News
Spitzer Professor Exhibited on Governors Island
Congratulations to adjunct professor Marcus Wilford (UD ’18), whose design work as an Institute for Public Architecture fellow was exhibited at the Blockhouse on Governors Island last month. He and his “NYC Loop” teammates proposed repurposing a portion of the BQE right-of-way between Jackson Heights in Queens through to Williamsburg in Brooklyn to extend the public transportation network, creating a bi-directional transit loop running through major neighborhoods in Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn.
Wilford is one of our newest adjunct faculty members, having joined us this semester to teach in the graduate unit Design Anarchy + Crafting New Public Imaginations of Architecture.
The NYC Loop
As the 2nd Avenue Line and the more recent BQX streetcar illustrate, new transit infrastructure investment in NYC remains largely Manhattan-centric despite the vital role it plays in the lives of immigrants and communities of color who predominantly live in the outer boroughs. To address both social equity issues and increase the accessibility for all, our proposal studies repurposing a portion of the BQE Right of Way between Jackson Heights in Queens through to Williamsburg in Brooklyn to extend the public transportation network, creating a bi-directional transit loop running through major neighborhoods in Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn. This will dramatically increase job access within the local labor market and reduce commute times for many. On a local scale, the proposal also presents an opportunity to stitch together neighborhoods previously divided by industrial uses and infrastructure, creating much needed public green space across a diverse range of urban ecological conditions.