The observations of grand central and interviewing people passing through it was definitely and interesting experience which inspired my story in seminar class. My story later then informed and inspired the design of my suitcase.
When I visited Grand Central. I sat down at the corner of one of the east staircase and observed the people, the architecture and the general story Grand Central was propelling to me. Grand Central is definitely really romantic, with its high ceiling and beautiful walls, you can tell instantly that this building holds a lot of history just by simply looking at it. I noticed the west side of the stairs from the east side. Grand central basically has two sides and is a pretty symmetrical building. This made me realize that the whole building can actually be a compass on its own. 400,000 people walking through a “compass” every day? The whole concept of direction and time and people being in it and through it made me feel like I was in a poem. People literally walk in all directions here. If I could trace everyone’s footsteps through a Grand Central map with a pen, it would just look like a bunch of scribbles. I went up to the highest platform possible to look down at the people traveling through Grand Central. It was interesting that the whole ground space was almost evenly filled out between each person, you could imagine as if ants were filling up and covering a whole space. Usually, in most common public spaces, people tend to stick to the sides of the walls, corners of the building, or simply the information booth. Not for Grand Central, it seems like people really enjoyed being in any part of the space there. People also take their time commuting through Grand Central. In the busiest intersections in the city that never sleeps, you would imagine people to be rushing through all the time, but they were not. They were not slow, but the were definitely not rushing, just getting through it.
I loved the architecture at Grand Central, not just the building as a whole, but also its many little details I noticed. For example, the insanely accurate and intricately crafted clock at the information booth, and also the secret hidden spiral staircase in it. The spiral staircase leads to two storeys below. We do not really get such details and thought in more modern day design and architecture, so that was definitely worth observing. And then I saw the bright little Apple logo illuminating from two pillars of the walls. I figured that Apple probably had one of their offices installed at the Grand Central building. It was interesting how that obviously shiny modern day Apple logo contrasted with the historical wall pillars.
Which such an observation of Grand Central, me and my group decided that we needed to interview three very different personas with different characters and personalities. This brings up the diversity of the commuters that passes through grand central everyday.
We interviewed 3 people. The first guy was Kent, a businessman, second guy was Gustav, a tourist from Brazil, and the third lady was Ganjaa, a cosmetologist. The variety of characters we had in our interview inspired us to create a story that is slightly bizarre that combines all the characters and make a fiction that relate them all together.
Mind Map
Our concept for the suitcase design was that the suitcase would be an end result of a box or container that, belonged to and used by three different people at a different time. We begin making the box and the images below show the process of construction.
We first painted the box.
Kent’s Heart
Making the goop. It had to be really gooy, we took a bit of trial and error to get the right ingredients and consistensy.
Merging the sewing from Kent’s shirt into the map.
Here is the Final Work:
Overall, I think my group learnt a lot from this project, we learnt to work with each other and solve conflicting ideas. We also managed to problem-solve making the goop which we thought played a very important part of the work. We tried from gum, to gelatine to corn starch and even dish soap. It was a great experience also to come up with a back story before creating a work. We had to consider how we can portray the fusion of three different characters without making it seem too literal. We decided in the end, to make the theme of the work slightly grotesque and we thought it turned out pretty well!
Here is the link to our final story for Seminar class:
Below is the transcript of all three interviews:
Bridge #3
Team members: Grace, Olive, Anjana.
Grand Central Interview Transcription
Kent
Anjana: So, where are you from?
Kent: Right here in New York City.
Grace: Okay, where are you going?
Kent: Where I am going? Oh, just, came to visit Apple for a quick, uh, tune up on my computer.
Grace: What does Grand Central mean to you?
Kent: The name suggests it is Grand Central; it’s the Central Station, right? So, that’s where all the trains come. This is the center of the city, midtown, all of that.
Grace: Okay, does it have a specific personal meaning to you?
Kent: No, it’s just the central part of the town.
Anjana: Do you have a memory from here?
Kent: A memory of Grand Central? Yeah, there’s a very nice bar around the corner called, um, “Campbell Apartments.” The finest drinks, the best cocktails, and the best apartment, I think, because the apartment was built for the guy who was building the Grand Central. So, it’s actually an apartment now. They converted the apartment into a small lounge and a bar. Very few people know about it, so it’s kind of a secret there.
Anjana: Who did you go with?
Kent: Oh my God, that’s where I usually go to meet all of my bankers.
Anjana: Ah, are you a banker?
Kent: I’m not a banker.
Anjana: What are you?
Kent: People like to pitch their business plans and their opportunities to me, so I’m an investor; I invest in different products and services or offerings, and new businesses.
Anjana: What kind of products?
Kent: Oh, I have invested in call recording companies, telecom companies, um, you know, the ATM switches, so you name it, primarily the telecom space.
Grace: What is one thing you really dislike about your job?
Kent: I don’t have a job, I’ve never worked in my life.
Anjana: But, I mean, you have to have a job, right? I mean, you’re an investor, that’s your job.
Kent: Well it’s not a job because my money, I invest, so it’s really not a job for me.
Anjana: So where did you get the money from then?
Kent: Where did I get the money? I mean, I’ve been buying and selling real estate since I was 18, this is what I do know. I do not know anything else other than buying and selling real estate and investing in companies.
Grace: Where is your favorite place to go to in New York?
Kent: The best place to go to?
Grace: Yeah, your favorite place.
Kent: Define for what.
Grace: Wait, what do you mean?
Kent: For food, for entertainment, for hangout, like…
Olive: Entertainment.
Kent: Hmm…
Anjana: Whatever you like doing best.
Kent: I like all the jazz clubs, so I hang out in most of the jazz clubs.
Anjana: Is there a particular jazz club that you like to go to?
Kent: There’s one on 29th Street and there’s a, uh, Blue Note, the jazz club on West 3rd Street, right behind NYU, so those are my two spots that I go to on a Friday night.
Grace: Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?
Kent: Same place where I am. I’m happy to be where I am. I hope I don’t go down.
Grace: Who is the most important person in your life?
Kent: I would say my wife.
Grace: What is the best memory of you and your wife?
Kent: I don’t say one memory, I would say the process of living, you know? The entire life, not just one memory.
Anjana: How about one of your favorite memories?
Olive: That’s a hard question!
Kent: Yeah! Because there are many memories, you know, how do you define? By putting one memory up, you’re putting everything else down.
Anjana: Are you part Indian?
Kent: Yes I am.
Anjana: I knew it. Did you live there?
Kent: Well, I lived there the first ten years of my life.
Anjana: Oh, okay.
Grace: But you’re from New York.
Kent: I am not from New York. I’m from New York because I’ve been living here since I was ten years old, so I claim myself to be a New Yorker, but, you know, that’s pretty much what I do, that’s all I know. My life is New York City. I haven’t lived anywhere else, so this is my city. I would say the most interesting experience with my wife would be, um, the most scariest experience would be flying around a volcano in Hawaii after 7PM. Because 4PM, you know, after 4PM, you can’t call for help. So, the FAA declares that you cannot go, so you get special permission if you want to go after 4PM. So, we waited until 7PM and we flew right into the crater, circling around the crater, and it was 500 degrees of temperature. My pilot was crazy and I was the copilot so we all thought we were going to die. Because suddenly it became so dark, sulfuric acid fumes were smelling, and it took me almost, uh, 30 minutes to come out of that zone, that danger zone. So I would probably say, that was the most interesting experience in my life. And the second one would be free falling from a helicopter at the Grand Canyon. You shut off the engine and you drop the helicopter down and you start again at 7,000 feet. So, that’s what I would say. It’s crazy stuff.
Anjana: Were you just feeling adventurous?
Kent: I’m always buying adventures. See, when I go on vacations, I don’t go to relax, I go for experience. There’s a big different when I vacation and other people vacation because vacation has to be something that you do other than those things that you could never do in life. Going, sitting on a beach, you know what? You can do it in Long Island, you can do it in upstate New York, why do you need to go someplace far, fly around the globe, to sit on the beach? Right? So, for me, when I take off, I need to have an experience of a lifetime and when I do it one time, I may not do it ever again. So those are the things I look for, like, flying around a volcano at night or dropping a helicopter down in a freefall and see how low can you go before you hit the ground, you know? Or doing the zipline. You like ziplines?
Olive: I’ve never done it before.
Kent: Oh, you should do it! I did the Costa Rica zipline, 1.5 miles each zipline, 7 of them. 1.5 miles each. You think you’re going to die. Right? So, now, that’s fun stuff.
Anjana: Do you tell your mom about all of these things?
Kent: No. She doesn’t need to know. These are personal experiences that you do for yourself, not for other people.
Grace: How did you propose to your wife?
Kent: Hmm, that was easy. That was very easy. “Do you want to get married?” “Yes, let’s go.”
Grace: You just asked her?
Kent: Yeah! It was not a big deal.
Anjana: What is your name?
Kent: My name is Kent. I’m not going to give you my last name, I’ll only give you my first name, Kent.
Anjana: Okay, Kent. We’ll use that in our story.
Anjana, Olive, Grace: Thank you!
Gustav
The following is a transcript of an interview with Gustav by us, at Grand Central.
Gustav is represented as “G” and we are represented as “U”
U: Hi, we are from Parsons School of Design and we have an upcoming project about stories from people passing by Grand Central. May we ask you some questions for it?
G: Sure.
U: Do you mind if we record this interview?
G: Yeah sure. My English is not very good, if you ask something complicated I might have to think about it.
U: Oh don’t worry about it, they’re simple.
G: Okay
U: Where are you from?
G: I’m from Brazil
U: Where are you going?
G: I’m going to the United Nations headquarters. I’m not going to do anything there, I’m just there to tour.
U: What does Grand Central mean to you? Have you been here before?
G: Yeah it means that it reminds me of the movie, Madagascar.
U: *laugh* Oh my gosh, I never thought about that.
U: How many times have you been here?
G: Uh twice
U: What is your occupation?
G: I’m an economist.
U: I see, what is one thing you really dislike about your job?
G: *laughs* A lot of things. Uhm that I don’t have much time to travel, to know what a place is in the world. I’m on vacation right now, but normally, I work a lot so I don’t have much time in my life to know places.
U: Where would you like to go if you have time?
G: My next trip is maybe to Argentina the South, and Patagonia or Tuba or China. So I’m still planning what is going to happen so depending on how I am and what time of the year it is at my job, I can go to these places.
U: Do you travel alone?
G: Yes I do, I am staying in a friend’s house now, but I usually stay in hotels as well. In 10 years, I want to have been to Europe, South America, North Mexico, North America as well and different places in Brazil as well.
U: What are your hobbies?
G: Traveling of course, and music. I play the bass guitar.
U: Are you in a band?
G: Haha I use to be, but everyone in the band got busy, it’s like one of those rock bands that never really ended, we just give it time and slowly we don’t really talk to each other anymore haha.
U: Where is your favorite place to go in New York?
G: I think it’s the Top of the Rock building because you can see everything and the view up there is really beautiful. I got some nice pictures there, till now it’s my favorite place.
U: What is your best memory of Grand Central?
G: Having this interview with you guys.
U: Aww
U: Where do you see yourself in five years time?
G: I like to be travelling, maybe in Asia or Africa, continents that I have never been, maybe even living in these places for a year and trying to be a local there. It is a dream. I want to write a blog about trips and maybe find some companies that pay me to do that, for example advertisements and such.
U: I see, are you a blogger now already?
G: Not yet. I am still trying to take pictures and write stuff to start with something but I haven’t started it yet. When I start I will let you guys know, you all could be my first readers haha.
U: What is one memory from home (Brazil) that you really treasure?
G: I think it will be with my mother. We went to the beaches there a lot. She loves the sand and the sea. I really appreciate the time I spend with her there. That’s what I miss.
U: You seem to like traveling a lot. What is this thing about traveling that you are so into?
G: I think it’s because you get to know a lot of other people and their interests and point of views. For me it is also really cool to see how they live. I am not really into going only to tourist attractions, I mean, since I am here I have to go, but I also like to see how people live differently from my place. I think it’s fascinating to see how human beings adapt to the weather or to the food. I like to observe that.
U: What do you think is one major difference between here (New York) and Brazil?
G: Here, you can find people from every part of the world. It is one thing that I never see at home. All the people from different countries and different cultures just unite in one city. This for me is very special in New York.
U: Oh yes! Even the four of us here! I am from India, Grace is from Singapore and Olive is from California!
G: Exactly! This is a perfect example and I like this a lot!
U: Alright! I think we got the interview! Thank you so much for your time! We hope you have a great trip ahead!
G: Sure! Thank you for inviting me! Can I take a picture with you guys? *Snaps tourist picture with us*
U: Thank you! Bye!
G: Bye!
Ganjaa
Grace: Where are you from?
Woman: I’m from Jamaica.
Grace: And where are you going?
Woman: Connecticut.
Grace: What does Grand Central mean to you?
Woman: Hmm, basically nothing, it’s just a transfer point. Where I transfer from one train to the next.
Grace: How often do you commute through it?
Woman: Everyday.
Grace: Oh wow, do you ever get bored of it?
Woman: No, because I’m always rushing through. Today I missed my train, though. But I’m always rushing through in the morning and the evening. So, you’re never bored, it’s always a rush.
Grace: What is your occupation?
Woman: My occupation, I’m a clerical assistant, a cosmetologist, I’m also a fixer. I can fix anything. (Laughs).
Grace: What was the previous one?
Woman: Cosmetologist. Basically hair and nails.
Grace: What is one thing you really dislike about your job?
Woman: Nothing. Because I always like helping people and doing stuff, so.
Grace: What is your best memory in Grand Central?
Woman: Best memory? I don’t have one.
Anjana: What about your best memory in Jamaica?
Woman: Oh, well my best memories are with my kids. You know, enjoying life with my kids.
Grace: What are your hobbies?
Woman: I listen to music, dancing, cooking, baking, basically, I have so many hobbies. (Laughs).
Grace: Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?
Woman: 5 years time, working for myself.
Olive: So you come here, to go to work?
Woman: Yeah.
Grace: Who is the most important person in your life?
Woman: My kids.
Grace: How many kids do you have?
Woman: Five.
Olive: Are they in Jamaica?
Woman: No, they’re here.
Grace: Where is your favorite place to go in New York?
Woman: My favorite place, Staten Island. I like Staten Island!
Anjana: Why do you like it?
Woman: Umm, it’s near the water. I like to go near the water, put my feet in the water in the summertime. So that’s my favorite place.
