Gateway to Chinatown
Oculus on Canal | Finalist
New York City, Chinatown, 2017

Our finalist entry to the Gateway to Chinatown competition project is to create an iconic and clear gesture on the site, that entices neighbors and tourists alike to approach and interact with it. Our gateway speaks of movement, passage and change, while also providing a space for static enjoyment with the piazza-like steps that afford possibilities of seating and interaction with new technology, as well as places for the community to gather and come together. For us, the gateway is about connecting, and creating an oculus into the future that still recognizes the heritage of the site by paying homage to traditional motifs and symbology but allowing allowing something entirely new to emerge. It is conceived as both a portal and passageway between the community of the Chinatown and Little Italy neighborhoods and the active tourist population; creating an intertwining gesture aimed at simultaneously defining and engaging the neighbors and users in a cultural exchange.

PROJECT DATA
Design: Eva Perez de Vega + Ian Gordon, Sid Seth assistant
Client: Department of Transportation
Structural Consultant: Zak Kostura, ARUP
Lighting Consultant: Jacinda Ross, ARUP
Code Consulting: Conversano Associates