Grossinger’s Resort in Catskill mountain area used to be a very crowded Jewish holiday resort in NY State from 1940’s to 1970’s. After its closing in 1986 caused by postwar economic collapse and emergence of competitive flight budget, the site has been abandoned and derelict. Meanwhile, Liberty, the town economically depended on Grossinger’s, is suffered by its own decline.
Inhabitants of Liberty ignore the resort, which I have interpreted as an attempt to ignore the state of decline and imagine a more viable past. In other words, they unconsciously don’t want to see the recent condition of the resort, which can ruin their memories of past golden ages.
Guy de Maupassant disliked the image of Eiffel tower so much, so he always had lunch inside of it. Likewise, being inside the image means you are unable to see the image anymore, simply because you are ‘inside’ the image. Therefore, the project proposes to relocate entire town of Liberty into the abandoned buildings of Grossinger’s, so that inhabitants are not haunted by the derelict images of the resort anymore, voluntarily being sealed within their new town.
“There is a sort of miracle in the insipidity of artificial paradises, so long as they achieve the greatness of an entire (un)culture.” –America(1989), p8. Jean Baudrillard.
The project basically involves designing an entire town, rather than a single architecture, so that it accommodates all of the functions of the existing town. It also attempts to design the new town as a kind of paradise, an ‘artificial & bland paradise’ as Jean Baudrillard noted, but a paradise nonetheless. As a form of polemical scenario that metaphorically comments on America’s instinctive society and its desires, the project describes an ‘achieved version of utopia’.
From the town of Liberty, the facade of Jennie G. building overlooks the town from its location op top of the hill like the Parthenon. The facade reminds to townspeople of the resort's decline everyday as it can be seen from anywhere in the town.
Residents in the town ignore the resort, however, which is interpreted as an attempt to ignore the state of decline and imagine a more viable past.
Guy de Mauphassant disliked the image of Eiffel Tower, so he always had lunch inside of it. Being inside the image means you are unable to see the image anymore, simply because you are in the image.
Conceptually, the project started to build a new town by preserving the facade of Jennie G. building and the entrance garden - these restored elements become the only view that inhabitants can look at. By this gesture, people in the new town are not haunted by the image of Grossinger's anymore.
(left to right)
Paul G. Apartment
Town Hall
Gas station (bowling lane)
Elementary school
Fitness centre
(left to right)
Supermarket
Fire station
Casino (bank)
Casino (bank)
Church (indoor tennis court)
cinematic snapshots of the new town
Paul G. Apartment / Parking Lot sq.
The state government recently passed a gambling law, so the town has it's own casino, in which the bank is combined. People withdraw money and then gamble it away instantly.
The new town is voluntarily sealed within itself.
Meanwhile, Old Liberty is ignored/abandoned and left to decay, just like Grossinger's is now.
