In Collaboration with Liang Wang, Yang Huang

The concept embedded here is based on the plot of the superblock, and spatial qualities and urban life that cannot be achieved by a typical Manhattan block. The superblock allows the condensation of urban density and cultural landscape that can be used to serve a much larger community. This superblock serves as a framework within which multiple building typologies and identities can be achieved, here we see the courtyard as an organizer in terms of cultural program and spatial multiplicity, and we see the slab and tower as a condenser to achieve higher density and various urban lifestyles.

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This formation allows maximum porosity and connection to the central courtyard. In terms of developing strategy, one possibility is to have cultural landscape in the middle initiated by a certain entity like the university in NYC, and then the high-density part will be leased to different developers with different phases. When this model applied to a general condition, the proportion between slab and tower can be flexible based on the developing strategies.

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The other thing allowed by this superblock is a higher density on the edge (FAR=12), which creates a strong identity but at the same time remains variable and flexible (formally and programmatically). The ground floor program is mainly commercial, the tower contains office and the slab serves as residential units. Although the superblock has a homogeneous height, the height of the towers varies in order to respond to the surrounding neighborhood.

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The contrast of urban density creates a super courtyard in the middle, which is a "cultural landscape" within which multiple scales of smaller courtyards serves as an organizer of cultural amenities and civic life. This scale of centralized courtyard allows the possibility of urban amenities and facilities to aggregate in order to serve a larger community, including elementary school, civic center, museum, theater, gallery, and so on. At the same, the courtyard conditions happen on other levels such as the one formed by the building podium and the one formed by the vertical towers.