Experience Harlem through senses!

EXPERIENCING HARLEM THROUGH SENSES

OCTOBER 13 & 19, 2019

145 STREET STATION, 700 ST NICHOLAS AVE, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES

GUIDED BY ARCHITECT TARU NISKANEN

COMMISSIONED BY THE FINNISH CULTURAL INSTITUTE IN NEW YORK

IN COLLABORATION WITH ARCHTOBER 2019

Not a single city exists without its signature scents, sights, sounds or structures. Yet often we navigate through our everyday environments tied up with ubiquitous technologies, having our senses shut down without being aware of it. What could we see or experience, if we truly focused on the nuances of our urban habitat – lights, shadows, rhythms, or even tastes?

Taru Niskanen, FCINY’s architect-in-residence in 2019, leads us to a multisensory exploration of the fiercely changing northern Manhattan, Harlem, as a part of the Archtober 2019 program. The tours are culmination of her two-part residency: she spent the month of April in a residence researching sensory mapping and walkability of New York.

In October, New York City’s Architecture and Design Month Archtober, spreads around all the boroughs of the city, gathering residents to visit unusual locations and re-thinking urban environments. The multisensory walking tours invite us to think how in the often so overwhelming New York focusing on single stimuli could inspire people to insist on a higher environmental quality. 

The participants are encouraged to capture their sensory experiences by using any media they feel comfortable with, while learning how small perceptions can emerge our spatial experiences – or even create new visions of urban microhistories.

Signing up to the multisensory walking tours on October 13 and October 19 is available on Eventbrite.

To read more about Taru Niskanen’s residency periods in New York click here.