The colossal grid is both a metaphor of contemporary archaeological excavation and an overt reference to the American Land Survey of 1785. Each one of the plan’s sixteen open-blocks occupies the equivalent of one-quarter of a mile within the Jefferson’s ideal territorial grid. The general plan configuration is that of a “reversed Law of the Indies” scheme - where the streets become dense residential buildings, the blocks are voids containing existing conditions, and the central plaza is a raised platform providing a monumental space for public meetings.