faces on the train, part 0ne

During my summer studies with Cornell University, I have recently had the extreme pleasure to be involved with a short, yet intensive seminar taught by Professors Lebbeus Woods and Christoph a. Kumpusch. In a rather inadequate nutshell: during the course of the two weeks we worked together we investigated the ground plane of New York City in order to deepen our collective understanding of people and their interactions with and uses of their urban environments. Here, we approached the ground plane as a palimpsest of what has gone before, as a record of how a city is truly used and understood. If we could uncover something from this examination, we could then expand upon our understanding of our city. From this understanding a new city could be revealed. A deeper and more eloquent explanation of the seminar can be had by Professor Woods, himself on his blog at:

Lebbeus Woods Blog

While engaged in this process I was inspired to begin sketching people as often as I could. The best place I could do this as inconspicuously as possible was while riding the subway. I didn't want people to know I was drawing them; it would make the drawings insincere. Because of this I had to work quickly. So, I began to sketch them as quickly as I could. I spent under 30 seconds on each of these, so that I could capture a moment, a connection between a person and their city. The drawings are not of the individuals, per se. Rather they are to evoke that instance where they were immersed in their environment and connected to it, rather than watching me or posing, or even just being "on guard". I wanted to capture these intimate moments like an innocent voyeur smiling at an elderly couple still in love as they stroll through the park on their 50th wedding anniversary. Anyway, here are the sketches; I hope it worked.

I will soon update how these fit into my understanding of the city as my analog of "Common Ground".