| Greenpoint walk to Newtown Creek/ Water Treatment Plant.m4a |
| Gantry Park Walk through Garden.m4a |
Today's visits were to industrial or formerly industrial sites. I felt that the two best examples of industrial parks which tried to re-imagine landscapes were Gantry Plaza State Park in Queens and the Newtown Creek Water Treatment Plant in Greenpoint. Both parks held reminders of the site's industrial nature-- Gantry Park by preserving the gantries and incorporating them into the plaza or public spaces of the park, and Newtown by creating a creek walk surrounding the water treatment plant. Because of this, I chose to blog two contrasting yet similar sound clips: one from the walk towards the Newtown Creek (through what I deemed to be the most industrial area we passed in Greenpoint), and a sound clip of walking through the "garden" at Gantry Park.
In the audio clip capturing sounds of Greenpoint, you can hear machinery, construction, and birds flying overhead. I thought that this was really effective at encompassing the balance between the natural and artificial elements around the site. The harsh, rough, and noisy nature of machines operating and semi-trucks passing is somewhat balanced out by the sound of something so natural like the seagulls above the water surrounding the plant. Dealing with a landscape which is so rough and seemingly dirty, manicured gardens and paths really would not work effectively here. Although I appreciated the fact that this creek walk did not strive to be extremely clean and orderly, I found the circulation path to be a little unfortunate. It would have been nice to get closer to the plant (though I do realize that these choices may have been made due to obvious reasons like safety and site limitations).
Gantry Park's Garden, on the other hand, exuded a more serene atmosphere due to the sounds of rushing water, the crunch of pebbles, and soothing winds. I thought Gantry Park was successful in retaining industrial artifacts and incorporating them into the park while still creating a pleasant environment which did not necessarily sound "industrial," as sounds of construction and machinery were replaced by more natural sounds.
The two parks treat the industrial character of their respective sites in different ways. Whereas Newtown really embraces the sounds of machinery even in the paths leading up to the park and creates a landscape around a water treatment plant, Gantry park incorporates the gantries as a symbolic element of the location's history, rather than making them the sole focus of the project. I think this results from the fact that the water treatment plant is still in use, and that the industrial areas around the Newtown are still active-- processing scrap metal, transporting shipments on trucks, etc. Since the area is highly industrial still, it makes sense that the main focus of Newtown is the water treatment plant. Gantry Park however, has undergone a vast transformation and is gradually becoming more residential. In addition, the gantries are no longer operating, and serve mainly as an ornamental reminder. In either case, however, I believe that these two parks receive their unique character from the combination of nature with industrial elements.
In the audio clip capturing sounds of Greenpoint, you can hear machinery, construction, and birds flying overhead. I thought that this was really effective at encompassing the balance between the natural and artificial elements around the site. The harsh, rough, and noisy nature of machines operating and semi-trucks passing is somewhat balanced out by the sound of something so natural like the seagulls above the water surrounding the plant. Dealing with a landscape which is so rough and seemingly dirty, manicured gardens and paths really would not work effectively here. Although I appreciated the fact that this creek walk did not strive to be extremely clean and orderly, I found the circulation path to be a little unfortunate. It would have been nice to get closer to the plant (though I do realize that these choices may have been made due to obvious reasons like safety and site limitations).
Gantry Park's Garden, on the other hand, exuded a more serene atmosphere due to the sounds of rushing water, the crunch of pebbles, and soothing winds. I thought Gantry Park was successful in retaining industrial artifacts and incorporating them into the park while still creating a pleasant environment which did not necessarily sound "industrial," as sounds of construction and machinery were replaced by more natural sounds.
The two parks treat the industrial character of their respective sites in different ways. Whereas Newtown really embraces the sounds of machinery even in the paths leading up to the park and creates a landscape around a water treatment plant, Gantry park incorporates the gantries as a symbolic element of the location's history, rather than making them the sole focus of the project. I think this results from the fact that the water treatment plant is still in use, and that the industrial areas around the Newtown are still active-- processing scrap metal, transporting shipments on trucks, etc. Since the area is highly industrial still, it makes sense that the main focus of Newtown is the water treatment plant. Gantry Park however, has undergone a vast transformation and is gradually becoming more residential. In addition, the gantries are no longer operating, and serve mainly as an ornamental reminder. In either case, however, I believe that these two parks receive their unique character from the combination of nature with industrial elements.