Axis Civitas

Introduction & Purpose | Objectives | Project Program | Site | Jury | Resources | Awards

Winning Entries

Introduction

Axis: a partnership; the central part about which a network is arranged.
Civitas: citizenship, especially as imparting shared responsibility, a common purpose, and sense of community.

Gowanus by Design presents its third international design competition, “Axis Civitas.” The two-component competition asks participants to first map and present conditions relevant to the Gowanus area in a newly conceived Gowanus Atlas and second to use that analysis as the basis for their design of a Gowanus Urban Field Station that is open to the public. Gowanus Atlas, a collective mapping of the watershed surrounding the canal, will be a planning tool and local resource supported by the Field Station to facilitate the community's grassroots collaboration in the continuing evolution of the neighborhood.

Purpose

Despite being a poster child for the negative impact of 19th and 20th century industry and resulting toxic waterway, the Gowanus neighborhood today offers a rich diversity of uses, demographics, history, and opportunity for growth. Gowanus Atlas will synthesize the area’s underlying characteristics, positive and negative, and visually explain in the Field Station how complex urban and ecological conditions can be assessed for their impact on 21st century planning strategies. It is the goal of Gowanus by Design to not only aggregate, collect, and distribute content specific to the area, but also to reveal the conditions that define the area in Brooklyn known as “Gowanus” and influence its evolution. With an abundance of community voices with shared and diverging opinions on what is best for the area’s future, participants are also encouraged to reach out to local community groups (see Resources) to learn how their goals fit within the larger context of a shifting urban context and how they can be represented.

With the recent start of construction for a 700-unit residential building and a nearby large parole center for the Department of Correction on the banks of the canal less than two years after Hurricane Sandy, the Environmental Protection Agency’s [EPA] announcement last year of a ten-year clean up plan for the Superfund site, and the Department of Environmental Protection's Long Term Control Plan to reduce Combined Sewer Overflows [CSOs] in the watershed, the community has been forced to grapple with the conflicting impacts of hazardous subsurface conditions, private development, agency oversight, CSOs, and global warming. The competition is a reaction to these forces and is intended to address the lack of a coherent sustainable urban strategy for this area of Brooklyn.

Objectives

1. Collect, research, synthesize, and visualize the changing conditions in and around the Gowanus.

2. Provide the community new resources so future decisions on growth and development may be fully evaluated.

3. Support the voices of various community groups in the Gowanus area.

4. Help physically define the Gowanus neighborhood.

5. Encourage performance-based planning strategies.

6. Speculate on the impact of changing conditions over the next 10, 20, 50, 100, and 500 years.

Part I

Gowanus Atlas

Gowanus Atlas is the collection of all the participant maps. Each participant will choose which condition to map (see Submission Requirements); these maps will display historical and/or current conditions and speculate on how they could change in the future. Traditional examples of a “map” include a flat-surface rendering of terrain, a graphic representation of a transportation system, or the result of analyzing information that is difficult to visualize, such as the human genome. Non-traditional mapping methods are encouraged, but they must be clear in their format and easily understood by the public, and not rely on the understanding of highly specialized areas of research. Maps should contemplate unique conditions arising from overlay and reimagining of previously separate information. For example, a visualization of underground streams synthesized with the combined sewer system would yield new information on the collection and release points of each network.

Entrants are encouraged to consider mapping applications, software, and traditional, innovative, and visionary methods for documenting and presenting their selected conditions.

As an initial organizing structure, five main categories and their respective conditions are listed below. However, participants may propose other categories for mapping and inclusion in Gowanus Atlas:

Hydrology

Underground Springs | Storm Water | Precipitation | Surface Water | Combined Sewer System | Overflows

Ground

Geology | Vegetation | Land Use | Dirt | Green Space | Parking |
Vacant Lots

Infrastructure Systems

Public Transit | Roads | Pedestrian Walkways | Bicycle Paths |
Combined Sewer System | Utilities | Communications

Social Landscape

Schools | Community-based Institutions | Political Boundaries | Recreational Activities | Demographics

Built Environment

Uses | Historical Significance | New Construction | Size | Typology

See the Resources section for examples of mapping and displaying complex information.

Part II

Gowanus Urban Field Station

The Field Station is the physical component that houses and supports the mapped conditions presented in Gowanus Atlas. The Field Station may be located on the canal, or on any public way or publicly-owned land in the watershed. The synthesized information that results from map overlays should anchor the Field Station to a specific site that further enhances its purpose.

As home to Gowanus Atlas, the Field Station is a year-round facility that supports the community with exhibit, recreational, academic, cultural, research, and work spaces supporting local organizations, groups, and individuals that observe and report on the impacts in the watershed caused by development, changes in infrastructure, global warming, planning strategies, the clean up process, etc. It offers shelter to its occupants and visitors. It does not have to adhere to zoning requirements, but it should be a fully accessible place(s) that is buildable. It will serve people from the community, school groups, out-of-towners, travelers, planners, etc.

The size, location, and materiality of the Field Station is at the sole discretion of the entrant(s), but should be informed by and embody the spirit of the mapped conditions.

Programmatically, participants should consider the following in their designs for the Field Station: lobby/reception, auditorium, exhibits, academic space for interns and after school programs, Gowanus resources, work spaces for an artist-in-residence and a scientist-in-residence, recreation (e.g. canoe launch on the canal), work space for a community liaison, support and circulation spaces, etc.

Site

For purposes of this competition and in the hopes of further defining Gowanus, the boundary is the watershed (see Resources). However, since the conditions may not concisely end at the edge of the watershed, entrants should consider how impacts on their mapped conditions may originate beyond the watershed, and conversely, how changes near the canal may have an impact beyond the watershed.

Jury

Susannah C. Drake FASLA AIA
Principal, dlandstudio

David J. Lewis AIA
Principal, LTL Architects

Brian McGrath
Dean, School of Constructed Environments, Parsons The New School For Design

Andrea Parker
Executive Director, Gowanus Canal Conservancy

Richard A. Plunz
Professor of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, Columbia University

Robert M. Rogers FAIA
Partner, Rogers Partners

Claire Weisz FAIA
Principal, WXY architecture + urban design

Adam Yarinsky FAIA LEED AP
Principal, Architecture Research Office

Resources

Downloads:

• AutoCAD 2004 Site Plan

• AutoCAD Gowanus Base Plan with Buildings

• Gowanus Canal Sewer Shed Map

• Proteus Gowanus Flickr Database (Maps, Photos, and Projects)

Data, Mapping, and Visualization Information:

• 2010 Census Bureau's American Community Survey - New York City Map

• 2010 Census Bureau's American Community Survey - U.S. Map

• EPA Gowanus Canal Superfund Site

• Edward Tufte's Visual Explanations

• NYC Oasis Map

• Photogrammar Web-Based Platform Project at Yale

• Stanford Spatial History Project

• UCLA Digital Humanities Project - Hypercities

Community Stakeholders:

• Gowanus by Design

• Arts Gowanus

• Boerum Hill Association

• Bridging Gowanus - Councilmember Brad Lander's Community Planning Initiative

• Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association

• Carroll Gardens Coalition for Respectful Development (CORD)

• Cobble Hill Association

• Columbia University Urban Design Lab

• Community Board Six

• Fifth Avenue Committee

• Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus (FROGG)

• Friends of Douglass Greene Park

• Gowanus Alliance

• Gowanus Canal Conservancy

• Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation

• Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club

• The Gowanus Studio Space

• Gowanus United

• National Grid (responsible for Citizens MGP site clean up)

• Pratt Institute Center for Community Development

• Proteus Gowanus

• Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation

• Stormwater Infrastructure Matters

General Gowanus Information:

• Gowanus on Wikipedia

• New York Times Superfund Article

City Planning Information:

• NYC Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency

• NYC Department of City Planning: Gowanus Canal Corridor Framework
  

Awards

Prizes will be awarded to the 1st place, 2nd place, and honorable mention winners. A total of $7,500 will be distributed to the winners at the discretion of the jury and the competition committee. A select group of entries will be included in a public exhibit and presented to agencies and local elected officials to help influence the city's effort to rezone the Gowanus neighborhood.