The Greatest Grid

The goal of the project is to propose new ways for thinking about how the street grid shapes life in New York, speculate on how it could continue to accommodate and respond to any number of urban imperatives, and, most importantly, to acknowledge and celebrate the fundamental contributions the Commissioners’ Plan has made to defining New York’s character and identity.

Description
What challenges and possibilities face the city today and how might innovative solutions emerge out of (and in turn modify) the existing street grid? We are already seeing new approaches to street use in the Bloomberg Administration’s bike lanes and pedestrian plazas.
What other possibilities exist for rethinking streets that might either increase public space or encourage new kinds of uses? What new infrastructures will the city require–or what existing infrastructures might be rethought–and what impact will they have on the grid? How might responsive technologies interact with the grid to imbue it with a radically new kind of adaptability, one that changes from morning to night, or day to day? Are there ways to make more dynamic connections among the different layers of Manhattan, from the subway to the street to the tower? How can blocks be reconfigured to impact density levels or generate new building typologies? What ways can we use New York’s existing topography to better address climate change and sea level rise? Alternatively, what small-scale interventions or insertions might positively impact a single block or neighborhood? At a moment when the city’s economic and demographic diversity are under threat, how could actions on and within the grid work towards counteracting the prevailing forces that are transforming Manhattan into a pleasure ground for the rich and a tourist mecca?

Jury
Amale Andraos, WORKac
Hilary Ballon, Curator, The Greatest Grid: The Master Plan of Manhattan
Sarah Henry, Chief Curator, Museum of the City of New York
Wendy Evans Joseph, Exhibition Designer, The Greatest Grid; Cooper Joseph Studio
Marc Kushner, HWKN; CEO, Architizer
Mark Robbins, Dean, Syracuse University School of Architecture
Bernard Tschumi, Bernard Tschumi Architects
Gregory Wessner, Curator, The Greatest Grid: Call for Ideas; Digital Programs and Exhibitions Director, The Architectural League
Sarah Whiting, Dean, Rice University School of Architecture

Prize
Up to ten: $1,000 each

Entry Fee
$25

Entries
A Design Statement (PDF format) of no more than five hundred words
A Design Proposal, a high-resolution (300 dpi) PDF of two pages of 24” h x 36” w

Timetable
Winners announcement: mid-October 2011
The exhibition open: early December 2011

Organizer
The Architectural League in partnership with the Museum of the City of New York

Official Website
http://archleague.org/2011/06/....