New York

Our concept of this competition is “Where is the entity of the city?” New York is the city that never sleeps and there are many skyscrapers in Manhattan. When we see the shining brilliantly skyscrapers projected on the surface of the water, we felt the image implies the substance of the city although it is exactly virtual image. Manhattan has to grown based on the theories, dividing the site in the grid and using full space of the bloc, and being based on the desire of upward mobility. Then many buildings have been constructed. These dogmas generated “identical twins”, group of architectures above the ground line, make the fictional spaces in that pomp-filled symbols are floating. And today, above the ground line, the “money” determines value of things, which is only uncertain convention. The World Trade Center Building collapsing affaire was symbolic fate of identical twins.

 We think substance of this city is hidden under the ground. Electricity, gas, water, sewer, subway, and so on. These have supported the lives of the city as offstage and connected the each bloc as capillary. These are essential elements. While people aim for the top of Manhattan, the world under ground came to be in no condition to support the lives on the ground. These are made one century ago, so breakdowns happen everywhere. Saturation of the groundwater because of cover of concrete on the earth, aging pipes burst everywhere. People have blind eyes. These are tit for tat of bravado. We set alarm bells ringing.

 Making “Void”, true foundation that supports the city is visualized. It corresponds to part of the “reality” of the city. On the other hand, buildings above the ground line correspond to part of the “virtual” of the city. So, mass and void of this city are the fraternal twins representing each phase generated by the same theory. The entity of the city appeared when these two aspects are combined.

There is no city that consists of only the virtual aspect. But, dose the real part of this city work?