When I first signed up for this class, I didn’t really pause to think about just how much distance we would cover. The list of sites were just names, and as I imagined each day, I somehow managed to disregard the sheer scope of the undertaking. I’m glad I did, because to be honest, I might have backed out if I had stopped to think. Now that the class is over, and I’ve had a week to reflect, I’m thinking that maybe that was the best way to be introduced to the city. I had been to Manhattan more than a dozen times before, but in truth I hadn’t seen a fraction of what the city has to offer. I think of all the paces we visited, I enjoyed most the places I had never seen, either in person or in pictures: the scale of Prospect Park and the contrast with the city around it, the clean lines of Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park, and the details of the East River Waterfront Esplanade. I feel as though the bigger and newer projects get more attention, and I liked seeing some of the older or less well-known spaces in Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs.
I would have liked to have a bit more time in some of the spaces, but then I wouldn’t have had time to see others. Its hard to decide which would have been better, and just thinking of planning everything makes me all the more thankful it was all done for us. I would like to thank Martin and anyone behind the scenes who helped put this together. It was a great experience, and I’m sorry everyone can’t take the course. It was surreal to meet some of the designers who were responsible for the spaces we visited, and get to hear firsthand all the details that not everyone has access to. The class was really well organized as well. The intensive days being in the beginning with the free day in the middle really immersed us in the environment and then gave us a chance to process all we had seen before moving on.
Below are some of my favorite moments.
I would have liked to have a bit more time in some of the spaces, but then I wouldn’t have had time to see others. Its hard to decide which would have been better, and just thinking of planning everything makes me all the more thankful it was all done for us. I would like to thank Martin and anyone behind the scenes who helped put this together. It was a great experience, and I’m sorry everyone can’t take the course. It was surreal to meet some of the designers who were responsible for the spaces we visited, and get to hear firsthand all the details that not everyone has access to. The class was really well organized as well. The intensive days being in the beginning with the free day in the middle really immersed us in the environment and then gave us a chance to process all we had seen before moving on.
Below are some of my favorite moments.
