Nomad Bridge Reconnecting Hudson Yards to Manhattan Bridging its paces and spaces

Synopsis

Nomad Bridge is a sweeping linear architectural proposition that acts as a transient space reconnecting the seemingly disproportionate scale of the newly built and controversial Hudson Yards back to the rest of Manhattan. It juxtaposes and punctures the concentric and quasi-gated Hudson Yards’, responding to plutocratic, urban relocation and concomitant climatic concerns.

Catalysed by Archimera [a collective and chimeric remapping of Manhattan], the thesis investigates Manhattan’s overlying urban grid and the underlying remnant narratives of its perpetual apathetic overturning ground. In doing so, anchoring itself in a fissure formed between the nomadic Madison Square Garden [MSG] and the suppressed and increasingly overloaded Pennsylvania Station [Penn Station].

Beginning at the tangent of MSG and 31st Street, the thesis proposes both an annexed concourse for Penn Station that unpacks and absorbs the station’s inevitable expansion and the relocation of the storied entertainment arena. Subsequently, the architecture unfurls along and reimagines 31st street as a densely programmed public space in the form of an inhabited land locked bridge. A bridging process that paves the way for a proposed JJ Train [JFK to Jersey] and frees up plots for sports and industrial yards by inverting building and street footprints. The culminating bridging architecture provides sports facilities and their associated programmes at a scale appropriate to the metropolis, and in the process connecting Penn Station to The High Line, Whitney Museum, the Shed and ultimately Hudson Yards. Contents

Prologue 1 BURIED RAILWAYS 3 NOMADIC BUILDINGS 11 TIMELINE 33

I Situating Nomad Bridge 35 KEY 37 TRAVEL TIME 41 SUPERBLOCKS 43 UNLOCKING THE YARDS 45

II The Grids 49 THE PLANE TABLE 51 53 EXCAVATING 61 EXTRACTING 67 ANCHORING

III Unpacking Madison Square Gardens 73

IV Concourse 81 TEMPORAL BRIDGE 87 ATMOSPHERIC BRIDGE 99

V Bridging the Yards 119 REPOSE BRIDGE | SALT YARD 121 RESIDENCE BRIDGE 1 | SKYBOX 125 REHEARSALS BRIDGE | THEATRE YARD 129 PHYSIO BRIDGE | RANGERS AND KNICKS YARD 135 POSTAL BRIDGE 139 WATER YARD 143 RESIDENCE BRIDGE 2 | ARCHERY YARD 149 BUS & RESIDENCE BRIDGE 3 | YANKEES YARD 159 STUDIO BRIDGE | COMBAT YARD 167

Epilogue 175

Glossary of Narratives 179 PROLOGUE

Manhattan’s relentless and seemingly apathetic perpetual overturning of its ground births a multilayered and intertwined urban strata sedimented with a multiple interconnected past narratives. The seemingly archaeological-like process of excavating these narratives reveals multiple strands of Manhattan’s chimeric character, all still strongly present in the city today.

This brings us to the inextricably linked narratives of Hudson Yards, West Side Yard, The High Line, Pennsylvania Railroad Station and Madison Square Garden.

The narrative unfolds along Manhattan’s 31st Street, starting at the 7th Avenue moving westwards to Hudson River.

1 2 Buried Railways

1910

Old Pennsylvania Railroad Station

The original building, designed by Mckim Mead, was one of the first stations to include separate waiting rooms for arriving and departing passengers, and when built, these were among the city’s largest public spaces. Designed by Mckim, Mead and White in the Beaux-Arts style and completed in 1910, the station contained 11 platforms serving 21 tracks, in approximately the same layout as the current Penn Station.

3 4 Buried Railways

1965 1966

Old Pennsylvania Railroad Station Demolished The Suppressed Predatory New Penn Station

Passenger traffic began to decline after World Pennsylvania Station, also known as New York War II, and in the 1950s, the Pennsylvania Penn Station or Penn Station, is the main Railroad sold the air rights to the property intercity railroad station in New York City and shrank the railroad station. Starting in and the busiest in the Western Hemisphere, 1963, the above-ground head house and train serving more than 600,000 passengers per shed were demolished, a loss that galvanized weekday as of 2019. the modern historic preservation movement in the United States. Over the next six years, Being the busiest rail station in the country the below-ground concourses and waiting and entirely subterranean, Penn Station areas were heavily renovated, becoming the has been in dire need of an expansion with modern Penn Station, while Madison Square increasing congestion problems as well as Garden and Pennsylvania Plaza were built a poor atmospheric and image problem. above them. The sole remaining portions Commuters and visitors alike experience of the original station are the underground a poor and uncomfortable first impression platforms and tracks, as well as scattered of the city, crammed and shuffled along a artefacts on the mezzanine level above it. windowless and imperceptible space.

As it is capped from above by Madison Square Garden, it has begun a lateral subterranean expansion across to the opposite James A. Farley Post Office [Moynihan Train Hall].

Travellers and commuters unaffected during the demolition Travellers and commuters unaffected during the demolition 5 6 Buried Railways

1987

The West Side Yard

7 8 The Buried Railways

1987

The West Side Yard

The West Side Yard (officially the John D. There has been a long series of proposals to as a possible location for a New York Caemmerer West Side Yard) is a rail yard develop the rail yard air rights, including for Yankees stadium. The rail yard air rights owned by the Metropolitan Transportation a major expansion of Midtown Manhattan were proposed by the New York City bid for Authority on the west side of Manhattan by William Zeckendorf in the 1950s and for the 2012 Summer Olympics as the location in New York City. Used to store commuter a housing development considered by U.S. for the media centre, Olympic plaza, and rail trains operated by the subsidiary Long Steel in the 1960s. The West Side Yard was Olympic Stadium, to be occupied afterward Island Rail Road, the 26.17-acre yard sits designed with space left between the tracks by the New York Jets. However, by 2012 the between West 30th Street, West 33rd for columns to support development in air air rights where acquired for the Hudson Street, 10th Avenue and 12th Avenue. Built rights above the tracks. Yards real estate development, a novel yet to accommodate the need for more storage controversial project. capacity at Penn Station. The yard opened in Madison Square Garden considered a 1987, immediately increasing train capacity possible move to the site in the mid-1980s. through Penn Station. In the 1990s the air rights were considered

9 10 Nomadic Buildings

1966

Madison Square gardens arrives

Unlike the narratives of the Buried Railways, the Nomadic Buildings are ephemeral and traced back only by their namesake. Enter Madison Square Garden, a historic entertainment venue that has moved itself up and down Manhattan three times to date. Its First and Second iterations of 1879 and 1890, were the only instances built adjacent to Madison Square Garden I 1876 Madison Square Park. The current incarnation of Madison Square Garden sits atop the remains of Old Pennsylvania Station. As of 2013 The Garden has been given a 10 year lease period until it once again resumes its escapade across Manhattan.

Madison Square Garden II 1890

Madison Square Garden III 1925

Madison square Gardens IV 1966 11 12 Nomadic Buildings

1914

James A. Farley Post office to Moynihan train Hall

The James A. Farley Building is the main United States Postal Service building in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan and was built along with the original Pennsylvania Station in 1912. The building is famous for bearing the United States Postal Service creed: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."

Ironically, the postal services have begun to move out of the building. The western half of the Post Office which housed the mail sorting facility has already been abandoned with the services being carried out at the Morgan General Mail Facility, around the corner. The Eastern and Main Hall of the building is currently being taken over as an extension to Penn Station and renamed Moynihan train Hall.

13 14 "Death Avenue"

1850

Birth of The High Line

A nickname given to both Tenth and Eleventh Avenues on the west side of Manhattan during the 19th century. In 1847, the City of New York authorized the construction of railroad tracks along Tenth and Eleventh Avenues on Manhattan's West Side. The street- level tracks were used by the New York Central Railroad's freight trains, shipping commodities such as coal, dairy products and beef. However, so many accidents occurred between freight trains and other traffic with an estimated 548 deaths and 1,574 injuries by 1910.

Public debate about the hazard began during the early 1900s. In 1929 the city, the state, and New York Central agreed on the West Side Improvement Project, conceived by Robert Moses. The 13-mile (21 km) project eliminated 105 street- level railroad crossings and added 32 acres (13 ha) to Riverside Park; leading to the construction of the High Line.

15 16 The High Line

The Elevated Railway Solution

1933

17 18 The High Line

The Elevated Railway Solution

1933

A mile and a half long and 30ft above street level at its highest point, it stretched from the Meatpacking District on the Lower West Side up to West 34th Street, level with the Empire State Building, covering 22 blocks in total. At certain points the tracks disappeared into the upper floors of warehouse buildings in order to deliver meat, milk or manufactured goods, reappearing again on the other side.

19 20 The High Line

The Elevated Railway Abandoned

1999

21 22 The High Line

The Elevated Railway Reborn

2014

23 24 Hudson Yards

A FORTRESS OF CAPITAL

2020

25 26 Hudson Yards

The Intersection of a Buried and an Elevated Railway

2020

As the last large unbuilt plot in Manhattan, compounded with the redevelopment of surrounding High Line, the air rights to West Side Yards became greatly valued and sought after.

The eventual Hudson Yards development is a 28-acre real estate development, comprising of 16 planned structures on the West Side of Midtown South would sit on a platform built over The West Side Yard. The development consists of a public green space and eight structures that contain residences, a hotel, office buildings, a mall, and a cultural facility. The second phase, starting 2020, will include residential space, an office building, and a school.

The development has been controversial and criticised for being a playground for the rich with inauthentic public spaces purely designed for the spectacle.

27 28 Hudson Yards 1

The High Line as a Viewing Deck for Hudson Yards

2018

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5 First had experience of the High Line and Hudson Yards presented a unique experience of long and sprawling walkway that presented a unique vantage point of the city. However, the towering and brilliant glass towers of the Hudson Yards makes it difficult to draw ones eyes elsewhere.

An eerie glow around the development reminiscent of that in the equally tall, glazed and dense downtown, was created a the multiple suns reflected down to the streets. Getting out of the 7 subway train station and onto Hudson Yards, one seems to transported into a distinct microcosm within city.

However, there is an incomparable abruptness in which the Yards begins. Perhaps, due to the unprecedented construction of multiple towers simultaneously, an island and fortress like effect is created. This is compounded by the fact that this new superblock in Manhattan, is built on a expansive platform covering The West Side Yard forming in essence an artificial island. An elevation seemingly not from the natural elements but from the rest of the city.

29 30 2 5 3 5

31 32 Timeline The High Line is now one, continuous, The High Line 1.45-mile-long greenway featuring 500+ species of plants and trees. The 10th Avenue became known as “Death Avenue,” as The first train ran on the High Line, then In the decades of disuse, many people were calling the High park is maintained, operated, and freight trains on street-level tracks created dangerous called the “West Side Elevated Line.” Line an ugly eyesore (Mayor Giuliani signed a demolition order, programmed by Friends of the High conditions for pedestrians killing 540 people by 1910. Fully operational, transporting millions one of his last acts in office). But few of these critics saw what Line in partnership with the NYC of tons of meat, dairy, and produce, had secretly taken over the structure: a thriving garden of wild Department of Parks & Recreation. On cutting directly through some buildings, plants. Inspired by the beauty of this hidden landscape, Joshua top of public space and gardens, the creating easy access for factories. David and Robert Hammond founded Friends of the High Line, High Line is home to a diverse suite of a non-profit conservancy, to advocate for its preservation and public programs, community and teen reuse as a public space. engagement, and world-class artwork and performances, free and open to all. 1850 1933 1934 1999 2014

James A. Farley Post Office Moynihan Train Hall Mead & Size doubled White’s by then-Post- 1913 master Beaux- General James Arts James A. Farley. A. Farley Moynihan Train Post Office Hall is anticipated to open in 2020 1913 1934 2018 2020

Pennsylvania Station Madison Square Garden iv “So it wasn’t altogether shock- “Conceived to handle fewer than Madison Square ing when railroad executives 200,000 passengers, the replace- Garden 2018 Site offered the air rights for the ment Penn Station is today the visit. Overshadowed property for $50 million busiest transit hub in the Western by today’s much taller (nearly ten times that amount Hemisphere, through which more cityscape and in- in today’s dollars). New York than 600,000 commuters pass each finitely more hidden could downsize its station, day — an experience as humiliating is the subterranean stick it underground, add a and bewildering as Grand Central Pennsylvania Station new sports arena and office remains inspiring and exalted. “ tower on top and reboot itself Michael Kimmelman 1910 for the rest of the century. To During the 1965 1966 2018 pragmatists, that sounded like demolition, a view progress.” into Penn Station’s main waiting room, which was still in use as the building was torn down.

1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 2040 2050

Madison Square Garden i, ii & iii The West Side Yard Hudson Yards

John D. Caemmer- er West Side Stor- age Yard, which opened in 1986

1879 1890 1925 1986 2020 Madison Square Garden I Madison Square Garden II. Second and last to be located at 26th Madison Square Garden III. Located on the Located at the northeast corner Street and Madison Avenue in Manhattan. Hosted numerous west side of Eighth Avenue between 49th and of East 26th Street and Madison events, including boxing matches, orchestral performances, light 50th Streets in Manhattan, on the site of the Avenue in Manhattan, seated 10,000 operas and romantic comedies, the annual French Ball, both the city's trolley-car barns. The first Garden that spectators. Barnum and the Ringling circuses, seated 8,000 spectators. was not located near Madison Square. Home West Side Stadium Nomad Bridge of the New York Rangers of the National The centrepiece of NYC 2012’s strat- Hockey League and the New York Knicks egy was the West Side Stadium, an of the National Basketball Association, 85,000-seat arena directly above the and hosted numerous boxing matches, the West Side Yard. The stadium would Millrose Games, concerts, and other events, be built with $600 million of public seating 18,496 spectators. money and $800 million from the New York Jets football team, which would have called the facility home after the Olympics. 2012

33 34 I Situating Nomad Bridge

HUDSON RIVER

TH AVENUE 12

TH AVENUE 11

TH AVENUE 10

32 ND STREET

TH AVENUE 9

32 ND STREET

AVENUE TH 31 ST 8 STREET

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TH AVENUE 6

35 36 Water Yard KEY I Knicks Yard Physio Bridge Tennis Yard Bus Yard Rangers Yard Volleyball Yard Residence Bridge 3 Residence Bridge 1 Postal Bridge Residence Bridge 2 Yard Yankees Yard Repose Bridge Brewery Yard Archery Yard Salt Yard Concourse Rifle Yard Studio Bridge Theatre Bridge Gymnastics Yard Combat Yard

Madison Square Garden Moynihan Train Hall 5 Manhattan The High Line Bridge The Vessel West Side Yard | Site Penn Station James A. Farley Loading dock Secret 9th Avenue Tunnels West | Tunnel to to Hudson Yards The Shed for Proposed 2012 Connecting Farley Post Office Lincoln Tunnel Olympic Stadium to Morgan General Mail Facility

37 38 i

39 40 I TRAVEL TIMES

Nomad Bridge is situated in the heart of Manhattan, anchored at its primary tributary, Penn Station. The Bridge is 800 metre long bridge at its most direct path, an optimal 10 minute walking radius, catering for those commuting to work at the service bridges along the Bridge as well as the furthest point, Hudson Yards.

Currently, there exists no direct train lines from JFK into any of the stations within Manhattan. Subsequently the thesis proposes a direct train route that would run under an additional platform running underneath 31st Street passing Penn Station and through to the River tunnels to Jersey.

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41 42 I SUPERBLOCKS

RESIDENCE 2 BRIDGE & ARCHERY, VOLLEYBALL & SUPERBLOCK 3 TENNIS YARDS SUPERBLOCK 2 SUPERBLOCK 1

RESIDENCE BRIDGE 1 & MSG SKYBOX KNICKS YARD & POSTAL BRIDGE PHYSIO BRIDGE & RANGERS YARD

31ST STREET

THEATRE BRIDGING TO MSG FORUM CONCOURSE BRIDGING INTO MSG ARRIVALS, BREWERY SALT YARD & & BATH REPOSE BRIDGE GYMNASTICS AND RIFLE VOLLEYBALL SHOOTING YARDS & WATER YARD RESIDENCE BRIDGE 3, BUS & YANKEES YARDS

COMBAT YARD & STUDIO BRIDGE SUBWAY LINES 1 2 3 SUBWAY SUBWAY LINES A B C LINES A B SUBWAY Highline AVENUE AVENUE AVENUE AVENUE TH TH TH TH 10 9 8 7

Nomad Bridge constitutes of 3 Superblocks stretching across 7th to 10th Avenue and 30th to 34th Street 43 44 I UNLOCKING THE YARDS

ZONING DISTRICTS

Manhattan’s Skyline is defined by its zoning districts, which determine building use and Floor to Area Ratio [FAR]. However, the FAR of a plot can be increased through purchasing the unused air rights of adjacent plots. Furthermore, Special Purpose Districts are given looser constraints. Subsequently, Nomad Bridge absorbs the air rights of the adjacent buildings along 31st Street onto 31st Street, forming the southern edge of the superblocks built over the railways. This allows for the adjacent plots to be flattened and freed for the expansive sports yards.

45 46 I UNLOCKING THE YARDS

OVERTURNING GROUND The process of absorbing the FAR of adjacent plots is explored through a folding model. The folding of the horizontal plots to the vertical plane tests the tectonics of the eventual Nomad bridge, as a boundary condition holding back the cut ground and as vertical architectural characters that house the absorbed programmes.

47 48 II The Grids

49 50 II The Plane Table

A device used in surveying and related disciplines to provide a solid and level surface on which to make field drawings, charts and maps

The first process of surveying The plane table consists of two sets Manhattan’s ground condition, saw a of 22 armatures [ribs], an external set collective creation of a tailored plane etched with the geological mapping table for mapping and recalibrating of the city and the hovering inner the city’s physical and metaphysical ribs with the associated narratives grid. The table is derived from unearthed. Below the table, the the narrative intersection of two geological layers and soundings of modes of transport from two the Manahatta past and Manhattan different periods of Manhattan’s today. history. The creation of the first subway lines of Manhattan and the It is from the Plane Table that the unearthing of an ancient Dutch thesis extracts Nomad Bridge, one ship, Tyger, during the excavation of the floating inner ribs, an island process. Subsequently, the plane within the island of Manhattan, rich table as a tool for unearthing the with its site specific narratives and geological layers of the city and the ground condition yet inextricably intricate of web of narratives within, tied to the rest of Manhattan. takes archaeological approach to dissecting Manhattan.

51 52 II Excavating A House “in the Air” The geological impact of implementing the Commissioner’s Plan 31Thest StreetCommissioner’s Rib Plan

On the left excavating the 31st Street Rib from the intersecting Grids 53 54 II Excavating

The Inner Rib Model presents a sliced section of Manhattan in an excavated state, revealing the subterranean infrastructure such as the water pipelines and the subway. It serves as a testing bed for introducing climate bridging lock architecture.

55 56 II Excavating

57 58 II Excavating

59 60 II Extracting

61 62 II Extracting

63 64 II Extracting

Extending the railway column grid to establish the parameters and foundations for Nomad Bridge. Setting the Boundaries for the new platform.

65 66 II Anchoring

The piling wall acts as structural spine to Nomad Bridge, anchoring the floating yards and buildings on top of the railway grid.

67 68 II TheAnchoring Grids

EXTRAPOLATING

The secant piling wall holds back the earth along the newly excavated JFK to Jersey rail line. The pulling wall forms the boundary condition as a structural and inhabitable wall upon which the bridges and yards latch onto.

69 70 IIIII Anchoring

Moments of excavation reveals the almost floating characteristic of Manhattan’s built stratum. Hovering on a bed of columns, constrains of the ground are removed. Nevertheless, Nomad Bridge attempts to trace and reflect the patterns of the world below rather than simply covering it. Similarly, in response to the constrictive atmospheric conditions of wholly subterranean spaces. The linearity of the bridge presents an attempt to create a narrow footprint to allow for a more porous built stratum. The ground is punctured fragmented and made ambiguous.

71 72 IV Unpacking Madison Square Gardens

Inspired by the photographs of the stripping down of Old Penn Station and its undisruptable travelling community, the thesis unpacks the Nomadic Madison Square Garden who’s lease is to run out in 2023. In a process of reflecting what is within outwards and onto the foundations formed from the developed grid.

73 74 IV Unpacking Madison Square Gardens

Initial forms extracted from the unpacking of Madison Square Garden and the perforation of 31st Street. Key Characteristics of MSG reflected, extrapolated and extracted onto 31st Street.

Skybox Suites Reflected Arena Seating

Penn Station Concourse Volumes within MSG Skybridges arcade vaults 75 76 IV Unpacking Madison Square Gardens

77 78 IV Unpacking Madison Square Gardens

These initial studies defined the material and spatial qualities and boundaries of the thesis. The notions of a outward facing and public arena seating defines a large portion of the sport yard forms, with an impetus of a narrower building footprint through suspended and cantilevered architectural elements.

79 80 V Concourse

The Concourse acts as a nodal point at the tangent of 31st Street and Madison Square Garden. The Concourse acts as a lateral bridge towards upper arena levels of MSG and the ground level Brewery Yard. The open 10 storey open arrivals atrium serves as a vertical atmospheric bridge to the platform levels 12 metres below ground level, redirecting light and catching rain.

81 82 V Concourse

83 84 V Concourse

85 86 V Transient Bridge 6 1 Piling Wall 2 Platform Channel 1 2 10 3 Arrivals Platform 4 Departures Platform 5 Pump Room 6 Theatre 23 7 Bath 8 Baggage Reclaim Wall 22 9 Service Corridor 10 Theatre Viewing Deck 25 24 3 11 Check-in | Bag Drop 12 Baggage Scan and Transfer 13 Security Gates 14 Security Check 9 7 5 3 15 Information Point | Atrium

21 16 Unloading Dock 17 Grain Silos 18 Milling 12 19 Brewing 20 Cooling 21 Fermenting 15 22 Conditioning 20 23 Storing 13 Bridging into MSG Arena 24 Packaging 25 Loading Dock

11 Brewery Yard made possible through the unlocking of the yards. Juxtaposed and serving e 19 1 2 4 the concourse Bridge. The i n catalyst Bridge and yard set for Nomad Bridge. i l L a

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Concourse Roof Plan Concourse Level -1 87 88 V Transient Bridge Arrivals

89 90 V Transient Bridge Arrivals

91 92 V Transient Bridge Departures

Pedestrian path through concourse overlooking the check-in hall to the left and Security Check on the right Security Scan hall

Security Scan Gates from leaving the atrium Ramping down to the departures platform

93 94 V Transient Bridge

95 96 V Transient Bridge

97 98 V Atmospheric Bridge New Pennsylvania Station Old Pennsylvania Station Main Hall

The light at the end of the tunnel and a need to escape Relief upon arrival

99 100 V Atmospheric Bridge

More to the point, how do you retrieve the idea of a station from waves of disbelief in the future of trains? How can a building restore to civic dignity the sensations of arriving in a great city or decompressing from its tensions? It's easy to accommodate shoppers. But how can architecture honor those who share what Walter Benjamin called "the passion for waiting"?

-Herbert Muschamp on the loss of the Grand Halls of Old Penn Station June 20, 1993

The anchoring component of the thesis explores glass in multiple forms, creating a voluminous and light capturing and dispersing 10 storey atrium.

101 102 V Atmospheric Bridge Multicoloured Light

Expanding on the possibilities of light and glass in Manhattan’s monotonously glazed urban fabric.

103 104 V Atmospheric Bridge

Designing the movement through the concourse rising from the arrivals platform. Translucency of space and spectacle of height is explored in the making of a gnomon. The three metre tall installation provides a frame onto which a 6 metre long drawing of the atmospheric qualities moving through the Concourse. Doubling as a seat, the Gnomon explores the potential thinness of the furnitures and the frame, so as to maximise the lightness of the translucent materials.

105 106 V Atmospheric Bridge Vault Lights

Old Penn Station’s Vault Lights 107 108 V Atmospheric Bridge Glass Brick

As an intersection between masonry and glazing the glass block presents itself as unique material that teeters on the boundary between a visual private and public threshold. 109 110 V Atmospheric Bridge Glass Brick and Fins

Glass brick walls are used as a reinterpretation of how glass Bolt and anchor The glazed roof panels maximise has been used in Manhattan’s At top transparency by using structure glass fins that hold the panels via skyscraper typology. It provides spider fittings a controlled level of translucency that diffuses light. As the building footprint over the train track Glass Brick and platform is very narrow the glass brick walls are suspended. Taking precedence from the Optical Glass House by Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP, the bricks are threaded with steel rods bolted to steel plates at every 1 metre interval and the steel rods are anchored to the base floor to provide lateral resistance.

111 112 V Atmospheric Bridge Water

113 114 V Atmospheric Bridge Water

As with the suspended glass brick wall and tapered concrete cantilever the use of copper is due to its conductive properties for heat exchange, this is however a system often concealed, the bath suite therefore exposes some of the copper piping which in turn serve as radiators for the same. The malleability of copper is also tested in the creating of interactive elements of the concourse, such as the bent seating derived from a continuous metal sheet extended from the water collector tank wall.

The architectural tectonics for the thesis proposal relies primarily on the secant piling wall that cuts and holds back the ground in order to widen the railway system. This sequence is seen as a peeling and keeling of the Manhattan. As the resulting piling wall serves as the primary building structure, In addition, the deep piling of over 100 metres meant that a geothermal heating system could be implemented. Heat exchange copper tubing is cast into the secant piles and held in place by the rebar cage. The heat acquired is then transferred throughout the building via underfloor heating tubes.

115 116 V AtmosphericWater Bridge Water

117 118 VI Bridging the Yards

The thesis manifests itself as a series of inhabitable bridges supported by the anchoring piling wall and rail column that connects the unlocked sports yards.

119 120 VI REPOSE BRIDGE | Salt Yard

As the first set of the bridges and yards, the Repose Bridge and Salt Yard serve as a threshold gate moment onto Nomad Bridge. Repose Bridge provides a moment and space for contemplation and meditation for both travellers and pedestrians alike. Adjacently, the Salt Yard caters for a functional service programme for the New York Department of Sanitation and takes precedence from the Spring Street Salt Shed Downtown by the Holland Tunnels. Furthermore, the Shed built on the levelled and lowered building plot, provides an accessible terraced roof at street level.

REPOSE BRIDGE

CONTEMPLATION NICHES

ABLUTION BLOCK WIDENED SECANT PILING WALL HOUSING AN ABLUTION BLOCK CATERING FOR THE MULTIFAITH SPACE, ACTING AS A THRESHOLD BETWEEN THE SALT YARD AND REPOSE BRIDGE

PUBLIC ACCESS TO REPOSE BRIDGE VIA ABLUTION BLOCK Nomad bridge

PILING WALL DOUBLING AS SIDEWALK

SALT YARD SALT YARD ROOF AS PUBLIC SEATING AREA AT STREET LEVEL, DOUBLING AS AN EXTERIOR EXTENSION TO THE REPOSE BRIDGE

TH AVENUE 7

121 122 VI REPOSE BRIDGE | Salt Yard

123 124 VI RESIDENCE BRIDGE 1 | Skybox

Madison Square Gardens facade and suspended roof structure presented an opportunity for opening up the underlying Penn Station concourses by removing the lower floor levels and redistributing its programmes onto Nomad Bridge and to the expanded upper arena facade. The proposed Skybox arc is formed through a weathering and widening of the existing facade niches connected by Residence Bridge 1 to the platforms and public walkways below.

Long section across the Salt Yard, residence Bridge 1 and MSG 125 126 1 Piling Wall RESIDENCE BRIDGE 1 | Skybox VI 2 Platform Channel 3 Nomad Bridge Platform 4 Street level path through Concourse 10 5 Access path to Residence Bridge 1 1 6 Stairs from Security Check to Platform 7 Studio Apartments 8 Path into Arena Foyer 10 9 Arena Foyer 10 Skyboxes 11 Light Wells 12 Amenities 11

PROPOSED MSG 11 SKYBOXES THROUGH A MANIPULATION OF THE EXISTING FACADE

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7 2 4 6 RESIDENTIAL TOWERS BRIDGING ACROSS AND INTO MADISON 7 SQUARE GARDEN’S ARENA

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Residence Bridge 1 connecting to MSG Skybox Area Plan 127 128 VI REHEARSALS BRIDGE | Theatre Yard

The Theatre Yard rests atop the intersection of railway column grid and an extrapolated Madison Square Garden’s radial grid. It acts as an outward reflection of the hidden 5,600 capacity MSG forum currently sandwiched between arena level above and the AMTRAK concourse below. Sweeping across the 31st Street and 8th Avenue intersection, the Theatre from a pedestrian bridge that allows for temporal spectators. The backstage bridging the Penn Station concourse and the Theatre, provides rehearsal spaces for acts in both MSG and the Theatre Yard

129 130 8 9 VI REHEARSALS BRIDGE | Theatre Yard

1 Arrivals Platform 2 Platform Channel 3 Secant Piling 4 8th Ave Subway Lines A C E 5 Stage 6 Stalls 7 Dress Circle 8 Grand Circle 9 Orchestra Pit 10 Backstage 11 Staff Performers Corridor 12 Public Corridor 13 Bar and Foyer 14 Rehearsals 15 Seat Storage 16 Understage Storage 17 Makeup and Dressing Rooms

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131 132 VI REHEARSALS BRIDGE | Theatre Yard 1 Arrivals Platform 2 Platform Channel 3 Secant Piling 4 8th Ave Subway Lines A C E 5 Stage 6 Stalls 7 Dress Circle 4 8 Grand Circle 9 Orchestra Pit 4 10 Backstage 11 Staff Performers Corridor 12 Public Corridor 12 13 Bar and Foyer 14 Rehearsals 8 7

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Overlaid Plans showing Theatre hovering over netwerok of rails below Theatre Yard & Rehearsals Yard Exploded Axonometric showing bridging from the Concourse 133 134 VI PHYSIO BRIDGE | Rangers & Knicks Yards

With the expansion of Penn Station and potential relocation of Madison Square Gardens, the New York Rangers [Ice Hockey NHL] and New York Knicks [Basketball NBA] will need to be rehoused. Nomad Bridge proposes a set of sports yards built over a more expansive single storey parking under the yards, replacing the old multistorey car park buildings. The relocated training and conditioning facilities are house in the Physio Bridge built over the expanded railway grid on 31st Street.

135 136 VI PHYSIO & POSTAL BRIDGE

1 Service Corridor 2 Postbox Collection Side 3 Changing Rooms and Sauna 4 Rangers Ice Rink 5 Knicks Court 6 Physio Consultation Rooms 8 7 Physio Rehabilitation Area 8 Strength and Conditioning Gym

LEVEL 5 [strength and conditioning]

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LEVEL 3 [Physio]

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LEVEL 1 [Sports and Upper Postal Level] 137 138 VI POSTAL BRIDGE

The Postal bridge is situated adjacent to the former James A. Farley Post Office which has been slowly phased out bythe new Penn station expansion, Moynihan train Hall.. The proposed bridge accommodates the displacement of the postal services by provided a walk through postbox corridor, that connects to the loading docks preserved under the Archery Yard.

Postal Bridge a postbox corridor 139 140 VI POSTAL BRIDGE

Postal bridge supplied through a service corridor connected to the loading docks 141 142 VI Water Yard

Housing Olympic swimming and diving pools, the Water Yard replaces James A. Farley’s western block, an abandoned Mail Sorting faculty. However, the loading dock station is preserved for deliveries to the Postal Bridge as well as establishing a supply node for Nomad Bridge.

Water Yard providing a commuters of Moynihan Train Hall a spectacle before they submerge to the platforms 143 144 VI Water Yard

145 146 VI Water Yard

Water Yard as a world of floating pools where piers hold up water instead.

147 148 VI RESIDENCE BRIDGE 2 | Archery Yard

The Archery Yard is north facing and rotated -20 degrees off the Manhattan Grid to keep the sun behind the archers. The ground is banked at 45 degrees on the edges to reduce the minimum overshoot are required, so as to fit within the plot confines.

149 150 VI RESIDENCE BRIDGE 2 | Archery Yard

The Archery Yard consists of a regulation sized outdoor archery range and an annexed rifle shooting range built over the remainder of the plot freed up by the removal the western block of James A. Farley Post Office. The Archery yard, like the Water Yard, rests upon the railway column grid. Given the expansive floor area of the yard, the ground is made up of a green roof construction to collect rain water used for the pools and the rest of Nomad Bridge.

Residence Bridge 2 serves as the accommodation block for Superblock 2. Anchored on the piling wall the bridge cantilevers over the archery stands and provides shade from the southern sun.

151 152 VI RESIDENCE BRIDGE 2 | Archery Yard

Archery Yard Athletes Shelter Pit looking at Water Yard Canopy 153 154 VI RESIDENCE BRIDGE 2 | Archery Yard

Archery Yard Athletes Shelter Pit looking Residence Bridge 3 and Hudson Yards 155 156 VI RESIDENCE BRIDGE 2 | Archery Yard

A section through the Gymnastics, Rifle and Archery Yard

157 158 VI BUS & RESIDENCE BRIDGE 3 | Yankees Yard

The current New York Yankees Stadium is situated distantly at the Bronx. As such, Nomad Bridge proposes its relocation to the heart of Manhattan in an attempt to conglomerate the major sports clubs of New York. Promoting a new extroverted spectator-oriented scapeland.

Exploded Axonometric of Residential Tower, Baseball Yard and Bus Station underneath seating 159 160 VI BUS & RESIDENCE BRIDGE 3 | Yankees Yard

Residence Bridge 3 Typical Floor Plan Section through Residence Bridge 3 with Hudson Yards as backdrop 161 162 VI BUS & RESIDENCE BRIDGE 3 | Yankees Yard

The balconies of Residence Bridge 3 providing vantage points to the sports yards 163 164 VI BUS & RESIDENCE BRIDGE 3 | Yankees Yard

On the left, the piling wall cuts through the Yankees Yard seating, extruding upwards to support the cantilevering Residence Bridge 3. Consequently, a path through the yard if formed, allowing for more transient and temporal spectators. Throughout Nomad Bridge the anchoring piling wall reveals itself as it extrudes or widens to support a bridge or yard. These revealing moments provide subtle continuity of Bridge’s path, guiding the user across.

165 166 VI STUDIO BRIDGE | Combat Yard

The Combat Yard serves as the second threshold gate moment at the west end of Nomad Bridge. It st sweeps around intersection of 31 BARS AND CATERING and 10th Avenue, where 31st Street comes to and end, turning south to meet The High Line. A series of subsequent arched corridors are created, functioning as programmatic and viewing bridges. As Madison Square Garden has a legacy of hosting historic fights, the yard hopes to host all martial arts entertainment and training functions upon its relocation.

The Studio Bridge serves to replace the former creative studios on the block, relocated in the process of unlocking the yards. The bridge will provide short let studio spaces, catering for the nomadic demographic of commuters and spectators. An auxiliary bridge on the north face of the Combat Yards houses the bars and amenities for the arena.

STUDIO BRIDGE

KARATE/JUDO MAT LAYOUT

167 168 VI STUDIO BRIDGE | Combat Yard

Section through Studio Bridge, Combat Yards and the platform below 169 170 VI STUDIO BRIDGE | Combat Yard

Inside the Combat Yard Arena during a Karate Tournament 171 172 VI STUDIO BRIDGE | Combat Yard

Inside the Studio Bridge, where the lower level provides a pedestrian walkway lit by the glass paved floors of the studio above and views into the Combat Yard to the side. The upper studio corridor is even more brightly lit with a glass panelled roof. The large wooden shutters allows for an adjustable shading over the extended window sills that double as desks. Similarly, the arching pin board, also provide shading and shelving at the back.

Ordering from the bar behind Combat Yards 173 174 EPILOGUE

In reflection, Nomad Bridge explores a dynamic architecture that is as equally anchored and ingrained in the fabric of the city as it is ephemeral and transient, in both its materiality and programme. Its primary function as an architecture for a transient population is reflected upon its semi- enclosed, translucent and linearly interconnected spaces. Akin to the subway and the ships of old, it transports and connects people from one narrative island to the next. As an architectural vessel, Nomad Bridge lands and assimilates itself in Manhattan, connecting its paces and spaces, becoming yet another narrative layer in world of Archimera.

175 176 EPILOGUE

177 178 Glossary of Narratives

Term Definition See Also Term Definition See Also Cow Tunnels Created late 19th to early 20th centuries where cows were herded across Twelfth Lincoln Tunnel, Meatpacking District, UN High Line A 2.33 km elevated linear park, greenway and rail trail built on a disused, southern Meatpacking District, Hudson Yards, West Avenue (now the West Side Highway). Nicknamed “Abattoir Place.” Located between Site former Slaughter Houses viaduct section of the New York Central Railroad line. Opened 2009. Runs from Side Yard, Jacob K Javits Center, Domino 34th and 39th street. Meatpacking District to 34th Street near Jacob K Javits Center. Designed by James Sugar Refinery Corner and Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Lincoln Tunnel Operated by the Port Authority. 2.4 km tunnel under the Hudson River, connecting High Line, Port Authority, Holland Tunnel, Weehawken, New Jersey with Midtown Manhattan. Consists of three vehicular North River Tunnels Jacob K Javits Convention Centre Large convention centre located on Eleventh Avenue, between 34th and 40th streets. Penn Station, 7 Line, Madison Square tubes with two traffic lanes in each tube. Named after Abraham Lincoln. Controversial and revolutionary space frame structure finished in 1986. Gardens

Meatpacking District Developed in the 1960s when the containerization of freight and supermarkets changed the distribution pattern for meat, dairy and produce local or regionally Tenderloin District, High line, UN Site Spring Street Salt Shed Nearly 70 feet in height, the shed houses 5,000 tons of salt. Marks the historic Holland Tunnels, Canal Street based system to a more national one. Used as Sex clubs during the 1970-80s former Slaughter Houses, Cow Tunnels location where the former canal enclosing Lower Manhattan met the Hudson River, and High-end Boutiques in the 1990s. By 2003 only 35 of 250 packing and near the entrance to Holland Tunnels. Concrete admixture is self-waterproofing slaughterhouses were left boosting the 2009 High line development. and a hardener was applied to the concrete floor to prevent salt corrosion. Due to its location in a flood plain, the shed’s floor was raised, and a deployable dam Tenderloin District An entertainment and red-light district during the late 19th and early 20th system installed. centuries. Located between 24th to 62nd Street and Fifth to Eighth Avenue. NoMad District, Broadway, Meatpacking Included parts of NoMad, Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen, the Garment District and the District, Herald + Greeley Square Holland Tunnel Vehicular tunnel under the Hudson River connecting to New Jersey. Operated by Port Authority, Lincoln Tunnel, Spring Theater District. The “Main Street” of the district was Broadway between 23rd and Port Authority. Opened 1927. World’s first mechanically ventilated tunnel. Street Salt Shed 42nd Streets, then known as “The Line”, which later moved between 42nd and 62nd Street, following the theatre industry. Canal Street Former drain built to along run-off from the polluted Collect Pond in the early 1800s Spring Street Salt Shed, Holland Tunnel Herald + Greeley Square Bow-tie square formed by the intersection of Broadway, Avenue of the Americas Broadway, Tenderloin District to drain it into Hudson River. and 34th Street. Hudson Yards, West Side Yard, Jacob K 34th Street Hudson Yards Subway Station First completely new station in the New York City Subway system since 1989. Javits Convention Centre, 7 Line Broadway The oldest north–south main thoroughfare in New York City, dating to the first New Tenderloin District, Herald + Greeley Essential part of Hudson Yards Development also serving the Jacob K Javits Amsterdam settlement. Heart of the American theatre industry. Square Convention Centre. West Side Yard, Penn Station NoMad District [North of Madison Square Park]. History aligned with Madison Square Park. Madison Square Park Hudson Yards Largest private real estate development in the United States by square footage, Located between East 25th to East 30th Street and Avenue of the Americas to where 13 of the 16 planned structures will sit on a platform built over the West Lexington Avenue. Side Yard. Hudson Yards, AMTRAK Gateway Project, Madison Square Park 2.5-hectare Public square formed by the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Broadway NoMad District West Side Yard Opened 1987. The 10.59 ha railyard is used to store commuter rail trains operated Penn Station at 23rd Street. Indirectly named after James Madison [fourth US President]. Public by the Long Island Rail Road. Sits between West 30th Street, West 33rd Street, 10th space since 1686. Formerly a military parade ground, potter’s field, army arsenal Avenue and 12th Avenue. North end of the High Line. Includes storage tracks, a six- and facility for juvenile delinquents. track indoor shop for light maintenance, a 12-car long platform for car cleaning.

Madison Square Gardens Sports and entertainment venue in its fourth iteration moving location each time. Penn Station, Madison Square Park, Domino Sugar Refinery The original refinery was built in 1856, and by 1870 it processed more than half Kips Bay Currently situated above Penn Station on a 10 year lease since 2013. An obstacle Jacob K Javits Convention Centre of the sugar used in the United States. The refinery stopped operating in 2004, in the renovation and future expansion of Penn Station. Speculated to be moved to after running for 148 years. New public park includes pieces of machinery from Jacob K Javits Convention Centre. the factory and gardens, a play area for children, and various fields. Designed by James Corner. Penn Station Main intercity railroad station in New York City. 630,000 passengers per weekday James A. Farley Building, AMTRAK as of 2018. Entirely underground. Consists of 21 tracks fed by seven tunnels, two of Gateway Project, North River Tunnels, Sunfish Pond Once lay at the intersection of Park Avenue South and East 31st Street. Although Empire State Building, Penn Station, Kips which are North River Tunnels. Two Gateway Tunnels to New Jersey proposed by Madison Square Gardens, Hudson Yards, the burial of Sunfish Pond did not result in the slum conditions that followed Bay AMTRAK Gateway Project. Entrances and concourses to be added in the adjacent West Side Yard the burials of Minetta Brook and Collect Pond. In 1907, when the Pennsylvania James A. Farley Building. Railroad was constructing the East River Tubes connecting Long Island with Penn Station, leaking walls forced workers to reinforce the tunnel beneath Park Avenue. James A. Farley Building Main United States Postal Service building in New York City built in 1912. Formerly Penn Station, AMTRAK Gateway Project The pond’s outline is highlighted on the 1955 Bromley atlas. The Empire State the General Post Office Building. 1990s proposed site for replica of the historic Penn Building stands atop the course of Sunfish Pond, thereby pumps in the basement Station. Currently being integrated into Moynihan Station as part of the Penn are speculated to be working nonstop to keep the water out. Station Expansion. Penn Station, James A. Farley Building, Empire State Building Built 1931. 102-story Art Deco skyscraper. Speculated fishing from the basement AMTRAK Gateway Project A planned phased expansion and renovation of the Northeast Corridor, proposed North River Tunnels, West Side Yard due to Sunfish Pond’s course. Former inlet of the East River running from what is Sunfish Pond, UN Site former Slaughter in 2011. Foregrounded after Hurricane Sandy damaged the existing North River now 32nd Street to 37th Street. Where Sunfish Pond ran off. Flood Plain. Operates Houses tunnels. AMTRAK Gateway Project, Hudson Yards, Kips Bay Hudson River crossings, including the Holland Tunnel and Lincoln Tunnel. Penn Station North River Tunnels Carries AMTRAK and New Jersey Transit rail lines under the Hudson River between Weehawken, New Jersey and Pennsylvania Station. Built 1904 to 1908. Port Authority of NY and NJ Lincoln Tunnel, Holland Tunnel Hudson Yards, West Side Yard, Grand 7 Line The 7 route started running in 1915 when the Flushing Line opened. Since 1927, the Central, UN Site former Slaughter Houses, 7 Line has held largely the same route, except for a one-stop western extension from AMTRAK Gateway Project Times Square to Hudson Yards in 2015.

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