Today was cloudy and rainy. The first video I chose was recorded at Brooklyn Bridge Park. This video shows different layers of people’s activity around waterfront area in different speeds. The nearest layer was ourselves, we were sitting on stairs and watching ships and the skyline of Manhattan. The speed of our movement was quite slow. The second layer was the people jogging along the river. They moved quite fast in the video and disappeared at the other side of the camera quickly. The third layer would be the ships traveling on the river. They moved fast but the result was slow in the camera due to long distance between them form where we were. The fourth layer was the cars and people on the opposite side of the river. Their movement was not clear. They move without noise. They became a part of the background of the scene. The last layer was the skyline of Manhattan, Statue of Liberty and Staten Island. They were still image without any movement. The variation of people’s activity was very clear depicted by this angle.

One thing to add, compare to Hudson River Park, this park didn’t solve the noise from roadways very well. When we went through the park, it was always noisy on the road side. Although the designer tried to solve this issue by use artificial highland to create sound barrier between park and road. The result did not perform very well because the noise was still loudly enough.

The second video was took place at Prospect Park. The angle was from where we were standing towards the top of the forest there. Due to different velocity of wind, the shape of the trees changed slowly or drastically. The whole process was very dynamic. The top of the trees changed the shape of sky when they were flowed by wind. It was peaceful and beautiful. Because you cannot forecast what will be the next step of its movement at all. For me, I felt there were two factors in Prospect Park: trees and wind. Everything else in the city was cleaned out from this space. The pure green nature showed us the simplest relationship between nature and creatures: action and reaction. In my opinion, this video is a simple and clear way to depict this concept.

After this, we had a lot of fine at Brooklyn Botanical Gardens Visitor Center. The designer treat the relationship between buildings and site very cleverly with slope green roof, stairs and landscape. The artificial landscape hill was a very clever design to create sound barrier between Visitor Center and Parking Plot. On the hill, there were many plants and landscapes. People can also have a very good view of the park, which was very nice.

    Inevitable as it is to describe today’s walking out with heavy rain and strong wind. Even though the situation would not qualify as ideal for us, it presented another perspective to us, as Brooklyn soak into the rain and everything get watered presenting so fresh.

    Before rain comes to Brooklyn today, I had been to the Brooklyn Bridge Park, mostly it can state as the service area for Pier 1 to 6. It is very successful to notice it include acoustic issue into the design by bring the sound burner to the site, and it really works out. What is fun to notice, people who designed all of them are meant to differentiate and supplement them in function, form and morphology. Even though restricted by the site on the width, they make the decision to separate people from riding the bicycle and jogging. In addition, detail design was thorough that different pavement was installed to prevent skateboarder or other situation.

  Then the moment rain and wind comes to Brooklyn, we’ve ahead to Brooklyn Botanical visitor center. No deny on it is a wonderful project extensively presented the spacial relationship and establish the narrative to appeal to people come and enjoy. No matter from visitor center, green roof garden to buffer the sound and vision from the parking lot beside, or Japanese rose garden and else, Brooklyn Botanical center takes on an unreal and almost illusion quality to allure people enjoy the park. With the petals blown down to the ground forming roads, it reminds me Japanese traditional Cherry Blossoms Festival. Couples would talk under the sakura tree in blossom and parents would ask for leave and take children out to chase the blossoming from north to south for a week or more.

the first short film, shot without moving the camera [except when i realized it was rolling!] is of the bird island at the new, ongoing brooklyn bridge park.
i am so interested in places designed for non-human life! i took this shot in an attempt to look a place that is not meant for me in the eye.
the island will provide 360 degree views for birds to feel safe while colonizing the island. it is visible from the nearby waterfront walkway and beach, but will not include any elements making it directly accessible by humans [unless you happen to be floating past on a kayak].
the island will be filled with more soil, and trees that are currently being held in a temporary nursery on another one of the piers will be planted there. can't wait to see!

the brooklyn bridge park is a fascinating project- we were met by martin of the michael van valkenburg office, who was full of great info about the project. he explained in general terms the major factors shaping the park: the highway, the brooklyn heights community, and the river. it was said at one point that the park is a "result of its constraints". the park hosts a wide variety of programmatic events organized by the conservancy, ranging from yoga at dawn to soccer games to operations hubs for marathons.

then we walked through prospect park. nice to be surrounded by the sound of wind in the trees.

the next video i took was while the weather was turning. we were in a japanese garden at the brooklyn botanical gardens at that time, and i was thinking about feng shui, which means 'wind and water'. i took this shot as a study of that interface.

the japanese garden area featured nice examples of zen buddhist -style garden features, including beautifully crafted fences, gates, sitting structures, and pavilions that float above the water. such attention to detail!
the asla-award winning visitors center melts into the landscape, which contrasts with the way the older structure presides over the landscape. these speak to design intent of how we view ourselves within the landscape.

our day was cut shorter than intended, due to inclement weather- which provided the opportunity to go see the ai weiwei exhibit at the nearby brooklyn museum! i met my cousin there, and just fell into weiwei's work.
his voice is so clear throughout the work. every topic was so relevant, so necessary- ranging from the aids epidemic to massive displacement of people and land, all with the oppressive overtone of the faceless chinese bureaucracy. it is incredible to consider that his house is under video surveillance as i type this.
the entire show was incredibly moving- a great first visit to the brooklyn museum!!!

then, i did a little off-piste exploration of the red hook neighborhood of brooklyn, with my chesebrough tour guide! a great mix of industrial grit and youthful businesses. we walked in the misty late afternoon through industrial and residential neighborhoods, to a small, waterside park with a pier, a few parking lots, and past cool new things, with some good street art staring at us as we passed.

A little bit similar with yesterday’s weather, it was a windy morning when I got up. Stepping out my hotel, my hair became a kind of bird’s nest immediately in wind. And the bird’s nest remained on my head whole day later. 

Today’s first spot was Brooklyn Bridge Park at the waterfront of Brooklyn right under the Brooklyn Bridge. Sitting at the steps beside the coastline in the park, I could get a whole view of lower Manhattan and a busy channel of East River. It was one available angle to take a short video about a daily scene of NYC. After meeting with our classmates, we walked along the park from one side to another. Although it was not completed, I could figure out there were several level in this park from the waterside to the road in the other side. In this way the landscape could be more abundant and also could resist the water flood effectively. The former piers were remained in the park and created new place for relaxation and some other function which was useful and reasonable. If it were a sunny day, I thought the photos could be much better. 

 After a quick lunch, we moved to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden which surprised me to some degree. I didn’t notice that there was such a huge botanical garden in the middle part of Brooklyn. And what surprised me was the Rose Garden was so beautiful that it seemed like a cinematic scene. The color was pretty amazing and unreal. It was raining winding, but we still took a lot photos and several videos in the park, especially for the tulips in front of the gate. The flowers with some dewdrops were always touching and appealing.

Dismissed in the Botanical Garden, some of us went forward to the Brooklyn Museum which was beside the garden for the Ai Weiwei’s exhibition who is an excellent artist from China. What he usually focused on was about the issues of society and government. He was really good at action art and exhibition art. Through his works of art I could see what he tried to complete was not only the art but also the truth. He wanted to find out the truth which was covered illegally and  evilly. For this he was heat by the police man in China illegally and got cerebral hemorrhage. Luckily he was cured by german doctor and recovered finally. I admire those who don’t fear authority and dare to persist the truth even if they may be hurt or threatened. 

        Today should be rainy in the morning, but we are lucky. The weather is nice until afternoon.We start our trip at the Brooklyn Bridge Park, and visit the Jane’s Carousel and Brooklyn Botanical Gardens Visitor Center at Prospect Park later. We have to say we have seen different view of Brooklyn, compared with the industrial park we have visit before. The Brooklyn Bridge Park and Prospect Park are both nice park with many details we can learn from.

         Brooklyn Bridge Park is the first stop today. It’s a park which face to the Manhattan. It’s like a window connect the Brooklyn and the Manhattan. We can find such an interesting balance in this conflict. Go along this park, we never feel boring. The space is full of surprise. We enjoy the view from two sides, even three sides. It has become a good place to experience the New York from different directions.      

         Brooklyn Botanic Garden Visitor Center awarded the general design praise of ASLA in 2013. Located at 990 Washington Avenue, a translation between the city and the garden. Today, it is very quietly and beautifully. When we walking into it, I was attracted by the passage way on the second floor. It is a gap between two ellipsoidal constructions. Standing on this passage way, we can see the first floor through the frosted glass wall. This passage way guided us going to the ginkgo street. Then, we say the roof of the visitor center, the most famous element in this architecture. This roof is expected to harvest almost 200,000 gallons of water each year, planted with three mixes of meadow grasses, flowering perennials. When standing in the garden and saw the visitor center, it looks like hiding in the plants cause of the green roof.

        Brooklyn museum is another impress place for us. The interior of this building is very purely and quietly. Our favorite exhibition is produced by Ai Weiwei, a famous artist from China. I like him and always thought that he is a crazy guy since many years ago. Many people considered him as an energy, weird and daring man. Today, I have another thinking about him cause of the exhibition on the fourth floor. It is a documentary talking about the earthquake in WenChuan, he is fighting with the government to protect the truth. At last, he sleeping in a hospital of German, looks very tired and weak. It is a different Ai Weiwei from the past. It is hard to say what I felt, but make me interested on his experience more the before. The fifth floor is also his exhibition. He projected videos on the wall. From the video, the camera never moved. Most of this video are record the old Beijing and the audiences are interested with these images, so that they never moved. I think it is very funny, the camera never moved, the audience which watch these videos never moved either. So I took a video about this screen.

         Pretty enjoy today! Look forward to tomorrow!

Today I chose to document the water conditions at Brooklyn Bridge Park and the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens because of the weather related conditions which, for me, set the tone for today's trip. 

While at Brooklyn Heights, the water divided Brooklyn from the Manhattan skyline which seamlessly faded into the fog. Being able to see this separation had the effect of making the Brooklyn Bridge seem like a unifier, marking its importance as a means of connection between the two boroughs. This powerful distance emphasized through the view of the water became the focus of my first video. 

I find that the obstacle of the water really struck me today because of the high winds, especially when juxtaposed with a tree experiencing the same conditions. The water became something which picked up with the wind speeds and crashed into the piers  and concrete-- resulting in erosion which was one of the issues talked about by our guest speaker (who makes a brief appearance at the end of the video!) The gloomy and rainy weather today allowed me to see the contrasting characteristics water-- which is usually associated with views, relaxation, and calmness--  can have on a landscape.  

While at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens I took videos at the Steinhardt Conservatory, of the trees at the Cherry Esplanade, of ducks at the Rose Arc Pool, and of the turtles and koi fish at the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden. However, I felt that the video which most complemented my first video, due to contrast, was one which viewed the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden from a bit of a distance, and displayed a very different nature of incorporating water into a landscape.

Here, the view of the pond at the Japanese Garden is also being affected by the rainy water, but seems to have more of a calming effect. The pavilions from which this video was taken provide coverage from the rain and so viewers can look at the rain falling and creating ripples in the pond without getting soaked. This created an environment which allowed for reflection and made it seem as if time had slowed down. 

Although the two spaces may provide entirely different effects when experiencing different weather conditions, it was refreshing to see the parks on a day like today-- the rainy weather served as a reminder of how much landscapes can change with weather shifts or seasonal changes. It was also interesting to see how drastically different the atmospheres created by the inclusion of water into a landscape could be.  

I chose this video clip because I like the sound that the water makes as it spills over the little dam and through a hole in the wall.  Being surrounded by trees and park on all sides helps the acoustics of the stream travel further.  You don't hear any people, bikes, or traffic in Prospect park, just the sounds around you.  Before coming across the stream, I learned that the park is built on a downhill and that a stream cuts through the park following the topography downstream.  This is that stream.  I thought it was nice that there were natural looking water features around the city other than the coastline.

To comment on sound and how it effects the park space; the berm at Brooklyn Bridge Park amazed me.  I had heard that the berm had been built to block out the sound from the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway but never did I expect for the structure to cause such an immediate difference.  I arrived early to Pier 1 this morning and decided to explore and upon passing behind the berm, the noisy BQE was muted.  It was such a quick transition and right away I felt more connected to the park.  Even if the highway makes up a boundary line for the parks edge, I do not think that it should be considered a useful element in the design.  It may have inspired the landscape architect to want to build a sound blocking berm, but sometimes parts of the existing space should not be incorporated into the landscape.  I feel that many new designs try to incorporate as much of the existing structures and character of the land as they can.  I like how the designers of the Brooklyn Bridge Park respected some of the elements of the area that existed like the piers and even the dilapidated piers, and changed others; the blocking of the BQE and the addition of new landscape elements and plantings.

The Brooklyn Bridge Park is probably my favorite.  I love the design, the thought process that went into its construction and how the finished product looks and is being received by the public.  

This is at the Pier 1 entrance of the park.  It is a solar charging station with just about all of the wireless device chargers you can imagine.  It is accompanied by a sign that says AT&T has provided free WiFi to the park users.  I think this shows the designers knew their audience.  This charging port is close to where the East River Ferry stops to pick up (I think) commuters going into Manhattan who don't use cars and having WiFi especially in this area can provide extra help to commuters at the start or end of their busy days.

The freshwater pools along the edge of the park adds a new type of habitat for the park and also act as retention ponds for storm water runoff from the park.  Each of the freshwater ponds are successively 6 inches below the one before, so that water flows downward and can be pumped back to the top pond and conserve water.  
They also were very conscientious of the soil that each area was going to need for proper growth.  There are 18 different soil types throughout the park including soils for heavily used lawns and lightly used lawn spaces.  

The only thing I thought could have been made more of a priority is a dog park or dog run.  After passing so many dogs on our walks and having three of my own who usually spend the day running around the yard, I have become very sensitive to the needs of everyones favorite pet.  I think it is admirable to create an island for the cormorants, but I think dogs need a place to go also.

     As sad as it was to see the sun go, I think today was an opportunity to see Brooklyn’s public parks in a different way. On the first day, many of the places we visited, the Highline and Bryant Park in particular, were overflowing with people, and while it is interesting to see how the parks are used on a good day, it is perhaps even more interesting to see them on a less than ideal day. It is not sunny every day of the year, and since these parks are being used year round, as future designers it’s a good idea to see how public spaces get used rain and shine. The video clips that we recorded today, show this contrast in usage. There were significantly less people out and those that were weren’t sitting around. The benches were empty. The fields were empty. The playgrounds were empty. That didn’t make the spaces any less interesting though. Brooklyn Bridge Park was one of the most interesting sites we visited for the class, both because of the merits of the design and because it was well presented. Martin Wiggins did a great job introducing the project and the many design problems the firm faced when they took on the project. It’s fascinating to hear about just how much thought goes into even the smallest of decisions. After having seen some of the other projects done by the firm, it was also interesting to be able to find a common thread throughout the designs, in process, materials, and themes. Listening to Wiggins talk about the viewsheds within the park, we were caught by the idea that one point can offer multiple views, each of which is framed in a different way. This might not be able to be applied to every project, but when you are in a place like Manhattan and the nearby Brooklyn, which have so many iconic views, controlling and directing views can be very important. The video clip we included shows both these conditions: the dramatic changes in park usage and the recurring elements in the designs of of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, with an attention to context and views. The clip shows a section of a path along the waterfront, and in the thirty seconds only a single man and his daughter passed by. In the background, you can see the large berm designed by the firm to redirect views away from the thundering highway and decrease the auditory effect of the rushing cars. Built landforms were a recurring element in all the designs we saw by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates. At Chelsea Piers Park, they served to slow potential water surges, at Teardrop Park they formed a barrier between the park and the surrounding landscape, and at Brooklyn Bridge Park they created a more hospitable place by muffling the sound of a nearby highway.

These clips give an impression of the weather conditions we encountered today. Also, the single shot narrowed our view of the spaces that we were in. You are able to see just how much change, however subtle, occurs in this focused space.

Sarah Hoagland and Pamella Selby.