Author Description

The site and subject of the workshop was Lower Manhattan in New York City. The underlying theme combined "ground” and the German word "Grund” referring to the foundation of ideas that give a rational structure to urban activity. Over an intensive twelve-day period, the workshop explored the nature of the "Gr(o)und” consisting of pavements, sidewalks, streets, plazas and other street furniture regulating the flow of the street. The workshop designed and constructed new tectonic elements with the aim of making changes in the "Gr(o)und” for a particular, brief period of time. The installation of these new elements in Lower Manhattan on a hot, busy day in mid-August is documented and analysed in this latest addition to the RIEAeuropa concepts series.