Urban temporal storage : re-thinking the public domain using interstitial space in NYC

Abstract

This thesis aims to rethink the notion of public space and civic duty in the city. By using interstitial, underused spaces, without disputing present urban and legal status, the thesis wants to accomodate services for the people who might otherwise be ignored in the city, while using the potential of the site itself to offset the cost of these services. Looking at a site in New York City, between Pennsylvania Station and the Hudson River, the thesis introduces diverse and temporary programs in a sequence of interstitial spaces as a tool to integrate the homeless issue in the dynamic of the city. The aim is to encourage public intervention that soften the threshold between disparate urban classes, while fulfilling several civic functions, the most important of which is to explore new, safe, and dignified designs for homeless shelters. In the process, the thesis attempts to recognize the specificity of individual dealing with time and space, which are becoming more and more homogenized in the capitalist society.