architecture, Science, And Technology

tranSit ZonE

TRANSITON THE BANKS

Corridor Built Of Convenience and Economy for Flat Banks

Railroads And Highways

Transit Lines Usually On Grade

Occupy The Shoreline

But Cut Off Local Use Of Shore

59.1

59.2

59.3

58.1

60 61

RECREATION ON THE BANKS

Today No Recreation Identity

Few Access Points

Undesirable Shoreline

Highway And Railroad Crossing

Cut Off From Local Access

transit cut-off PARK ZONE

61.1

61.2

61.3

60.1

TECHNO-FUTURISM : Architecture, Science, And Technology DETAILING A DREAM: The Post-War Dichotomy and Buckminster Fuller

Water Access Demand

The Hudson River watershed, essentially the valley, contributes to New York States amazing abundance of water and itself is comprised of a multitude of streams, rivers, lakes, and ponds. All of these are often utilized as waterfront real estate and places of activity by locals, especially as the Hudson became polluted and unavailable, the fresher sources surrounding were the go to. Because of this there is a large system of public water accesses, such as parking for fishing, around the Hudson and not necessarily right on the shoreline, while the Hudson is somewhat difficult to reach and often undesirable as the sites are surrounded by train lines and highways, although there are some access points. The map to the left shows that there is only a handful of major public boat accesses along the Hudson, although there are private marinas also. Although there is often a sizable population of fishermen in boats on the river, they are often the privileged few sports fishermen, there is very little recreational boating, especially as far north as Troy. Similarly although there are numerous state parks and recreation areas along the Hudson River they are disconnected from each other, from the river, or difficult to reach. All of this being said there is no great effort to make the Hudson River usable as what demand there is, often is satisfied by the surrounding watershed and the Hudson is not even seen as a possibility.

The Colleges and Universities in the Hudson River Valley are highly concentrated, which also represents a population of higher learning, a generally young and active age group. This potentially could be seen as demand for recreational water use. The problem is that because of the reputation, history, and availability of the Hudson river it does not even have an identity to come into the radar of the demand.

BOAT aCCESS and hiGhEr LEarninG popULation

KEY (ACCESS AND SCHOOLS)Colleges and UniversitiesWatershed Public Fishing AccessFull Facility Public Boat Launch

1966 HUDSON RIVER VALLEY COMMISSIONA waterfront renewal plan by Governor Rockefeller with marinas, parks, housing, and shops. The plan was not perfect, but there was a general realization of the missed opportunity of waterfront, and the plan was an attempt to revive the shoreline and economy, it was never built.

TODAYS HUDSONThe Albany riverfront today is completely cut-off as there is a park, but spatially the city is disconnected. The opposite bank is occupied by the train station, and there also is a large park/green area, that is deserted, unused, and unreachable as the highways and tracks built have completely blocked.

URBAN WATERFRONTTodays urban waterfronts along the Hudson often look like this in Albany. Without a decent connection or at least acknowledgement of the river the people, and potential demand, have no ability to tap into the potential or even realize that the river has a presence that is real and very close.

62.1

63.1

63.2

63.3


62 63

TROY DAM

CENTRAL PARK

PEEKSKILL

BEACON

POUGHKEEPSIE

KINGSTON

HUDSON

ALBANY

32 miles

32 miles

19 miles

17 miles

19 miles

44 miles

137 miles

SHORELINE CITIES AND RAILROAD STOPS

raiLroad LinES64.1

The cities along the Hudson River shorelines are numerous as they sprouted as working and then wealthy financial cities of the industrial age. They then crashed with the exodus of the industries in the valley. Similar to the Troy population shown earlier they all faltered after World War Two and are still struggling, but population is on the slight increase now. Today the cities serve as stops for the trains along the shores, which keeps them regionally connected, and this also services the trains which would not stop locally otherwise. This small connectivity to the localities along the river is greatly important to the region, which would be more isolated otherwise. The great benefit is that although many of the cities have the character of small towns, and even extremely remote or secluded some of them, possibly even romantic, they are connected to a railroad that comes and goes from New York City. Also at the other end the Rail either goes north to Canada and Montreal, or west to Buffalo and Niagara Falls. This is very unique as most remote small towns, and even on waterfront real estate, are far removed. This provides for the possibility of commuting to jobs for people who would like the pleasantry of living in such a place, or also for ease of visits for tourists and possibly future museum goers.

These good traits and benefits from the past industrial infrastructure of rails and connected cities have great potential, and are partially enjoyable now. Still however the river is lost within that frame of connectivity, as the very thing feeding this potential (the rail roads) is the main physical component and instrument of destroying any local relationships to the river.

Population and Connectivity

KEY (CITIES AND SCHOOLS)Colleges and UniversitiesUrban Areas (NYS Census 2000)

Poughkeepsie

New York City

Coxsackie

Troy lock + damCity of Troy

Albany Rensselaer

Athens

Saugerties

Kingston

NewburghCornwall

HaverstrawNyack

CatskillHudson

Tivoli

Beacon

Peekskill

Ossining

Tarrytown

Yonkers


64 65

There are many layers of systems and functions embedded on the shorelines of the Hudson, but currently they are often running together in conflict as none are integrated together or choreographed in relationship to any other. The ecosystem of the river today includes many human interventions and is highly altered by our presence (as in much of the world), but it can barely be considered an ecosystem as there is no network of relationships or symbiotic functions currently working. The river is so damaged that even though it is on the upturn with modern efforts to restore its environment, it has no identity for people to latch onto, and has a reputation where people avoid it like it is dangerous, which it was because of the contamination and misuse that the river suffered. Over time eventually this will change and people will once again use the river when the waters

Instrumental Shoreline Characteristics and Projective Strategies

are safe, however the physical river banks themselves are degrading and changes still have to be made for better physical management of the shorelines. Additionally even if people wanted to use the river there is not very good availability of water front, as the railroad system will not be moving. What is needed in the region is a rebirth of the recreation of the Hudson River, as not only a natural wonder for people to enjoy, but implemented through a multi-functional infrastructural system that also serves to preserve, restore, and regenerate the river and shoreline conditions. This rebirth can be implemented through a system that will directly respond to and foster the utilization of the shorelines through 4 key elements: Transportation, a New Industry, Wetlands Preservations, and Recreational Waterfronts.

R E B I R T H O F T H E R I V E R A S C O M M O D I T Y

SHORELINE ELEMENTS

1. Transport (Infrastructure)

2. New Industry (Support)

3. Wetlands (Preserve)

4. Recreation (Waterfront)

1.

2.

3.

4.

HUDSON RIVER 1920S TOURISM

66 67

67.1

CEnSUS popULation trEnd potEntiaLS

10

20

30

40

50

60

1949

1952

1955

1958

1961

1964

1967

1970

1973

1976

1979

1982

1985

1988

1991

1994

1997

2000

2003

2006

$ B

illio

ns

Fiscal Year

FEDERAL INVESTMENT FOR INTERCITY TRANSPORTATION

250

500

750

1,000

1929

1944

1951

1961

1963

1965

1967

1969

1971

1973

1975

1977

1979

1981

1983

1985

1987

1989

1991

1993

1995

1997

1999

2001

2003

Pas

seng

er M

iles

(bill

ions

)

WWII

B-707in Service

Interstate System80% Complete

AmtrakCreatedInterstate

SystemStarted

Fiscal Year

Transit Trends

As the trend of growth in the Hudson River Valley continues to grow, seemingly much of the population coming from New York City, the transportation railroad lines along the river connecting to Albany in the north are important as ever. These lines have arguably lent to what activity the region has maintained through the past few struggling decades. The U.S. census shows a huge area considered urban in the Hudson Valley, especially following right along the river banks, which is a unique condition as these urban areas are also remote and adjacent to natural resources such as the river, many water bodies, and mountain ranges. This is what makes the area so beautiful, yet at the same time offers people the railroad lines, urban areas, New York City, and the capital city Albany.

Passenger railroads have never developed or taken root as strongly as in Europe for the United States, and the statistic trends show how highways are only increasing along with air travel, and railways are actually decreasing. This is reflected in the federal investment as the government spends money where there is demand, however it is a two way problem. If the government invested in railroads for better connections, then there would be more use, options, and better speed for users, further encouraging the use of rails.. Because of the risk and huge investments that it requires the United States simply cant spend Billions of dollars on extreme new rail road systems, especially as our antiquated inefficient rails, mostly gets done what is necessary. If the rail road system is integrated with other functional systems and programs, so multiple infrastructures and systems are built simultaneously, then it might be different.

S Y S T E M S A N D T E C H N O L O G Y

U.S. INTERCITY PASSENGER TRENDS

KEY (TRANSPORT QUANTITY)HighwayAirIntercity Passenger Rail

KEY (TRANSPORT BUDGET)HighwayAirIntercity Passenger Rail

KEY (URBAN AREAS)Urban Area (U.S. Census)Water BodiesHudson River


68 69

68.1

68.2

68.3 69.1

14 miles

HUDSON RIVER TRANSIT:relat ive t ime - distance scale

PROPOSED HIGH SPEED MAGLEV:shrunken distance t ime scale

30 m

inut

es

30 m

inut

es

150

min

utes

HUDSON RIVER TRANSIT:Relative Time - Distance Scale

FUTURE HIGH SPEED RAIL:Shrunken Geographic Distance

NEW YORK STATE HIGH SPEED RAIL PLAN

High Speed Rail

There has been multiple plans made for high speed rails in the United States, but most seriously was the 2009 Vision for High Speed Rail in America, made by the Obama administration. Unfortunately the national plan has fallen to the side for the time being, but this federal movement is floating around in the governments project book. Within this national plans one of the routes includes the route from New York City to Albany, along the Hudson River, basically re-purposing the existing tracks and adding a line for High Speed use. High speed trains can be a variety of technologies, offering speeds up to 300 mph, which would mean that it could be possible to go from New York City to Albany in 30 minutes. This means a virtual shrinking of the geographic distance of the whole region, so that the entire Hudson Valley is rendered within daily commuting distance of another other point within the valley, and opens up easy day trips and tourism for New Yorkers and visitors. These implications through the

VISION FOR HIGH-SPEED RAIL IN AMERICA

implementation of the new technologies of improved train lines implies that the whole region could potentially explode in growth and size as the trend of people moving to the area would presumably increase. This new transportation system would provide stops along the river with an explosion of users, so the struggling cities along the river would become new nodes of population growth and hot spots of destination with identity for the river. The current trend in the region for population growth is currently not the same for the cities, as the cities populations are actually slightly decreasing, so these new nodes of high volume, highly connected locations would magnetize the currently spread out growth into popular, or at least busy, hot spots.

HIGH-SPEED RAIL NORTHEAST REGION


70 71

70.1

70.2

71.1

71.2

ALBANYSTATION

PENNSTATION

High Speed Train

A High Speed train that travels 361 mph (possible with MAGLEV technology) would take 25 minutes of travel plus 25 minutes of stop-ping time for a total of a 50 minute commute from New York City Penn Station to Albany.50 Minutes =U.S. Commuting Time Average

POGH KEEPSIESTATION

PENNSTATION

> 50 MIN. Amtrak

Takes 2.5 hours traveling at 79 mph to reach Albany from New York City, with no delays.

The Hudson River (the river that flows both ways) is a tidal estuary so salt water mixes from the ocean connection.

The Hudson river is narrowest at Albany (before it reaches the Troy dam) so the tidal effect is greatest at that point.

Elliot Mistur Final Project

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