When you’re
standing in the middle of the Empire State Plaza in Albany, no matter why
you’re there, your future looks bleak. The outdated architecture, established
in only shades of tan, brown, and brick, does not make you feel welcome. Seeing
buildings for Agenc One, Agency Two, Agency Three, et cetera, made me feel like
I was rereading “1984” by George Orwell. The brightest colors I could see were
in the sky.
The
architecture continues the dystopian fantasy of the plaza in such a way that if
someone had described it to me, I wouldn’t believe that this was supposed to be
a place for the people. The buildings make me feel the same way that I imagine
I would in Tomorrowland would if Disney World had been abandoned for 50 years,
like an old episode of The Jetsons. Each
building is built on internal supports, giving it a floating effect, meant to
induce a feeling of being in the future of America. In theory, this makes
sense. Albany is the capital of New York, and thus where decisions that will
strongly impact our futures are made. However, years later, these buildings
don’t invoke a feeling of the future, but of a burnt out American dream. It’s
frozen in time, surrounded by a world in which it no longer fits.
Though the space is built as a public space, like I said
before, it doesn’t feel welcoming. While it seems to be representative of democracy-
a place for the people- it reads more like a beaurocratic reinforcement of
power. There are no commodities for people to enjoy, they just have to make do
with the open brick space that they were given.
While
walking around the plaza I was confronted by way more “No Entry” signs than I
would have expected from a supposed public space. Due to the fact that the
plaza is essentially surrounded by government buildings, it makes sense,
especially when you consider New York in a post-9/11 world, that they would be
shut off from the public. However, it just reinforced the feeling that you are
not welcome here. While it’s mean to be an open, public space, you can still
feel the hierarchy between citizen and government worker. Every Agency building
is identical, thus giving you no clue what is going on in each one. You are
forced to blindly trust that they will do what’s right for you without the
ability to approach and question it. The buildings feel overpowering in their
stature, built to justify and remind you just how small you are in the grand
scheme of things going on. Even the steps of the Capitol Building are blocked
off to the public, with large metal police gates and 6 separate red “do not
enter” signs to ward off any visitors, no matter the intent. The beautiful
buliding imposes regality and power over the very people that democracy claims to
represent.
As a
whole, Empire State Plaza feels like its namesake- an empire. The subjects of
that empire are not given the key to know what their government is doing, and
expected to take any open space they can spare as a gift. It is unwelcoming and
imperialistic in nature, reminding you by the sheer size of the buildings who
is above you in society. They say “do not enter”, but at this point I wonder
why I would really want to.
