Manhattan is an island. It is clearly defined by the surrounding geographic features - the Hudson River, Harlem River, and East River. Manhattan is a mobility hub. It has been deeply plugged and well-integrated into its contexts, spatially, economically, and socially. Manhattan’s geographical “isolation” and its spatial “mobility” presents an interesting urban phenomenon. This contrast intensifies the role of Manhattan’s peripheral space - an urban boundary - and the infrastructural components that have been attached to it (bridges, pedestrian walk, landscape, highways, tunnels, pier...)

​

This mapping synthesizes those layers and components based on their programmatic and spatial attributes. By reconfiguring the geometry of Manhattan island, the conventional perception of geographical spaces has been altered onto a relational level. This mapping particularly highlights two relations: the typological spatial distributions and the urban programmatic connections that made visible by urban mobility. The Manhattan Morph reinterprets the mobility/exchange between in and out of the Manhattan's periphery. By explicating the commonly invisible urban relations, it reveals and formulates new design potentials.