The West View News reports the first skyscraper is coming to West Village (IRL not yet in Upland, just to be clear here). This may mean nothing to an individual who hasn’t walked the streets of the West Village but part of the charm of the West Village is that the buildings still feel largely built at the human scale. West Village pre-dates the famous grid streets of Manhattan and up to now has avoided the concrete canyon effect of skyscrapers. When I first read this headline in the West View News I was reminded of the Edward Hopper painting from 1930 entitled Early Sunday Morning which is at the Whitney Museum of American Art. For those unfamiliar with New York City the Whitney is located in the Meatpacking district just north of the West Village.
"Although he described this work as "almost a literal translation of Seventh Avenue," Hopper reduced the New York City street to bare essentials.” -Whitney Museum of American Art One interesting element in Early Sunday Morning is the dark block in the upper right corner of the painting suggesting a skyscraper, a skyscraper which is absorbing all the light, a skyscraper reflecting none of the individuality expressed in the mom and pop shops with residence above them. The announcement in the West View News at a time when Upland at a Sandbox development test in California has me thinking about what sorts of properties will be developed in West Village in the Upland metaverse. First, here is the skyscraper which will be developed at the full block at Washington and Houston Street.
(Photo credits for artist rendering of the building: CookFox Architects) According to the architects, CookFox, "the St. John’s Terminal will be redeveloped into new residential building known as CLARKSQN with housing, including affordable and elder housing, new retail spaces and improved access to Pier 40 and the Hudson River Park. The proposed design of environmentally responsive, ecologically integrated high rises represents an emerging building typology in New York focused on occupant health and connections to nature.”
"The proposed buildings will interpret the design economy of New York’s early high-rise icons, with massing assembled around finely sculpted towers, detailed with geometrically rigorous setbacks and planted terraces. The industrial character of the site will be preserved with natural, human-scaled stone and brick, complemented by elegant, modern steel and glass details. Inspiration for the design at street level is drawn from the solid masonry construction, industrial multi-sash windows and architectural detail of the historic Hudson Square factories and printing press buildings." Here’s what the corresponding site currently looks like in Upland:
Several thoughts and a few questions come to mind when thinking about the CLARKSQN residential development IRL with regards to the corresponding property site in Upland. First, clearly with a property of this size the sunk cost of 1,973,700 UPX pretty much requires some sort of development in order to recoup the investment. Second, the blandness of the buildings in Upland’s Rebuild California Sandbox Finale make me hungry for the days when there will be NFTs available by third party designers that one can purchase and place on property in Upland. The Upland 2021 agile roadmap gives a hint of what is possible:
NFT Portal Beta — Upland Meets Blockchain Heroes Upland’s partnership with Blockchain Heroes (Atomic Asset based collectible cards on the Wax blockchain) will serve as the first beta implementation of the upcoming NFT portal that would allow players to import external NFTs into the Upland metaverse. Uploaded NFTs can later on be used inside of Upland homes as decorations, and eventually traded between players through NFT gallery businesses.
Which as an aside a shout out to Blockchain Heroes who in the Upland Discord channel today, March 11th are running a Favorite Property Challenge: Upland Collectibles Edition contest until 5:15 PM PST. The thread of entries in this contest is a wonderful read into some of the thinking behind why players in the game purchase certain properties and I recommend taking a look at the #upland-blockchain-heroes thread in the Upland Discord channel rather you’re a player in the game or just wondering what’s up with the Upland blockchain game. Here for example is my entry into the contest:
Back to the property development discussion. With the CookFox skyscraper CLARKSQN IRL I wonder how development will proceed in Upland. Will there be any type of zoning to encourage certain types of developments or will we have neighborhoods where skyscrapers exist next door to single family ranch style homes? Will artist come to specialize in Upland NFT property developments? Would a player be able to commission a property development from the NFT equivalent of CookFox? I really think it will be such artist that will give the cityscape of Upland its distinct character. I can see such artist doing a masterful job of blending site history, IRL developments, with the metaverse of Upland. So much possibilities. I can also see the developer of CLARKSQN someday buying this property site in Upland and placing a replica of CLARKSQN on the property as a tie-in to the IRL development. Lots of possibilities. How do you see property being developed in Upland? What do you want to see? What concerns you about the way property might be developed in the game?
