Below are the answers to the question related to the Circle Line Boat trip.
OBSERVE AND DOCUMENT the systems and infrastructure that you see via drawing and photography (upload 3-5 images and/or sketches to your LP along with the following questions).
- Compared to what you saw when walking, what can you see and sense from the boat?
When doing the zone walk it was just so ‘textbook-like’ meaning, there were some parameters and set things that we were looking for from the hurricane Sandy. Visiting more than three zones definitely helped me to get a deeper understanding of the vulnerable scope of the storm and the affected areas. However, experiencing the boat tour and having a chance to observe the city from a very different perspective was quiet remarkable in terms of realizing the power of the water. It is such a huge body of power that no human power is enough to keep it under control. For a second, the complex city, New York seemed a scared child to me, having no where to escape but to crawl under a bed.
- What areas appear to be vulnerable to coastal flooding?
Especially the riversides, Brooklyn- Dumbo, Lower Manhattan – Battery Park, West Side High Way, Greenpoint, Roosevelt Island. Basically, wherever has a shore to both East River and Hudson River is the number one vulnerable coastal.
- Are any effects of Hurricane Sandy visible?
I couldn’t see any affects or damages of hurricane sandy since not knowing the aftermath of the storm, it was hard to compare it to the presence.
- Are you able to determine which areas of the coast are built on landfill? If so, what clues made this possible?
It was hard to distinguish the landfill areas since everywhere looked ‘natural’. But form what I know, Battery Park is completely man-made landfill. And it was pretty obvious because there was quiete a lot of distance between the sea and the start of the buildings.
- Do you see sea walls, reinforcements, marsh areas?
Close to the financial district, there were sea walls located just after the park finished and met the sea. But from a distance it didn’t look that protective and blocking. In terms of marsh areas, I wasn’t able to observe any but after getting off the boat, I made some research about the places and found out that the area near JFK Airport and Queens are a big part of the marsh areas in New York.
- What kind of systems do you see interacting (people, water, boats, etc)?
The first system that stood out to me was the boat traffic and how people were ‘managing’ managing the water. Back and forth there was literally a whole different world on the sea. Then, I noticed the seagulls and the shells along the shore. They were too a part of the whole ecosystems which we are trying to integrate ourselves. Another one was the industry and the nature combination. From a distance it looked a lot organized and ‘clean’. But when we got closer and thing got clear, it was so disappointing to see how humans have created a situation that produces negative impacts to the nature just to sustain the demand.
- Does New York seem prepared for the next storm?
It is very hard to say yes to this question because the power of Mother Nature is unstoppable and unpredictable. But there were significant improvements and raised awareness in terms of preparation. And I belive that we, designers are the new generation that will come up with creative solutions and acts towards the possible storms.
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WIP – FINAL PROJECT
– Mixing and binding all the components of the paper clay.
– After shaping the clay around balloons to give a round shape, I left the clay to dry and harden.
-After couple of days, once the clay hardened I popped the balloons and left them to dry a couple days more.
– Once everything was rock-hard, I played around with styling and organising the paper ‘beads’ to complete the necklace.
– For the binding/ tying the necklace together at the back, I tried two different variations. And finally decided to go with the option on the bottom.
