ARCH 703-204

Advanced Architectural Design Studio

This studio speculates that a new typology can help sustain New York City’s financial global leadership in the world. New York cannot solely rely on import and export economies with the uncertainty of political pressures that affect the prices of goods and services. New York and other cities need to re-invent existing networks to be able to compete with trade barriers that are cumbersome and willfully destroying the growth of the economy. The future brings with it new opportunities that fuse technological innovation with growth in the US economy. The re-tooling of global manufacturing networks is underway with Vietnam, Taiwan and Malaysia becoming the recipients of global manufacturing needs. To add to a versatile and robust manufacturing agenda existing networks such as UPS, DHL, USPS and FedEx can gain considerably by allowing for new opportunities that extend their networks into facilities that aid in the development of quick prototypes for each point on their network, reducing the cost of shipment internationally and hence making pricing cost effective with a quick turnaround. Price Water-house Coopers indicates that currently 90 percent of global trade flows through 39 airports and states, which pales around 28,000 points of distribution only for UPS along the networks that can enhance efficiency nationally. The city’s that become the most important along these networks will thrive. US manufacturing will benefit with an efficient hub accessible directly from New York City establishing it as the leader of prototyping nationally. The new hub will increase the relevance of NYC as a business and logistics hub making a stronger connection to global centers due to the quick turnarounds of the prototypes and strengthening development locally.