Freeway Futures
2024—
Syracuse, NY
Design Research
Ongoing
The I-81 Viaduct is an infrastructure and transportation project common to many post-industrial cities, demonstrating the deeply embedded systems of inequity that produce and perpetuate them. Syracuse serves as a critical case study and prototype for broader development practices, directly linked to policy strategies that reimagine disruptive and divisive infrastructural systems. This project is focused on strategies for equitable housing, productive landscapes, zoning policy, and civic-minded architecture. Our methodology is to work through design-research. We have designed and visualized scenarios to assess the present condition of the freeway and to identify catalytic solutions for creating a future-oriented, sustainable, and livable freeway future. The project will culminate in an exhibition that features our strategic plan, models, and soundscapes that we will present to community members and city collaborators.
In many urban recovery projects, proposed solutions are often as problematic as the original structure slated for removal. For example, the proposed replacement for the viaduct is the Community Grid Vision Plan by Dover, Kohl & Partners which gives little to no attention to productive landscapes; the affordable housing plan plays into neo-liberal tropes of for-profit, developer-driven, housing and does not prioritize community stewardship of housing; the affordable housing plan makes no mention for the future of the historic Pioneer Homes development adjacent to I-81 on Almond Street; the plan does not advocate for an overall architectural agenda that embeds civic-minded programs on city-owned land.
In contrast, we have proposed a two-phased approach to an alternative possibility: first, to study the “Freeway Present,” or an in-depth look at the present condition of the viaduct and its adjacencies through interviews with main community partners: residents, city council members, and developers. And second, we have speculated through analytical and projective drawings about “Freeway Futures” as a reimagination of the I-81 site as a productive and supportive system for the greater Syracuse community.
Project Team: Nimet Anwar, Omar Ali, Jess Myers, Thomas Hogge
Research Assistants: Yuting Fang, Aung Thet Khant Paing, Sabrina Kunigenas, Hannah Puerta-Carlson, Gianna Rullo, Ian Tahmin
This project is a 2024 Independent Projects Grants Recipient. A grant program in partnership with the Architectural League of New York and New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), 2024, and is funded by the Syracuse University Infrastructure Institute, 2024 Infrastructure Project Policy, Delivery, and Design: I-81 Viaduct Grant.
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Photo: Onondaga Historical Association
2024—
Syracuse, NY
Design Research
Ongoing
The I-81 Viaduct is an infrastructure and transportation project common to many post-industrial cities, demonstrating the deeply embedded systems of inequity that produce and perpetuate them. Syracuse serves as a critical case study and prototype for broader development practices, directly linked to policy strategies that reimagine disruptive and divisive infrastructural systems. This project is focused on strategies for equitable housing, productive landscapes, zoning policy, and civic-minded architecture. Our methodology is to work through design-research. We have designed and visualized scenarios to assess the present condition of the freeway and to identify catalytic solutions for creating a future-oriented, sustainable, and livable freeway future. The project will culminate in an exhibition that features our strategic plan, models, and soundscapes that we will present to community members and city collaborators.
In many urban recovery projects, proposed solutions are often as problematic as the original structure slated for removal. For example, the proposed replacement for the viaduct is the Community Grid Vision Plan by Dover, Kohl & Partners which gives little to no attention to productive landscapes; the affordable housing plan plays into neo-liberal tropes of for-profit, developer-driven, housing and does not prioritize community stewardship of housing; the affordable housing plan makes no mention for the future of the historic Pioneer Homes development adjacent to I-81 on Almond Street; the plan does not advocate for an overall architectural agenda that embeds civic-minded programs on city-owned land.
In contrast, we have proposed a two-phased approach to an alternative possibility: first, to study the “Freeway Present,” or an in-depth look at the present condition of the viaduct and its adjacencies through interviews with main community partners: residents, city council members, and developers. And second, we have speculated through analytical and projective drawings about “Freeway Futures” as a reimagination of the I-81 site as a productive and supportive system for the greater Syracuse community.
Project Team: Nimet Anwar, Omar Ali, Jess Myers, Thomas Hogge
Research Assistants: Yuting Fang, Aung Thet Khant Paing, Sabrina Kunigenas, Hannah Puerta-Carlson, Gianna Rullo, Ian Tahmin
This project is a 2024 Independent Projects Grants Recipient. A grant program in partnership with the Architectural League of New York and New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), 2024, and is funded by the Syracuse University Infrastructure Institute, 2024 Infrastructure Project Policy, Delivery, and Design: I-81 Viaduct Grant.
Photo: Onondaga Historical Association
