New York School of The Arts
The brief for the project was derived from readings of fiction and imagined depictions of real places. Specifically, The Palace of Justice in Brussels, described in the book ‘Austerlitz’ by W. G Sebald. The novel is permeated with metaphors described through the exploration of space, reminding Austerlitz of lost memories. When describing The Palace of Justice, Sebald tells a story of Austerlitz finding his way through a labyrinth-like mountain of stone one can get lost within. Set within and antithetical to Manhattan’s skyscrapers and centralised parks, the project opens up previously inaccessible public space between existing infrastructure, encouraging exploration of an outlying area of Manhattan. Envisioning the project as a mountain of stone led to an investigation into quarrying, and the use of stone as a building material developed into the creation of stereotomic space and stone in its most archaic form. Against the cityscape of Manhatten, the building is carved out of the cliffside, stepping down toward the Hudson. In parallel, the project seeks to challenge the future of educational and artistic spaces in New York by embarrassing the recent return to the belief in the state as a driver of instrumental public works.
