Multiple Singularities: The Polycentric Plan

Discipline
Architecture
Semester
Spring 2021
Description
This proposal for a city hall in New Orleans embraces the tension between the city hall as a singular, iconic object versus the city hall being made up of many programs and departments. Today the city hall takes on more responsibilities than voting in the council chamber. These responsibilities should be celebrated equally. Program stretches between three centers, interacting differently with each one. The use of the center itself as an organizing form both enforces and disturbs the singularity of the building. Typically, a building may have one single central space. By having three separate and distinct centers, the idea of singularity is stretched through the interior. Together, the centers disturb the singularity and iconicity of the building on the interior, while individually they each create one space viewed in totality. The formal language and exterior cladding enforces the tension between many parts and the whole.