4th Avenue and 9th Street. Brooklyn. New York. Where cultures and lifestyles collide.

The intersection has suffered due to ambiguous boundaries. Its identity has been eroded – from active community node to high-speed private transit corridor.

This proposal rebuilds its identity in an effort to improve the quality of space. The intersection, where overlaps in transit networks occur, is strengthened and intensified, and used to rebuild a network of multi-functional public spaces.

Dedicated, yet overlapping circulation and transit networks meet at ground level, subsurface, and on an elevated platform. These strategic points of intersection become places of strategic intervention. A high activity transit node buried within a dense fabric is re-established.

Surface network node - To calm traffic, improve safety and redistribute the circulation area allotment in a fair manner, the first phase creates an interruption in the roadway by changing the physical material of the intersection and bending existing car/pedestrian boundaries. The change in material at the crossroad provides a foundation for the building of a distinct identity for the area and challenges the automobile’s perceived ownership of the street. The addition of dedicated cycling paths (preferably constructed wide enough to accommodate small motor vehicles including scooters) improves local transportation networks and support the fabric at the scale of neighbourhood.

Elevated network node - The existing station provides an anchor that triggers other revitalization projects in the area. Spreading its tentacles through fabric, new elevated pathways serve to extend its reach, the inclusively of it as evolves as a public space, and creates a functional landmark. New connections between the 3 vertical station levels (train, bus, subway) and mass transit networks are improved through the revitalization of the subsurface and elevated train stations.

Little by little, the intersection and street is reconfigured, repositioned and returned to the city. Boundaries, thresholds and overlaps in the fabric become more complex as the functionality of the space expands. But instead of becoming chaotic, a sort of labyrinthine clarity is revealed through growth in possibilities in movement and use in and through the space. Reciprocity in circulation networks further expands the reach of the node, and increases the efficiency, effectiveness and safety of mass transit and pedestrian circulation systems. Overtime, the space returns to its traditional role and identity as public space. The expanded public realm allows for appropriation of space through time and is flexible enough to meet the changing needs at the local and regional scales.

A ripple in the fabric, the intersection becomes a model of a new street logic that transcends the street itself – where all paths lead to paths, where interruptions create bonds in a seemingly continuous, yet fragmented, urban tissue - a multi-ethnic, ultra-diverse ground cover representative of the 21st century city.