CITY CENTER (RE)CONSIDERED
Syracuse, New York, U.S.A.
As a test bed for ideas surrounding the re-development of vacant spaces in downtown Syracuse, this project speculates on the re-development of the "City Center" building in the urban core. Built in 1975, the building has gone through a series of vacancies spanning decades at a time. Aside from a partial ground floor tenant in the past few years, the building in-whole remains empty. The building's plans have not been able to secure an anchor tenant to justify capital costs and risk. While there are many factors that contribute to high vacancies, the critical component here is clear: the current model of risk management is no longer socially viable (securing anchor tenants, synthetic capital, etc).
City Center (Re)Considered proposes to utilize the existing building structure and phase the re-development with certain programs, leveraging synthetic capital and reducing risk over time and over multiple stakeholders. The result is a hollowed out building with three distinct volumes (three different buildings) and an exposed structural system that references its time.
City Center (Re)Considered proposes to utilize the existing building structure and phase the re-development with certain programs, leveraging synthetic capital and reducing risk over time and over multiple stakeholders. The result is a hollowed out building with three distinct volumes (three different buildings) and an exposed structural system that references its time.
Location
Syracuse, NY
Type
Architecture
Status
Concept
Team
Akhil Arun, Sou Fang, Mary Ann Lee, Justine Paul
Advisors
Bess Krietemeyer, PhD (Syracuse Architecture), Marcos Parga, PhD (Syracuse Architecture)