cheungvogl: 100 percent content

‘100% content’ by cheungvogl all images courtesy of cheungvogl

‘100% content’ by hong kong-based office cheungvogl (judy cheung and christoph vogl) is an urban proposal for long island’s suburban communities, namely hempstead, new york.

‘…the suburb has turned worldwide into the synonym for faceless communities, lacking the merits of urban civilization by not-outsourcing social, cultural, economical and commercial aspects from the city centre into the new, development driven, but socially undeveloped new town and community centres. the idea of affordable living in a natural environment, benefiting from the closeness to the city’s rich offer in commerce, culture and economy has mostly turned into anonymous living far-off urban achievement.’ – cheungvogl

the project zeros in on hempstead as a town that, due to its proximity to the cultural hub that is new york, has never had the opportunity to grow as an independent community. this same dilemma has stopped many suburban towns from growing from the inside out and establishing a strong cultural identity, something that is pivotal for the residents’ contentment. with this observation, the proposal aims to reunite suburban life with social, cultural and economical context. ‘100% content’ is a master plan for an extension of new york city, turning hempstead and many other communities into places with social identity, diversity and permeable connectivity.

‘manhattan has a high population density because there are few places like it.’

from left to right: new york state, new york city, long island, manhattan, nassau, hempstead (town), hempstead (village)

(left) vacant lots highlighted in downtown hempstead (right) diagram of the downtown area after social, economical, and environmental ‘injections’

‘100% content’ uses a thin plot in downtown hempstead (1085m x 140m between main street and franklin street) as its testing grounds. the existing vacancy found in parking lots is seen as a ‘high potential area’ and injected with social, economical, and environmental context.

timeline: the effect of digital advancement on the way we see and live in suburban communities

(a.1) 2010 hempstead downtown (a.2) 2050 hempstead downtown

empty lots become important grounds for development. the resulting downtown is built with habitable vertical abstractions that consider spatial identity, cultural diversity, and physical connectivity.

diagrams of various conditions in 2010 (top row) and 2050 hempstead (bottom row)

phases of suburban delocation

transformation stages

projected conditions of long island’s communities

developing and providing hempstead with all that a community needs in a reasonable radius

define density, expand, stack, offset

(left) manhattan in relation to central park; park is a separate entity from the surrounding buildings (center) hempstead 2010 with no green space (right) hempstead 2025 with green elements integrated into the downtown infrastructure