One Monument an ALT vision 201511

A significant site at the heart of a city affects everyone in a big way. It demands a delicate balance between public and private interests. One Monument happens to be a such critical development at Troy, NY. The beloved winning scheme has been abandoned by its developer, Kirchhoff/Sequence, for a more realistic design. However, the bottom line vision is facing strong public opposition led by an advocate group "We Care About the Square". Both sides are right from their respective perspective. The reconciliation may be found in a better design that is creative, fresh yet practical. Here is my 2 cents as an architectural designer:
- The winning design creates two separate buildings above ground that both is costly to build and inconvenient in use.
- The current scheme, besides the unpopular look, actually falls short on practical front, such as lack of distinctive presence at ground floor for resident's lobby, retail stores and farmer's market as well as problem on fire route.
- Instead of putting the public plaza in the middle of the site, it'll work more efficient to position the building at center and create a main plaza at north end and a minor plaza at south end. This layout generates multiple benefits: 1) At ground level each components enjoy their own distinctive presence, resident's lobby is served by the intimate open space at south end; retail stores stand along River Street; farmer's market fronts the spacious main plaza at north end. 2) Apartments above have better view exposure to both river side and city side. 3) A looped pedestrian path around the side and down to the river bank adds depth of navigation to the existing urban fabric.
- Keeping Front Street as normal one way road meets fire route requirement as well as maintains the continuity of city grid.
- The massing model suggests an authentic modern take on the building. With so many magnificent historical architecture around, the last thing Troy wants is a faux version of building to confuse people.
Hope this initiative is able to bring out more good thoughts from all who care about Troy.