In search of water : Aqua Exhibition Center in Erie Basin, Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York

Abstract

The main purpose of this thesis is to provide a solution to the underutilized and abandoned drydock and defamiliarized water in New York Shipyard within the Brooklyn Waterfront caused by a rapid change in maritime technology. After the new introduction of modern maritime technology -from labor intensive break-bulk shipment to containerization-, there has been a significant declination in the Brooklyn Waterfront. Although the modern technology increases the efficiency of whole industry in the region, it simultaneously requires partial or total transformation of existing conditions. The cause of this kind of transformation can be political, social, and/or mainly economical. However, the architectural reason for its lack of resolution is the motivation for th is thesis project. The sidewalk and main circulation that connect to the nesting programs with waterscape will provide more dynamic sensory experiences into the Erie Basin and the Shipyard. Recreation, exhibition and education facilities will ameliorate the Basin environment with a newborn Waterfront Aqua Exhibition Center. Not merely is the Basin regenerated and expanded but the method of saving valuable and core elements in the existing conditions and adding new layers to heighten the quality of the site as a whole is instrumentalized.