Project Statement
(In)Security explores a new design
vocabulary in direct response to the climate of fear
and paranoia that currently drives the program and aesthetic
of much contemporary urban design. The project addresses
the current and future state of security in and around
the Wall Street financial district, creating viable
security alternatives while simultaneously questioning
our nation’s current philosophy that security
= freedom.
Project Narrative
Site Context and Analysis:
Following September 11, 2001, New York City and the
nation began to contemplate the ideas of freedom and
security more than they had since WWII. Preventative
actions were taken to assess potential targets of further
terrorist activity, and set up appropriate security
measures accordingly. Being a short distance from ground
zero, the Wall Street financial district was seen as
a highly probable target and so precautionary measures
were taken to ensure its well-being.
Thirteen security checkpoints, encompassing
eight city blocks, were constructed throughout the district,
regulating and prohibiting both vehicular and pedestrian
access to streets surrounding the New York Stock Exchange.
(Fig. 393_01) A restricted perimeter was erected
around the NYSE building itself, allowing only personnel
and employees within its confines. The length of Broad
Street running between Wall Street and Exchange Place
was effectively cleaved in half, divided by this perimeter,
to ensure no suspicious vehicle or person ever get too
close to the Stock Exchange. Private security officers
were stationed within the perimeter, while outside,
vehicular access was prohibited leaving this length
of Broad Street for pedestrian use only.
Along with these barricades, surveillance
cameras, jersey barriers, metal bollards, concrete planters,
and other “cosmetic” security devices were
utilized in order to enhance and strengthen ground-level
security of the buildings. (Fig. 393_02) Armed
police officers and bomb-sniffing dogs patrol the streets,
greeting many vehicles entering the site. Hordes of
private security officers roam the area and secure each
entrance to buildings throughout the district. You are
told what is permissible to photograph, despite the
fact that everything is under surveillance. The general
atmosphere is one of military occupation. This simple
network of barriers and checkpoints has transformed
the financial district into a gated community, a medieval
walled city where all movement into and throughout the
site is regulated, restricted, and scrutinized.
Investigation:
On 9/11 the lives of New Yorkers were interrupted in
the most horrific way, but these security measures are
an interruption of another nature. Serving not just
as physical barriers, they also act as visual deterrents;
teeth baring by the Powers-That-Be to remind us that,
along with the would-be terrorists (whoever they may
be), we are all under suspicion. However, on a conscious
level, people don’t seem to be aware of these
gestures. Judging by the general comfort level and lack
of alarm on the part of New Yorkers, one might surmise
that most people even welcome them, or at the very least,
are apathetic to their presence. How did such an obtrusive
action come to be so casually accepted?
In the name of safety, Americans are willing
to surrender a very small portion of those civil liberties
that are the very embodiment of our sense of freedom.
The current state of paranoia and fear within the U.S.
begs the question: how much of our civil liberties can
be chipped away before we begin to notice? How much
of our own freedom are we willing to give up in order
to feel secure; in order to feel more free?
Currently plans are in the works to renovate
and reinvigorate the area. Design firms are being commissioned
to rethink the current fascist aesthetic of the district
and deliver more “attractive”, less threatening
security devices. The ideas being presented seek to
conceal, and, sometimes quite literally, hide the security
devices underground. The goal is to beautify or camouflage
them; in essence, making them invisible. On the surface
this re-envisioning of the district seems like an honorable
endeavor, however, it is quite simply a method for increasing
the strength and influence of security in the public
realm while guaranteeing the public’s ignorance
of it.
Do we, as citizens of the United States
and the world, want to be fully cognizant of our fears,
the origins of those fears, the products of those fears;
or do we simply want the luxury of assuaging them cleanly
and sterilely by relinquishing our awareness and freedom
in the name of security?
Design Program and Intent:
(In)Security questions the ideas of freedom,
security, fear and complacency within the United States,
and challenges our nation’s current philosophy
that security = freedom. The project’s aim is
to invent a new barricade vocabulary that can be applied
to each of the existing security checkpoints, creating
viable security alternatives while simultaneously maintaining
their visibility, and prodding people to ask themselves
just how much of their personal freedom they are willing
to relinquish in order to assuage their fears.
Four security barricades were conceived.
By creating thresholds into and throughout the district,
(In)Security sets the tone for the experiences
within this walled city. (Fig. 393_04) During
the design process, archaic and contemporary methods
of fortification were researched. Forms were explored
as a result of the hybridization of the two. (Fig.
393_03) Each barricade is an investigation of both
fortification and subversion; designing for the defense
of each checkpoint, while simultaneously attempting
to undermine it’s perceived raison d'être
through a means of confrontation, provocation, or absurdism.
Barricade Designs:
THE PRONGS: (Fig. 393_05, 393_06)
A set of five, staggered, steel prongs reaches upward
out of a ridged cor-ten plate, meeting pedestrians at
face level. The tectonic hybrid of tire spikes and medieval
Abbatis castle fortifications, (Fig. 393_03)
their precise arcs allow for only shallow intrusion
into existing street infrastructure. As a vehicle approaches,
the prongs retract. A slow, mechanical clanking of a
single gear alerts those nearby that the gate is opening.
The prongs in turn emerge from the opposite side acting
as a lock system, restraining the vehicle for inspection.
After the vehicle is cleared for entry, the prongs then
retract in the opposite direction allowing, the vehicle
access, and resetting themselves to their initial positioning.
THE PHALANX: (Fig. 393_07, 393_08)
The retractable bollard, increasingly common to most
large cities becomes a thing of spectacle when multiplied
and configured in a field formation. Their combined
strength ensures that no vehicle will gain entry. Bollard
spacing allows for only slow, methodical movement in
order to navigate the threshold. The Phalanx can be
reconfigured into a variety of formations. When a vehicle
approaches, the bollards, in whatever configuration
they reside, recede into the ground. Upon the vehicle’s
entry, the bollards emerge in a new pattern. The Phalanx
configuration could be randomly generated, or based
on a more sculptural or whimsical pattern. By maintaining
a non-repeating formation, encounters with the Phalanx
will not so easily become monotonous and forgetful.
THE TITHING: (Fig. 393_09, 393_10)
A shallow, cor-ten steel bowl sits at the foot of Trinity
Church, guarding the entrance into Wall Street. The
series of rigid, toothy plates and its concave geometry
work in tandem, prohibiting vehicular traffic from entering
the site. Steam emits from narrow openings in the base.
A wall of fog obstructs views in and out of the site,
enveloping the forms of all who enter. Crossing the
threshold of this ethereal, vaporous moat does not come
without a price. Upon entering into the heavily monitored,
highly secured district, you are relinquishing something
of yourself. You are sacrificing your anonymity.
THE ORACLE: (Fig. 393_11, 393_12)
Two oracles flank the pedestrian mall that runs along
the NYSE. Their towering forms are a contradiction of
solidity and light, made solely possible by translucent
concrete. Upon investigation, the peculiar experiences
of traversing this district become evident. As the informational
hub of this network, the Oracles record, compile, catalogue,
and broadcast information gathered from throughout the
site. On the kiosk monitor, data from the surrounding
security barricades is displayed, e.g. the amount
of traffic entering and exiting the site, license plate
numbers, driver and pedestrian photos, etc. Video
is on a time-lapse feed, coordinated so that people
have ample time to navigate to the center of the site
and witness themselves captured on camera.
This is not a narcissistic, techno-savvy
experience. The Oracle gives access to information,
but is not interactive. Spectators are merely witness
to the countless ways in which their movement and identity
is catalogued. They have no control over the flow of
this information, reminding them that while they are
within the confines of this walled city, they are under
someone else’s control.
And projected from the translucent, concrete
wall of the Oracle is a seemingly simple, lighthearted
image; that of a vivid sky, laced with clouds. What
does this have to do with the network of ground security
that protects this valued piece of the city? Keep asking
yourself.
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