Dear Readers,
Hello! My name is Alex Klimoski, and I am excited to be joining the Review as a Desk Editor, and to be managing the November Issue, No.16.
I need not remind you of the myriad reasons why voting in the upcoming election (in any election, really) is so important. It will surely be a cacophonous coda to a year of extraordinary events, and the stakes are tremendous. With such weight resting on the results, the unprecedented use of the mail-in ballot has added yet another layer of anxiety. As of September 25, The New York Times reports, the total number of reported absentee ballots requested or sent is more than 72 million. Democrats have requested more absentee ballots than Republicans, meaning that, in New York City, polling sites are likely to be significantly less crowded than usual—they’ll also look different, given social distancing requirements.
On top of all the obvious uncertainties (What if my mail-in ballot is lost or rejected? How long will it take to determine the winner? Will this unfamiliar system give the loser valid grounds to contest?), I wonder: How will the spatial dimension of voting—our electoral architecture—be affected?
My only known place of voting has been the dingy, low-ceilinged cafeteria inside the American Sign Language and English Lower School on East 23rd Street in Manhattan. A composite mental image of that space includes an ill-fitting arrangement of lunch tables, old ladies peering through reading glasses, diligently flipping through chunky binders of voter information, and gawky metal machines placed along the space’s irregular perimeter—in other words, as Alexandra Lang wrote in a 2012 essay for Design Observer— “just stuff in a room.” Depending on your designated polling site, the arrangement of all this “stuff,” as well as the composition—the type of furniture or voting machines—is different, shaped by the unique setting and floorplan, whether it be in a school, library, or grocery store.
Such variety in polling place design has inherently led to certain biases. For instance, a 2016 study showed that the voting stations deemed most usable were the ones with dividers, with space between the machines, and with one row of machines placed so that voters faced the entrance. This could be because these designs offer the most privacy, reduce the number of distractions, or because they simply look better. Poorly designed sites—ones that are inconvenient, confusing, or that take too much time to circulate through—on the other hand, have historically discouraged people from going to their polling places, disenfranchising voters. But this year, the response to Covid-19 has imposed new standards on poll designs. With an increased number of early voting sites, and more spaced-out setups with clearer circulation markings to avoid bottlenecks, there will, presumably, be less “stuff” inside polling places. If that’s the case, then they should look more like the well-designed options of the research study. Could this year’s updated guidelines foment a serious redesign of electoral architecture, with greater standardization? Or will mail-in voting be such a success that physical polling sites will become less and less prevalent?
Like my own voting place, where I will vote in-person on November 3, New York City polling locations are more often than not schools—about 700 of the approximately 1,100 sites each year. Despite the pandemic, the Department of Education will still welcome voters to schools this Election Day, although students will have the day off to minimize occupancy, especially since ventilation in many educational facilities is less than ideal. This point segues into a different set of questions about the future of civic architecture in New York City: how will Covid-19 change the way urban schools are designed? With small plot sizes, how can social distancing be not only supported, but integrated into the architecture, whether construction of a new building, or the renovation of an existing structure? Ventilation, of course, will be a major factor. C.B.J. Snyder, the prolific architect and Superintendent of School Buildings for the NYC DOE between 1891 and 1923, introduced the “H-plan” into his school designs with Tuberculosis in mind. This layout improved the building’s overall environmental quality by maximizing natural light and fresh air, and providing protected outdoor courtyards for recreational use. What, if any, will be the hallmark of post-coronavirus educational architecture in New York City?
For New York Review of Architecture’s November issue, No.16, a key focus will be anticipation. What’s next? If you are interested in reflecting upon polling sites, addressing urban school design, or, perhaps, even, the design of post offices, we’d love to hear your thoughts and musings about the future of civic architecture. I’ve also been thinking about some other, non-Covid-related ways that architecture—public or private—could be affected by this year’s election results. Pre-pandemic, we learned of a possible executive order to bring classical design back to federal architecture. How could another Trump presidency shape our national architectural image? More crucially, how will we design for racial justice? Whether you feel optimistic or completely hopeless, let us know what kind of future you are anticipating for New York architecture.
DeWitt Clinton High School, designed by C.B.J. Snyder.
Events.
9/29 | Tuesday
Rachel Franklin
1:15pm | GSAPP
Mobility + Civic Agency: Participatory Design For Just Outcomes
6:00pm | Center for Architecture
Racial Justice, Fair Housing, and Affordable Housing in the Current Environment?
12:00pm | GSAPP
9/30 | Wednesday
Noon Talk: Stephen Fox
12:00pm | Rice University
Lola Ben-Alon - Natural Buildings: Integrating Earthen Building Materials and Methods Into Mainstream Construction
6:00pm | GSAPP
10/01 | Thursday
Surveillance and Self-Determination: The Black Workshop
1:00pm | Yale School of Architecture
Confronting the Carceral State in Planning
8:00pm | Pratt Institute
10/02 | Friday
Feminist City: Claiming Space in a Man-Made World
1:00pm | GSAPP
To see the complete list, go to nyra.nyc/events.
If you would plan to attend one and would like to write it up for us - do it! Sign up by e-mailing editor@nyra.nyc
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