This community and recreation center along the Dewitt stretch of the Erie Canal investigates the intersection between the past and the future. The Erie Canal is the main feature of the site, and as a historical feature, it represents the industrial era. However, now the era is for technology, for big data, for computing, for artificial intelligence. Borrowing from the concept of and the diagram of neural networks, which connects each node to the next node and to the next node through a series of transformations, I translated and manipulated that idea into a spatial configuration of circles. These circles recreate the current orientation of society physical and spatial. Each of these arcs is part of a larger circle, which then encloses, slides, cuts, joins with another circle to create the spaces and experiences of the parking lot, social hall, pool, bathhouse, and picnic area.
Visitors begin from street. They might have come here from another nodal site of recreation or point of interest: another trailhead, another park, the solar farm, or the golf course. From the parking lot, visitors take the path down to the social hall and bathhouse and pool. In the social hall, visitors can sit down, grab something to eat or drink, and sit out on the canal terrace or roof terrace to look out onto the landscape and to contemplate the canal’s past and future. Additionally, next to the roof terrace is the exhibit, which showcases the history and potential futures of the site. On the other side of the path, is the bathhouse and pool. Visitors can get changed, then claim a cabana to chat with their family and friends, or sit out on the deck and soak up the scene, or wade in the pool, swim a few laps, or plunge into the diving pool, right next to the canal. The pool is filtered with native and local plants that occupy a shallow portion of the pool, adding to the immersion with the landscape.
Visitors begin from street. They might have come here from another nodal site of recreation or point of interest: another trailhead, another park, the solar farm, or the golf course. From the parking lot, visitors take the path down to the social hall and bathhouse and pool. In the social hall, visitors can sit down, grab something to eat or drink, and sit out on the canal terrace or roof terrace to look out onto the landscape and to contemplate the canal’s past and future. Additionally, next to the roof terrace is the exhibit, which showcases the history and potential futures of the site. On the other side of the path, is the bathhouse and pool. Visitors can get changed, then claim a cabana to chat with their family and friends, or sit out on the deck and soak up the scene, or wade in the pool, swim a few laps, or plunge into the diving pool, right next to the canal. The pool is filtered with native and local plants that occupy a shallow portion of the pool, adding to the immersion with the landscape.
Across the canal, the existing towpath trail intersects the path, to let visitors digress along the historical route. Further ahead is the picnic area, which is defined by the edge of the trees. There are conversation pits along the perimeter of the picnic area. From there, visitors can gaze at the buildings and notice a particular pattern. The brick close to the ground remain solid and heavy, but becomes gradually punched with more and more holes filled with glass brick. The materials get even lighter and airier as brick is replaced with a wooden canopy. Down the path is the kayak livery, to rent kayaks and paddle them along the Erie Canal itself. Visitors can spend a whole day here, taking in the landscape, the canal, and the persisting conversation between past and future.
Professor Lawrence Davis
Individual Work
Spring 2023
Individual Work
Spring 2023
