University as Urban Form

In the current moment, urban design is increasingly considered as a remedial or bottom-up activity, and the city is seen as something either uncontrolled or almost exclusively shaped by the market. At the same time, it is undeniable that urban policies have significant consequences on the form (or absence thereof) of cities. A case in point is Newburgh, New York, where the effects persist from the so-called policies of “urban renewal.” Since the 1960s, a series of “big plans” have either been responsible for or attempted to, unsuccessfully, address the voids in Newburgh. In 2019, a series of projects are poised to happen on the Newburgh waterfront. Despite the potential significance of these projects, it’s unclear how they will provide a coherent and collective framework for Newburgh. In such a fragmented condition, how do we shape the city? This studio, counterintuitively, proposes another “big plan” for the Newburgh waterfront. The studio considers a hypothetical university and expansion of the nearby SUNY Orange campus. For Newburgh, education could catalyze economic growth, innovation, and social mobility, but also re-structure the waterfront and provide urban legibility. Projects are designed at both an urban and architectural scale, investigating the interrelationship and communication between architecture and the city.