This website uses cookies as well as similar tools and technologies to understand visitors' experiences. By continuing to use this website, you consent to Columbia University's usage of cookies and similar technologies, in accordance with the Columbia University Website Cookie Notice
If we aren’t working against bias, then we are complicit in it. My project is about creating a center in what was a margin. Our modern mythology portrays Wall Street as a symbol of American wealth and prosperity. This prosperity is denoted through the enclave of modern skyscrapers and the grandeur of the Neoclassical-style buildings that are interspersed along the street. Regarding the latter, Federal Hall became my focus as I noticed how it is barred from public interaction by means of scaffolding and fencing. There is no public uproar over its physical memorialization; most people ignore it as they amble through Wall Street. Through my research, I discovered that the Federal Hall we know today is historically a site where people have attempted to demand justice for the subjugation they face in their lives — but this phenomenon has been minimized from the building’s structure. The way in which people have encroached on Federal Hall over time will lead to a direct confrontation with the building’s materiality. With this in mind, I propose a deconstructed portico on the side of the building that will visibly remind people of their power to intervene in the struggle between the divider and the divided.