Design III Fall 2011 - St. Mark's in the Bowery

This slideshow is part of: Selected Undergraduate Design Studio Projects--Design III, Fall 2011

St. Mark's in the Bowery

Derrick Benson, William Hood, Ariana Revilla

This project sets out to explore St. Mark’s Church as a sacred site and cultural island in the city of New York, framing the role of the church as a cultural incubator in terms of its own history and that of the neighborhood surrounding it through a collection of ‘found’ narratives and an understanding of the collaged sequence and distribution of the church’s ritual and performance spaces.

The collection of historical narratives set against the procession of ritual spaces, together fragmented and operating between scales, provide for a varied and associative understanding of the position of the church within its historical and urban context.
 

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.