While exploring the neighborhood around the Grain Terminal site a number of patterns began to emerge in terms of buildings, materials and scale. I stuck mainly to the waterfront area and in doing so was able to study the progression of buildings from over 100yrs ago until as recently as last year. I noticed that, contrary to wh
at one might assume, the relative size of buildings in that area has not really changed much. While at first glance, Ikea appears to dominate the landscape on a grand scale (and yes, it is a giant building), the Beard Street warehouses (of which there are many) via for position as well. These warehouses, which were constructed approx. 150 years ago, occupy a full 7.5 acres of land and, while not as tall or bright as Ikea, are actually larger. The warehouses (which are interiorly subdivided into many different office and commercial spaces) stretch inland perpendicularly from a pier in the middle of the Erie Basin. You must also consider that the Beard Street warehouse actually encompasses several buildings, not just the long singular stretch, and should be seen as an interwoven warehouse complex. Additionally, the entire ground floor of Ikea is taken up by a parking lot... an illusive device employed by the architects to project greater scale that actually exists. Once all of this is taken into account, you begin to realize that these buildings, seperated by a narrow canal and over a century, are actually quite comparable to one another.
Similar to this play of building size and scale, the relationship between age, material and pattern can also be explored. The older warehouse buildings are veritable playgrounds of patterns of different scale relating to the building systems and materials. From the regular grid of windows, doors and shaftways, to the slightly more irregular course of brick and stone, these warehouse exhibit repetative 
patterns of varying scale at every possible angle. The open shutters of the windows create the illusion of more windows, almost like an interesting figure ground. The bricks of the buildings seem to extend underneath you in the cobblestone and brick streets and sidewalks. Even the the repetition of fire escapes, right down to the iron slats that make up these fire escapes, form patterns of scale. The one commonality between these building material patterns are that while they operate within the same areas and on the same structures, they do no appear to be vying for attention. Perhaps it's due to the small scale or their arrangements together but these patterns seem harmonious and symmetrical.
patterns of varying scale at every possible angle. The open shutters of the windows create the illusion of more windows, almost like an interesting figure ground. The bricks of the buildings seem to extend underneath you in the cobblestone and brick streets and sidewalks. Even the the repetition of fire escapes, right down to the iron slats that make up these fire escapes, form patterns of scale. The one commonality between these building material patterns are that while they operate within the same areas and on the same structures, they do no appear to be vying for attention. Perhaps it's due to the small scale or their arrangements together but these patterns seem harmonious and symmetrical.
Now, when we examine the patterns found in the newer construction of the area, we find similar ideas of pattern, however the scale appears larger and the patterns more at odds with each other. Ikea employs ideas of excess color and great expanses of symmetrical patterns, such as the giant orange and yellow block wall along the waterfront. Even where the building materials are similar to those of the older buildings, irregular stone pavers and wood, there seems to be an excess, this time not of color, but of movement and
amount of pattern, etc. It is almost like the Ikea area is seeking to be overtly obvious about all it's moves... Hey look over here, we used a pattern of stone!! Did you see it? No? Well we will do it 100 more times and then paint it lime green!.... In that sense it is almost like Ikea has become the drag queen of the neighborhood, utlizing old ideas and integrating existing patterns in grandious excess scale. See the picture at right, where several opposing patterns and materials converge in a single area. This picture has not been altered or pieced together. This is exactly what appears in the space.... an excess of repetative patterns, vying for equal attention in a given space... like a drag queen contest in the West Village during the Gay Pride Parade.
amount of pattern, etc. It is almost like the Ikea area is seeking to be overtly obvious about all it's moves... Hey look over here, we used a pattern of stone!! Did you see it? No? Well we will do it 100 more times and then paint it lime green!.... In that sense it is almost like Ikea has become the drag queen of the neighborhood, utlizing old ideas and integrating existing patterns in grandious excess scale. See the picture at right, where several opposing patterns and materials converge in a single area. This picture has not been altered or pieced together. This is exactly what appears in the space.... an excess of repetative patterns, vying for equal attention in a given space... like a drag queen contest in the West Village during the Gay Pride Parade. 
Finally, we must consider how the Grain Terminal deals with these idea of scale and pattern. The building itself falls relatively in the middle of Ikea and Beard St in a historical sense. completed in the mid 1920's, with minor renovations up until about the 60's. As such, the existing building has interesting aspects of both ideas. In size, the Grain Terminal defnitely holds its own, definitely dwarfing both others in height (I believe it probably comes in about the same in terms of volume). In regards to building materials and patterns, the Grain Terminal features much larger repetative building blocks than either of the others. Constructed primarily of poured concrete, the pattern of the building comes not from the individual building blocks, but from the arrangement of space within the building and the functional placement of windows. The many silos within create the striated facade, while the ground floor and the floors above the silo seem to sandwich the silos between while also appearing to be of similar size and scale to each other, creating symmetry along both axes. These idea are relatively foreign in comparison to the other buildings, casting the Grain Terminal as an outcast once again. 
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