HiPark
New York, NY
2014
Project Brief
HiPark was designed in response to a design competition called Juxtaposition in the Summer of 2015 to develop an architecture proposal that explores the intersection of urban culture and architecture. Participants were asked to design spaces that accommodate the 4 elements of hip hop culture; graffiti, break dancing, emceeing, and DJing. For this competition, the project's location and scale were left to the participants to identify.
Design Proposal
As the four elements of hip hop - DJing, MCing, Breaking, and Graffiti – become an accepted form of public art, an architectural typology that fuses these elements will emerge in urban environments. HiPark provides interrelated spaces for each of the four elements of hip hop and invites the community to join, learn, and spectate. This urban culture of self-expression that engages all senses will create timeless spaces that continue to grow with use.
As one enters HiPark from any of its four corners, one will immediately encounter graffiti artists and completed works. Moving through each space, one will hear the echoes of MCs and DJs perfecting their performance in the performance hall. This performance space could be divided into four separate practice rooms by using the sliding walls, or become a large performance hall with seats that emerge from a vertically sliding floor system. One will also witness individuals and groups of breakers practicing their routines and moves within various spaces. Rotating walls allow graffiti artists and breakers to manipulate their space, changing its size and relationship with adjacent surfaces. Light wells trace permanent egress paths from the central performance hall to all four exits and allow ventilation and natural lighting into all spaces.
HiPark is a place that develops character through its growth and consolidation of self-expressive works, voice through the messages embedded within each work, and memories of the sounds, movements, and words of every performance.