F-Stop: Unraveling Roosevelt Island's Past and Present-Future

(SW Seawall Edge, Roosevelt Island)

Arriving at the proverbial 'fork in the road' I opt for the overhead route (I caught the F-train back to the City) to Roosevelt Island via the tram - feeling a little nostalgic about my many ascents up Grouse Mountain back home. This trip was over quicker than it began. No sooner have I risen into the canopy that is Manhattan's east side, we are crossing the great divide that is the east river. Descending upon this island of historical proportions one is taken by the visual progression of built history from Lighthouse Park to Southpoint. A clash of architectural styles that are clearly representative of the islands social and functional past and present, I naturally move toward the comfortable and familiar edge of the seawall. Unlike Vancouver where one is drawn to the edge for a regenerative glimpse of the mountains, it is the surrounding vertical builtscape of Manhattan that  inspires here. The inner workings of Roosevelt Island can best be described as banal form mindlessly following function. The in-between experience has been all but forgotten in order to accommodate the loading and unloading of goods and services. Uninviting, cold, and confusing, much of the interstitial spaces that exist here are to be simply avoided - "step back - there's nothing to see here".

Neglected monuments, contemporary interventions, and ambiguous breaks in the flow of traffic around the perimeter seawall collide to become haphazard "points of interest". The meat of the island, I eventually uncover, lies due souh of the Queensborough bridge. Here, the historic smallpox hospital and it's environs lie dormant, eerily suggesting a history that is begging for resurgence and recognition. As I cicumnavigate the islands southernmost tip I am drawn to the power of it's presence within the greater cityscape. Views abound as the grade embodies a 'natural' cant from north to south - a seemingly obvious fit for an amphitheater, not dissimilar to the views from the Times Square stairs atop the TKTS booth.

(Smallpox Hospital, Roosevelt Island)

It turns out, upon further investigation, that this was in fact the site of Louis Kahn's only unbuilt work in NYC - FDR Four Freedoms Park. A resurgence of support for the completion of this work - as much a well-intentioned memorial to Kahn as it is to FDR - has not been without it's conflict or resistance but it seems to be moving forward as designed. Kahn's construction documents, in fact, are to be implemented via the modernized oversight of Mitchell-Giurgola Architects.

(Contemporized Site Plan Rendering, Author Unknown)

(Site Plan Rendering, L. Kahn)

It dawned on me the political muscle that Architects wield - compared to their landscape architectural counterparts - as there seems to be litle current thought to the relevance of this 'once appropriate' design. Why is it that Landscape Architects are nowhere to be seen on this project team? Is such a pivotal and revered site within New York not worthy of some thoughtful attention that is both holistic and relevant? Certainly not an inappropriate site for a sculpture park and public open space, the design seems to lack an appreciation for it's context. Great walls of stone - "The Room" - and a double-sided allee of trees appear to mask and restrict any of the views that caused me such profundity and enjoyment. As well, there seems to be a lack of reverence paid and the thoughtful integration of the looming historical skeleton that exists immediately north - the Smallpox Hospital.

(On-site mockups of "The Room's" stone - I think. "What happened to our view?")

(Site Model, L. Kahn)

There is no doubt that a 'destination' for this island is desperately needed, both economically (for the island) and socially (for the ever expanding and densifying city). However, to pursue the design of today's public spaces that were envisioned and conceived in a very different economic and social time, without question as to their relevance, and based solely on the merits and political clout of a name seems a bit egotistical and short-sighted. It's appeal, for some, remains. A modern composition? Yes. Of the highest order? Perhaps. Has it stood the test of time? Only on paper. I suppose only time will tell. In the meantime, donate a tree and make the world a greener place - http://www.fdrfourfreedomspark.org/buy-a-tree