New Haven Panorama: VR Experience

To view in virtual reality format, click here on your VR-compatible smartphone.

This project was created in April 2018 as an urban panorama for the undergraduate architecture course Scales of Design.

In my panorama, I wanted to capture the life of a city. Not from start to finish, but of a moment in time. Though a day is a second in the lifetime of a city, this panorama captures the lights, colors and movements in a kaleidoscope of city life in New Haven, CT. 

What makes a city?

Is it the public spaces? On one corner of the intersection sits the historic New Haven Green, the jewel of the city. This 16-acre park serves as the home of the United Church, the Center Church, the Trinity Church, the Bennett Fountain, and numerous people. A public space can bolster political activism, host concerts and other events, and display art, but on this day the Green is a place for a weekend stroll, a short conversation, and a central bus stop.

Is it the economic activity? Across College Street from the Green is TD bank, one of the largest banks in America and an example of the resources a city offers its residents. Urban concentrations of resources empower the residents by allowing them to make choices. Across Chapel Street from Bingham is the Info New Haven Visitor center. Probably even more visited, is the Claire’s Corner Copia, a vegetarian, kosher, eco-friendly, community-friendly, family-owned restaurant surrounding the visitor’s center. Local establishments add character and charm to the city, setting it apart from other cities with franchises and chains.

Is it the infrastructure? The streets themselves, College and Chapel, are two-way streets meeting at a traffic light. Designed at the conception of New Haven, they formed the nine-square grid that served as a layout for the city. This intersection has cars whizzing by, bicycles pedaling past, people coming and going, and passengers-to-be waiting for the bus. Public transportation available in cities and the density of cities allow the residents to get what they need, and be where they are needed.

Is it the people? Across College Street from Claire’s is the Bingham tower, part of a first-year residential building and the corner piece of Yale University’s Old Campus. On each corner there are people, living, eating, sleeping. The city is a home; New Haven happens to be the home of 130,000. In a conversation I had with a homeless man while shooting this footage, the man introduced himself as the Rock, the Rock of the Green. The New Haven Green is more than a piece of land. Claire’s Corner Copia is more than just a restaurant. The people of the city use places as a platform for their own identity. The city becomes more than a location, a group of spaces, a cluster of resources, a jungle of infrastructure, or even a concentration of people. It is a home, a space, a place for people to become themselves.