Site Analysis Paper

Bayyinah C. Pierre

Prof. Sacha Frey

Intro Lit/Crit Arch I

November 14^th 2012.

From a Dot on a Map to a Milieu.

The site analysis that I completed at the Underwood Park is very different then its location on a map. It’s not just a dot, a tree or the symbolic green color on a map. It’s different; it presents itself with more information. Information you couldn't have known it if you were at there at a specific time. A lot of information was hidden from people, lost in the bigger plan, the bigger area, they didn't show relationships, the neighborhood, the people who are go to park every day, and in what categories those people fit in.

In mu site analysis I observed a lot of things, but one thing stuck.  It’s not about the park or the weather when I was there. It’s about the people who were occupying the park at that specific time. Race was a big thing when I was in the park. They were a lot of biracial kids in the park. It was either that or a black nanny with blonde headed kids. An Asian boy and his father were there but they were the only Asians. I don’t really know what it means; I haven’t been in the neighborhood for too long. 11205 is a big community, just like anywhere in the city it is full of townhouses, but somehow these townhouses are very different for the others. The appeal is nicer. If I had to guess, I would say that the townhouses are habited by rich blonde people who can afford a nanny to watch their kids; and the biracial kids? I don‘t know, maybe the world is changing.

My site analysis is more of a community map, it presents relationships and character. It introduces the economical and racial factors. The kids who are playing at Underwood Park can show their kids where they used to spend their afternoons with the nanny or mommy.

 My map recreates Pratt Institute, one place around is defined. People would know about the community. They don’t have to be surprised once they find out that they are not in Manhattan but 11205 is part of New York City. Instead of looking at a green blur on Google Maps or any map, they know the type of people who frequent it every day, and with that they should what type of neighborhood this is.