Some tenement plans and web links

http://www.tenement.org/Virtual_Tour/index_virtual.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchard_Street_(Manhattan)

http://www.maggieblanck.com/NewYork/Life.html

http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi2137.htm

Riis, Jacob A. How the other half lives :studies among the tenements of New York. New York : Charles Scribner's Sons, 1897.

The whole book is here, but you should all read the Introduction, Chapter 1 "Genesis of the Tenement" and Chapter 2 "The Awakening" . Good precedent for your analaysis.

http://pds.lib.harvard.edu/pds/view/4137257?n=1&imagesize=1200&jp2Res=.5

Also see NY Times:

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/revisiting-the-other-half-of-jacob-riis/index.html

Riis Photo Slideshow

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/02/27/nyregion/20080227_RIIS_SLIDESHOW_index.html

Architecture is ...

Architecture is "the art of building in which human requirements and construction materials are related so as to furnish practical use as well as an aesthetic solution, thus differing from the pure utility of engineering construction. As an art, architecture is essentially abstract and nonrepresentational and involves the manipulation of the relationships of spaces, volumes, planes, masses, and voids. Time is also an important factor in architecture, since a building is usually comprehended in a succession of experiences rather than all at once. In most architecture there is no one vantage point from which the whole structure can be understood. The use of light and shadow, as well as surface decoration, can greatly enhance a structure. The analysis of building types provides an insight into past cultures and eras. Behind each of the greater styles lies not a casual trend nor a vogue, but a period of serious and urgent experimentation directed toward answering the needs of a specific way of life. Climate, methods of labor, available materials, and economy of means all impose their dictates. Each of the greater styles has been aided by the discovery of new construction methods." (The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2001-05 Columbia University Press.)