Group Project NO-ZONE

  • Aaron Goldstein, B.Arch. 2015
    Mary Palumbo, M.Arch. 2015
  • Class

    ARCH 4102/5116 Option Design Studio
  • Instructor

    David Eugin Moon
    Nahyun Hwang

On a zoning map, the QueensWay, a decommissioned three and a half-mile long stretch of the Long Island Railroad in Central Queens, is a nearly invisible figure. The railroad right-of-way sometimes appears as a seam between zones, sometimes it falls within a zone. The zoning map represents an idealized, abstracted reading of the city which does not correspond with the built reality of the QueensWay and its adjoining spaces. NO-ZONE exploits the disparity between the zoning map and actual conditions of land use and non-use. It proposes development within the right-of-way according to existing zoning designations, while allowing these zones to displace along the linear site, utilizing the resurrected rail infrastructure.

Within the static built fabric of the surrounding city, NO-ZONE promotes an urban system in constant flux in which residential, commercial, recreational, and unprogrammed units travel along different tracks at different rates, perpetually reconfiguring in new combinations. Adjacencies are based both on scheduling and chance.

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