Our contemporary cities increasingly reflect controlled spaces—regulated and commercialized to the point of losing their inherent meaning. At Pier 16 in New York City, once the world’s largest fish market, vibrant communal labor and identity have given way to a luxury dining hub, turning the historic site into what Marc Augé calls a “non-place"—efficient but emotionally vacant.
My project confronts this loss of urban authenticity by reprogramming Pier 16 into a dynamic social common ground. Inspired by Georg Simmel’s theory that money objectifies interactions, turning meaningful exchanges into transactional ones, this proposal reclaims urban spaces for genuine engagement. By integrating diverse communal functions—a farmers market, a children’s playground woven into public pathways, a community dog park aligned with existing usage, and a salvaged bowling alley celebrating multigenerational play—the project transforms Pier 16 into a living archive.
Strategically located at the intersection of financial, local community, and transportation hubs, the pier embraces this spatial and social complexity. Rather than imposing rigid order, the design encourages spontaneous, interspecies interactions, reviving collective memory and fostering civic participation. This reimagined public space invites chaos and multiplicity, bridging past and present, human and non-human, physical and digital experiences.
Ultimately, this project redefines damage control in cities—not merely structural or environmental, but cultural, social, and emotional. Pier 16 becomes a prototype, prompting continuous reflection: How can we design urban spaces to be organically humane, shared, and vibrantly engaged?
