102a: Washington, DC - Chinatown

Practically in my backyard, I will discuss Washington, DC in depth rather easily. I will begin with material I have already compiled on a very specific region of the city -- and it is not unique to Washington (colloquially 'DC' from now on). The District has a Chinatown, much like other cities in the world, and is actually a very commercially successful place. But do not be fooled, because if you have been to Manhattan's Chinatown, you will immediately notice the difference.

My first long term exposure to "Gallery Place/Chinatown" was for my first project as a senior architecture student. We were to design a mediatheque/library space and like all other projects before it, the syllabus demanded a thorough site analysis. But everytime I would go with classmates I was displaced and confused. I needed to go back. The result was waking up at 6am to ride the mtro into town. I felt getting an 'early look' at the city was a good call. I had a run in with authority (they didn't like the fact I was taking so many pictures). That is a funny story for another time perhaps. I do not think I can summarize my findings any better than what I wrote in my piece for class to describe the thinking at the beginning stages of my project.



Site Response

The site is one of a great degree of diversity. There is not one sense of identity in that when I go, the genus loci isn’t really focused on one particular space. Therefore, I feel that regardless how I handle the building, I don’t want to have it attract too much attention programmatically or aesthetically and blend into the eclectic environment.

The name ‘Chinatown’ is solely a connection to the past of the environment and the environment today is suffering from a lack of cultural identity. The part of the city that we are assigned to work in lacks a certain culture that is associated with most other Chinatowns of the world.

So the question is: Do you wish to implant a building that tries to inject the concept of what Chinatown should be based on the architypes of the other cities. Or should this Chinatown stand alone on the realm of what the nation’s capital wants it to be. A Chinatown of its very own. Perhaps this china town is about the fusion of other cultureal elements with a Chinese base.

Define the street edge, to fit in the urban fabric as a building…announce the civicness

The only other option could be to capitalize on what the zeitgeist of what Chinatown is. That is looking past the cheapness of the signage and facades of the time to see that the area is just a hot pocket of diversity and should have a new building reflecting such. To se the german, the Spanish, the Italian the franchise, the mom and pop shops, all places as a diverse mixture of not just people, but programs and buildings.

So in terms of additional programmatic need, my response is either to play up a bit of what most Chinese towns have and harbor (Chinese rest, taichi, martial arts hall, music hall for folk performance, special Chinese collections, etc). Or to have a multicultural response.

Culture is:

Food, music, art, dance, etc...that sort of thing.

Language is already on the signs, but the others are kind of neglected. It is a shell of what is wants to be, a name to insist a way of experience. A title to form the perception, devoid of any material backing or design. The worst of the sort, because it is merely a label.

I had come to this conclusion rather clearly after assembling a map of my work, then exhaustively dissecting the area into parts to try to figure out where Chinatown really is, if it even exists. The following is a montage of the site collection and then my images for data collection:



Quality Check

Since I lack a metric to describe precisely how cities make me feel (a series of adjectives, perhaps, sometime in the future) the Gallery Pl. area is fundamentally sound in terms of it's genus loci. Sure, I may have a bone to pick about the lack of a China aspect to the package, but when you are there, the buildings of old and the buildings of today seem to mingle in a rather cohesive way. The amount of people in the area is a given because it is near a series of bars, restaurants, and the Verizon Center. Not to mention the Metro stop. All this with the fact it is in an area where offices are left and right, making it a dynamic space for commuters and a destination spot for others. I love the place, personally, for what it offers. The bones I have to pick with the area are that of the mislabeled name.

Spatially Speaking

I had mentioned in the video that 7 and H mark the center of Chinatown, proper (as DC would like you to think). This one is a no-brainer, because the Arch is placed before this intersection. But more private enterprise has helped make this a dynamic corner, including the AA&T digital screen that illuminates the square. As with most intersection's that would be defining a locale from all sides, it is not unusual that this would be busy, all day it seems pedestrians and cars alike desire to get through the signal. It is still a far cry from Hachiko Square in the Shibuya District of Tokyo, Japan, mostly because it does lack the office center-laden population of Shibuya.