The Archaeosphere of City Hall Park

초록

Modern metropolises are fundamentally reliant on complex subterranean infrastructure networks, yet these vital systems remain physically and psychologically severed from the civic realm by the rigid, constructed threshold of the ground plane. This article examines the concept of the "Archaeosphere"—the hybridized, human-made geological layer containing the accumulated strata of urban history and active infrastructure. Using New York's City Hall Park as a primary case study, this paper investigates the historical suppression of subterranean layers to create a sanitized political surface. By transitioning from horizontal mapping to vertical excavation, the project employs a methodology of threshold thickening, delamination, and topographic manipulation to construct a new civic agora. This intervention reconnects dormant historical strata and active public transit networks with the surface, transforming a nominal monument of power into a highly porous, democratic public domain.