There are many mining rocks in N.Y.C. but people live around them without any notice. By observing barriers around the city, I have found that there are many types that stop people’s movement - such as buildings, sidewalks, and fences. Similarly, plants also alter a person’s movement.
Defining barriers as either having either a “hard boundary” that is impermeable (such as geometric lines or artificial things) or “soft boundaries” that is permeable (such as organic lines or natural things). But some unique elements can reverse their status such as signage. Some signage like “Stop!” have the opposite meaning - they accelerate a person’s movement by making them by pass the road. I tried to define the measurements from A to B by permeability. For example, buildings, artificial things and geometric lines are all impermeable. However, windows in a building allow some visibility which makes a building a little permeable still. Moreover, as you ascend the building, you can see more of the site’s rocks and plants. On the contrary, rocks and plants should be penetrable, organic lines and natural things. But somehow because of the density of plants or the steep slope of the rocks, so it can be impenetrable by physical ways.
Barriers such as buildings, sidewalks, fences and even rocks which form as boundaries that stop people from coming. Even, hybridizing with signage, which is also one kind of boundaries that proscribe people’s movement. To be specific, barriers compose of hard boundaries such as geometric lines or artificial things or impenetrable and soft boundaries such as organic lines or natural things or penetrable. But some unique elements can reverse their status. If we see these barriers as void things, and signs can be opposite meaning that to liberate or accelerate people’s movement. Eventually, reversing the space from inside to outside then boundaries are not boundaries.
From my analytical drawing, the solid lines define the hard boundaries and the dashed lines define the soft boundaries around the site. As there are more hard boundaries, the walls will be opened like a door and become penetrable. On contrary, as there are more soft boundaries, the walls will be opened like a window and people can be able to see the two sides of the view. The larger section is for the residents which are on the rock and have more space for people to read. More importantly, it stops people from being bothered by roadway noise. On the other hand, the smaller section is for commuters who take the A train. It’s also convenient for commuters to borrow and return the books. All in all, the walls have two main functions. Firstly, the walls define the orientation. For example, two heights of the “door” define the way for adults or children. Secondly, the walls are also book shelves, so the thickness of the wall define the difference of the book shelves.
