University As Empire
April 2020
36 x 24 in.
Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Rhinoceros
A series of maps examining the university as an imperialist entity, focusing on two locations in Manhattan: the NYU campus surrounding Washington Square Park, and the new Columbia campus being built in Manhattanville.
The maps examine each university’s expansion techniques and their effects on the community through three lenses: first, physical expansion, highlighting the spatial distribution of university buildings and methods of land acquisition; second, community dissent to expansion, highlighting the food desert around Columbia’s new campus and published opposition to NYU’s campus; and third, aesthetics, highlighting the ways in which each university stylistically defines themselves against their surroundings.
