Design Review, February the 1st

WHY THIS STRIP?

This strip, about 3 kilometers long and two building blocks wide, is located right in between two major axes, axes of great importance for Brooklyn. They were important in the development of Brooklyn, being already one of the main roads for the Indian tribes, and later on with the arise of the Atlantic Branch of the LIRR.

But it is their present function that makes them so important. One is a big commercial artery, Fulton Street, and the other one, the Atlantic Avenue, starts with a predominant commercial character but is mostly important in Brooklyn for its industrial and manufacturing function.
They both go from the west of Brooklyn to the east, with the Atlantic Avenue being the longest, starting in the Brooklyn Bridge Park. And by doing so, they provide a connection to Manhattan.
They do not only form a strong longitudinal connection, but because of that strong direction, they create a border in between neighborhoods. This border is highly visible when we look at the boundaries of the existing neighborhoods. The precise borders of the different neighborhood can differ, it depends on the source. But the strip will always form that distinct line.

This part of the strip is different from the rest because of the fact that the tension between those two axes is very tangible here. And it is this tension that is interesting to play with, and by doing so making this strip a much more efficient piece of the city.

These adjustments wouldn’t only be directed in the longitudinal way, but also in the transverse direction, implementing a connection between the different neighborhoods. By setting these conditions it will be possible to create a toolbox of potential interventions, ranging from strengthening the two dominant functions along the two streets, and simultaneously connect the two axes through this zone.

For analyzing the zone, it is possible to distinguish two strong entities, the two streets and the strip of building blocks. Each entity has there variations.

The Atlantic Avenue and Fulton Street are very different, not only because of their different land use, but also through their infrastructure and their users. As previously mentioned, the Atlantic Avenue is prominently manufacturing and industrial but with a lot of other functions mixed in with it. And the Fulton Street is clearly a commercial street.
The main difference in infrastructure between these two routes is the elevated LIRR train on the Atlantic Avenue. The elevated train causes a reinforcement of the longitudinal direction and hides the connections that are there on a transverse direction. The elevation of the train creates, through height, different experiences of the AA and the adjacent buildings. It also creates a distinct atmosphere right beneath the construction.
The numbers of lanes of the two streets also varies, from two on one side and three on the other, with one parking lane, for the Atlantic Avenue and only two on Fulton Street, with two parking lanes.
And important for its commercial function, underneath the Fulton Street is an important subway line, the A&C-line.
There is also a big difference in users in between the two streets. You can see that there is always one privileged direction with different kind of users. The subway uses the Fulton Street, and linked with this is the large number of pedestrians on Fulton Street and the transverse streets from and to Fulton. The Atlantic Avenue on the other hand, is mainly used by automobiles and the LIRR of course.

Based on these three levels of differences are some adjustments possible.
-The already prominent industrial/manufacturing for the Atlantic Avenue and commercial for Fulton will be increased. This by adding buildings and adding stories, which is possible on Fulton because the street is oriented north.
-To give the place under the LIRR also a function like much needed parking space, alternating with a covered market place. By doing so it will create an interesting tension between the permanent commercial function of Fulton Street and the temporary function of this place.
-Also because of the height of the elevated train, the industrial character of the environment it is possible to build high buildings. Which will also serve as a sound buffer for the LIRR.
-Because of there is a high amount of pedestrians on the FS, cold it be also a good idea to interrupt the strong street wall with a public function.

The zone in between these two axes is above all a residential zone, interspersed with a big public function like a school, sport fields, or a hospital. It has a high percentage of vacant lot, about 6,5%, and a lot of parking lots. Open public space is scarce, because most of it is school property.

Looking at the zoning over the years, it has changed but is more or less the same since 1961.


The strip is a combination of different building blocks, which can be divided in more or less three scales.
SMALL: a typical building block with mostly residential buildings, houses of one to three storeys .
MEDIUM: a combination of different building forms, with different functions, randomly arranged.
LARGE: when a complete building block consists of one function, usually a public function.

It is this wide range of building blocks that make the strip interesting. They all should be treated differently. And by doing so a lot of different tools are possible.

The Atlantic-Fulton Strip, 13th of January

You can read different layers, forming different systems, into the strip, running from the Atlantic Avenue to Fulton Street:

A residential zone in between those two axes, occasionally interrupted by a public function like a sport field, hospital and a high school.

1. The grid.
2. The importance of the Atlantic Avenue and Fulton Street as two major functional axes, manufactering/industrial for the Atlantic Avenue and commercial for Fulton Street.
3. A residential zone, lying in between those two axes, occasionally interrupted by public functions like a sport field, hospital and a high school.
4. The contrast between the two orthogonal directions which is also clearly in their use. The dominant longitudinal direction is used by cars, subway and the LIRR. The transverse, less vivible direction is used by buses but most of all by the pedestrians.

There are different ways to break through the longitudinal direction: by working with high buildings, pulling views into the strip; by interrupting a building block; by extending functions into the strip or by forming different links of other functions in the strip itself.

Pictured is Suydam Pl. as an example of how this could translate on an actual street in the strip.
There are three new functions added in the residential area, from bottom to top those are: a skate park, playground and a little park with seating area.
Adding these new small public functions into the strip, can help form a more inviting neighborhood.

Design Proposal, December the 8th

Running from the western waterfront of Brooklyn, at the Brooklyn Bridge Park, to the Van Wyck Expy in Queens, the Atlantic Avenue is a total of 16,5 kilometers long. Of these very divers 16,5 km, there is a notable different part of approximately three kilometers located in the neighborhood of Crown Heights, in between Bedford Avenue and Dewy Place. It varies from the other parts due to the elevation of the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR). That elevation creates a strengthening of the one-way, longitudinal direction of the Atlantic Avenue, mostly surounded by industrial/manufacturing buildings. The first element that created that longitudinal direction is the intense usage of the avenue by cars. Because of the high regularity of the columns of the above ground construction, there is also a wall created, which makes it more difficult to get a good look at the other side of the Atlantic Avenue. And again the longitudinal direction of the street is amplified by the monotonous use of the covered strip, under de LIRR. The only time when it's interrupted is when pedestrians cross the Atlantic Avenue, a use of a slower speed. They cross the street to get from their homes, in the residential area south of the Atlantic Avenue, to Fulton Street, a commercial axis with multiple subway stops. This link between these different important streets is fascinating because it is frequently used, but visual not distinct in the built environment.This connection is blocked by the closeness of the Atlantic Avenue and its facades. Those facades serve also as a soundbarrier against the LIRR, to the residential areas in Crown Heights south of the Atlantic Avenue and Bed-Stuy north of it. In between these two very strongly profiles axes is a residential zone, most of the time only half as wide as a normal building block and often mixed with other functions like public facilities.

By working on an urban scale I would want to propose to reveal this link between the Atlantic Avenue and Fulton Street. This by redefining the zone formed by those two,  parallel streets and also the south side of the Atlantic Avenue. And why not make this other, transverse direction visible for the longitudinal-users like the train passengers or the motorists. Those connections wil not weaken the primary functions of the axes, but will connect them. Ending in a short design exercise of an intersection of the Atlantic Avenue and a perpendicular street.
Why not make these links litteral visible?

A view on both streets, Fulton Street and Atlantic Avenue.

Quick Start Proposal, november 18th

Grain Size of the Atlantic Avenue

What is the Atlantic Avenue?

From the western waterfront of Brooklyn, starting at the Brooklyn Bridge Park, to the Van Wyck Expy in Queens, the Atlantic Avenue is a total of 16,5 kilometers long. From this very divers 16,5 km there is a notable different part of approximately 3 kilometers, located in the neighborhood of Crown Heights.

It varies from the other parts due to the elevation of the Long Island Railroad.

Looking at the flows on the Atlantic Avenue, there is a differnce of direction and use. Pedestrians use it  differently than the automobiles does.

The elevated LIRR creates two very divers experiences of the facades of the Atlantic Avenue. One more directed at the big industry/manufacturing buildings. The other more at eye level.

How do you use the land around an elevated train? And especially the space under the LIRR. Which is now only used as a parking space, here and there.

A lot of the functions near the Atlantic Avenue can be seen as a barrier, a soundbarrier for the residential area against the train. Those functions are the industrial/manufacturing buildings but also the commercial, not mixed used, and public spaces. All of this is 73 percent of the two facades.

Answering the question 'What is the Atlantic Avenue?' isn't that simple. After a quick and short analysis it is clear that there is a very divers use of the street, but also of the area around the street with some similarities.

Crown Heights. Exploring the Grid

This presentation is about the site Crown Heights, and in this analysis, we are exploring the grid. During our analysis we have seen a potential to improve the livability of the grid. That’s why we asked ourselves some questions related to these topics.

Our first approach was to define the borders of Crown Heights, between which we collected all kinds of data. But after a while we came to the conclusion that neighborhoods that are located in the grid don't have specific borders. The aspects that form these borders can change in a very short period of time. That is why we changed our area of analysis to a larger area, including parts of adjacent neighborhoods such as East Flatbush, Brownsville, Prospect Heights and Bed-Stuy.

Presentation made by Antrees Engelen, Koen Moesen, Pieter Van den Poel, Arnout Van Soom, and Sofie Verjans.