Antwan Rucker Work Sample 2013-2015

Expansive Urban: Pursuit of spatial conditions.

At this juncture in my academic and professional career the observations of proximity aesthetics and critical analysis have been integral in a parallel development. As a practitioner of the built environment, and a designer, I have challenged myself to fully embed thoughtful interventions and careful aesthetic decisions into strategies that attempt to reconcile each unique condition of space.

This collection of projects navigate the spaces of formal-informal, developed-developing, economic strategies, and community driven interventions.

They demonstrate the potentiality each project lends itself to and offer suggestions for an urbanism that is sensitive to the economic, social, environmental, and political complexities of the cities of New York, NY, Medellin, Colombia, New Orleans, LA, and the autonomous city of the Dadaab Refugee camp in Kenya.

This series of projects only speak to the brevity of my professional ambitions to encounter and operate within the space of complicating the design process through rigor and experimentation.

Work Samples: 2013 - 2015

Antwan Rucker 404.468.0648 antwan.rucker@gmail.com

*Examination of Newwark, NJ Community Development landscape

park

park

school

RE-Thinking Infrastructures: Coney Island, NY church

post office

aquarium transportation park

Mapping existing Coney Island

amusement park

We investigated the collective action of the Coney Island community following the Super Storm Sandy in 2012. Specifically, the possibility of organizing resources around community assets to address social development and disaster responsiveness. Subsequent to the storm first responders scrambled to assess the damage and stabilize the area partnering with local organizations to provide food, shelter, clothing, and medicine to those affected. Recognizing the need for an “informal� infrastructure we proposed the existing site of the Coney Island Library, in it’s post-storm renovated state, as a site for communal stability as a learning center as well as supplemental disaster relief station during moments of natural or man made disaster. This strategy would allow the facility to serve a dual function for members of the Coney Island community.

Interior damage to CI Library:

Aerial footage of the damage:

Collaborators: D. Tucker, A. Baker.

Rethinking Infrastructures Coney Island Library New York, NY

Strategy:

Raised proposal:

Misc.

Storage

Intake

Storage

Emergency Intake

Emergency Intake

Administartion

Emergency Intake

Intake

Administration

Normal Usage: Misc.

Storage

Flex Space

Storage

Reference Material

Flex programming:

Flex Space

Administartion

Reference Material

Reference Material

Administartion

Extra-Normal Usage:

The proposal consists of an extension to the existing library footprint, this extension is then elevated to accommodate the modified flood calculations presented subsequent to the storm. Programming of the space is designed to accommodate a flex environment, this will capture COMM technical, cultural, and artistic events normalized usage along with promoting an underserved community.

RELIEFthat CENTbenefit UNI ER TY AG ENCY

The second, disaster relief function of the library will be activated in the moment of crisis. The library footprint becomes a center for shelter, food, clothing, or trauma during a natural or man made disaster. This responsive, iterative moment will facilitate well being and immediate recovery activities.

Rethinking Infrastructures Coney Island Library New York, NY

DESIGNING FOR AN EQUITABLE NEW YORK

DEVELOPING MORE RESILIENT COMMUNITIES

PARSONS SCHOOL OF DESIGN

26

POLICY NUMBER

DESIGNING FOR AN EQUITABLE NEW YORK

Problem New York City residents lack access to walkable, safe spaces that can be counted on in times of crisis. Such spaces play an integral role in the everyday life of the neighborhood.

Resilient Communities Start with the Neighborhood Library The means to achieving a more equitable city that is simultaneously safe and more resilient can be found within each neighborhood. With relatively modest changes and budget implications branch libraries can be bolstered – through increasing and diversifying offerings – to not only improve our daily lives, foster vibrant communities, and provide needed resources, but also to serve as safe havens in times of disaster and as disaster resource centers after an event.

“This would benefit us – and it would benefit the public.

It’s a win–win situation.”

–Maribel Rodriguez, Children’s Librarian, Red Hook Library

Recommendation Bolster neighborhood branch libraries to serve as hubs that strengthen the community everyday and act as disaster relief centers in times of need.

Libraries offer an ideal opportunity to address a multi-faceted focus on resilience and preparedness in neighborhoods through green and resilient retrofits and community-based disaster preparedness. Expand the libraries ability to play an integral role everyday, during disaster and post-disaster.

Libraries draw a diverse network of users (over 15 million in 1999 [1] ) – toddlers to teenagers, working parents, senior citizens, the unemployed, new immigrants, and traditional readers – and offer a turn–key opportunity to increase and diversify services that improve quality of life while fostering community vitality. Our libraries are already facilitating key pieces of the puzzle that contribute to shaping healthy and able children and adults. Increasing the flow of community members will increase neighborhood networks everyday – both across the community and specifically within the library- thus making the space an obvious choice in the greatest times of need.

This point is crucial as Eric Klinenberg has demonstrated – it is community strength (neighborhood networks and ties) that actually protect us in times of disaster [2].

Such a network not only improves daily life but also allows for the library system to serve as a relief node in disasters, as demonstrated in the diagrams. Utilizing the inherent qualities of the library as repository of services and neighborhood resources, creates a nexus of services that fundamentally strengthen a community. Such a network not only improves daily life but also allows the library system to serve as a relief node in disasters, as demonstrated in the User Diagram below.

Implementation Agencies could implement programs already tied to their overall mission. Libraries themselves would benefit through increase of available programing and green building improvements. Process: Identify pilot libraries; choose and partner with primary agencies; allocate funding from within those agency budgets for programs; conduct library staff surveys and neighborhood outreach to identify resource needs; roll-out new programs and build retrofits; and finally monitor impact. !

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Several agencies would benefit from partnering with libraries Office of Emergency Management, Department of Youth and Community Development, Department for the Aging, Office of Immigrant Affairs

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Left: Map showing the new FEMA flood zones and walking accessibility to a library within a 0.5mile radius (source FEMA and NYC data).

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Fig.2 Library during disaster

Above, Fig.1: Library strengthening community everyday Welcoming a diverse patronage, providing legal services, adult language training, resources for the homeless, integrating toy-lending into library collection to enhance early childhood development, and acting as senior center for gathering and education.

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Right: User diagram exemplifying the inherent functioning of the library as center of community, serving a wide patronage. Includes children, elderly, single parents, unemployed residents, immigrants, the homeless, etc.

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Fig.1 Library everyday

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Above, Fig. 2: Library during disasters Serving as a safe haven, organizing hub, providing meals, receiving donations, and mobilizing volunteers. Post Disaster: Connects community to post–disaster relief services. Green and Resilient Retrofits includes safeguarding utilities, integrating renewable energy sources outfitted with: kitchens, back-up generators, movable library stacks and partitions, and wireless mesh networks. Agency and funding for Green RetrofitsSpecial Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency (City Agency Resiliency Needs—First Phase $500 million [3])

Red Hook: A Success Story A prime example of a library’s potential for success can be found in the Red Hook Library, which became a defacto center of resilience during Superstorm Sandy and its aftermath.

“We were a safe haven,” describes Sandra Sutton, supervising librarian, “the only place that was open and had power during the storm.” The library functioned as a central hub: part warming center, distribution center, cell-phone charging station, a place to socialize, and a place to feel safe – residents brought and shared food, sipped hot coffee, FEMA delivered supplies and blankets, etc.

The library’s open and flexible floor plan proved immensely beneficial in this time of need, as spaces were adaptable serving different community needs as they became apparent.

The head librarian recognizes the changing role of the library as a multifaceted community resource and affirms the need for inherent adaptability. She says, “People see we are about books, but we are more than books, we are also about helping people grow, helping empower them.”

References [1] http://legacy.www.nypl.org/pr/stats99.cfm, {2} Kimmelman, Michael. “Next Time, Libraries Could be Our Shelters From the Storm,” The New York Times, October 2, 2013. [3] City of New York. “A Stronger, More Resilient New York,” Plan NYC (402).

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30

POLICY 06

DESIGNING FOR AN EQUITABLE NEW YORK

Recommendation booklet:

Exterior:

Our proposal was aggregated into a larger body of work to be presented to the Mayor of New York City as a series of recommendations for equitable design throughout the city.

Rethinking Infrastructures Coney Island Library New York, NY

PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL FOR DESIGN

31

PARSONS SCHOOL OF DESIGN

Post-Production: New Orleans, LA LowerNinth Ward

LOTS OF PROGRESS

VACANT LOT PROFILES | 2014

In 2014, PitchNOLA issued an RFP to reimagine vacant lots throughout New Orleans, following Hurricane Katrina, to design, implement, and manage the activation of a select pool of vacant lots for community based economic development activity and commercial retail programming. This provided the opportunity to approach the project in a manner that highlights the unique characteristics of New Orleans Lower Ninth Ward, and the impoverished condition of local residents. Our proposal involves creating active community engagement spaces across the city using abandoned lots and guided by deep exploration of zoning codes, policies, and participatory processes. These spaces would be created using a platform of participation in design from direct community members, groups, and local not-for profit organizations in order to tailor functionality specifically to the needs of neighborhoods and networks of communities.

Collaborators: Alex Valencia, Santiago Giraldo Anduaga Post-Production The New Lots: A Future Ground Project New Orleans, LA

Plan LNW/Grid System: identify feasible sites coordinate geological, hydrological, and other site conditions

identify partnerships identify site and program limitations identify programming opportunities

coordinate community intensive workshops/meetings aggregate community needs

site(s) identification

engagement implement site plans pilot energy redundant program launched

implement

Grid Infrastructure:

implement C.E.L (Creative Energy Lab) for long-term site re-use programs implement energy reuse programs feed back, identifying set backs and unrealistic expectations.

A versatile physical infrastructure design will be piloted using vacant lot spaces, this, in conjunction with community and non-profit participatory design tactics, which will provide a multi-layered,multi-functional infrastructure for a variety of situations. Educational programming, and community workshops are also key to the long-term sustainability of the design. The day-to-day functionality will provide a platform for community and organization-led projects that critically engage with community and develops a framework for extended growth of knowledge and participation. The approximately 30,000 vacant lots in New Orleans exemplify lost opportunities for wealth creation, community engagement, and net positive revenue streams while creating precarious and often dangerous spaces that become a problematic due to cost on shrinking city budgets.

Post-Production The New Lots: A Future Ground Project New Orleans, LA

Phasing Diagram:

organize over site board for programming decisions (community members, partner orgs, local govt)

Activated Street:

The physical lot-based infrastructure design we designed seeks to create long-term electricity generation and storage independent from the city grid; and create a versatile cultural community hub that defines functionality based on community, government, or organizational needs. This versatile, situational design would function to serve on many levels ranging from effective decentralized power outages, disaster, and crisis relief; to community and cultural events, various educational opportunities, renewable energy research, and creating incentives for businesses, building owners, and residents to take an active role in creating and defining the use of the space.

Grid Component:

Post-Production The New Lots: A Future Ground Project New Orleans, LA

& & & &

Kenya Elevation:

Identifying Permanance: Dadaab, Kenya Globally positioned:

The Dadaab Refugee Camp relocation GIS project was an exercise in geo-spatial;analysis and examining the liminal spaces of temporary encampments to provide long term strategies for thousands of displaced inhabitants. Since the 1990’s Somalia has experienced a break down in its central government due to internal conflicts and sectarian violence. This original camp was set-up to accommodate 90,000 people with the expectation that the contentious climate in Somalia would stabilize. Today the camp is considered one of the largest in the world with almost a million people dwelling in the space. They support refugees from other countries in the region as well, the demographics are diversified among age groups, originating locations (Somalia being the most concentrated), religious backgrounds, and educational levels. This camp condition is becoming a third spatial society, governed loosely by autonomous NGO’s and nuanced sovereignty. Providing a critical analysis of Dadaab as an emerging urbanism under these unique auspices will offer an empirical understanding of sophisticated components of global planning as it relates to regional instability.

Ephemera Identifying Permanance Dadaab, Kenya

Dadaab Refugee:

Camp Plan:

Ephemera Identifying Permanance Dadaab, Kenya

By re-appropriating the existing grid to accommodate expansion and contraction will facilitate parameters that reflect developed urbanization, without replicating it. The 3 main camps that make up the Dadaab site are home to churches, mosques, schools, hotels, internet cafes, and administrative offices.

Linking these vital resources through the spatial layout that has been incrementally developed since the camp inception. Engaging the assumption that an opportunity to structure an amorphous, autonomous environment into a destination rather than one of ephemera is not exclusively a destablization measure.

Possible Relocation Sites:

The suggested relocation areas, highlighted in red, exist on the periphery of cities and towns. Critical assessment of the camp as a transient object will be further strengthened through analysis for economics, ethnic disparities, food production, and many other nuanced topics that need to be thoroughly examined.

Analysis identifying natural and man made resources that intersect densely populated and protected areas to demarcate a suitable area for relocation

Ephemera Identifying Permanance Dadaab, Kenya

The project seeks to identify through the means of geographical methods, specific existing instruments utilized by the private industry i.e. developers and/or land owners the process of Transferable Development Rights. Embedded within this practice is an extensive set of rules and regulation that either hinder the capture of what are commonly known as air rights or facilitate an aggregation of undeveloped space in advantageous situations.

Transferable Air Rights: New York, NY

By isolating the property owned by the city and state of New York I attempt to argue that what is traditionally an exchange that occurs within the private sector should be and could be an effective strategy appropriated by the public sector to identify capacities for housing alternatives without allowing private capital to determine the scope of residential projects.

This analysis suits the initiative outlined in the Mayors 10 year housing plan.

TDR A Case for NYC New York, NY

Geo-coding sites owned and/or operated by New York City was the first step in the analysis process. Minimizing that list to conform to specific zoning requirements, building foot print parameters, and justifiable means of imposing TDR restrictions presented hundreds of sites throughout the five boroughs of New York City.

3 of the 5 Bouroughs reflecting TDR analysis:

Strategy:

TDR A Case for NYC New York, NY

The result was recognizing through the TDR process and with careful consideration, NYC could effectively generate over four million sqft of residential space. Proposing alternative housing models that identify NYC and NYS owned property that qualifies for TDR rights per private transactions or reappropriation of aggregated public property to package lot transfers and other instruments to build denser. Identify NYC zoning codes that comply with TDR requirements for commercial and residential codes with emphasis on maximizing FAR codes.

TDR A Case for NYC New York, NY

Hedging Transition: Brooklyn, NY

UTICA AVENUE SOCIAL ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT PLAN. CROWN HEIGHTS BROOKLYN Identify the role of the community in transitioning environment of economics and inequality will require planning for a future that facilitates holistic community development in the face of instability in the context of rapid growth. The Crown Heights neighorhood of Brooklyn, NY is reflective of this transitioning. Community Board 8 (CB8) economic development committee members recognize the fiscal momentum and the economic success of some of the major corridors in CB8 whom historically were not economically vibrant. They want to make this a common theme through out the community without acutely compromising the way of life for it’s current residents. The proposal seeks to subvert the traditional means of development by focusing on a community lead initiatives organized around small business owners, local residents, non-profit organizations, and artists.

Hedging Transition Economic Development Brooklyn, NY

pronounced mta stations

animating mta nodes attract more pedestrian traf fic

Fulton Street

storefront as canvas

business owners embelishing storefr onts

as security measure

Eastern Parkway activate empty lots

repurpose underused/abandoned lot

s w/neighborhood programming

network of street furniture

providing resting options facilitate p ass

ive

creation of gardens

allow community/organizations acces

wayfinding in

directional sig nage identifies

WELCOME TO CROWN HEIGHTS:

to facilitate urban growth programs

Crown Heights (Community Board 8) is composed of Prospect Heights, North Crown Heights, and Weeksville. It traverses East-West from Flatbush Avenue to Ralph Avenue and North-South from Atlantic Avenue to Eastern Parkway. The neighborhood was originally known as “Crow Hill“ due to the succession of hills. It began as a suburb for the bourgeois class of Manhattan, its proximity to metro lines and characteristic brownstone aesthetic allowed the location to become a sought-after destination.

UTICA AVENUE OVERVIEW

Contemporary Brooklyn is a different picture; the borough grew by 40,000 residents between 2000 and 2010 with Crown Heights being one of the fastest growing neighborhoods, and continuing to be the most populous despite the 2010 census data recording a decrease in population.

The socio-cultural make up is also changing; as a number of luxury and large scale residential projects are becoming integrated in the landscape, and with them the transitioning dynamics of traditional community members. The numThe demographic make of Crown Heights has been historically white ber of business locating there has with as much as 80% being Jewish. tripled in the last 5 years, attracting The neighborhood suffered through new customers and new residents the mid and late 20th century from to the neighborhood. crime and poverty, with the Lyndon B. Johnson administration declaring it a “primary poverty area“ during his War on Poverty campaign.

itiatives orientation an

INTRODUCTION Rezoning areas of Crown Heights have been proposed and some executed in an effort to preserve architectural features and mitigate speculative developers attempting to build in the area. The neighborhood is centrally located with access to a number of metro stations and within proximity to several cultural institutions such as the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, The Brooklyn Museum, and The Children“s Museum.

d local assets

Utica Avenue is one of the major avenues in Brooklyn, running North to South, it captures an assortment of businesses, services, religious affiliations, and civic programming along the street. There is constant activity due to the transit lines that feed into two anchoring stations at opposite ends of Utica Avenue (3, 4, 5, A, and C metro lines and B46 bus line).

The housing stock is mixed with row houses, apartment buildings, brownstones, and other types of dwellings. Large multi-national retail banking organizations anchor the north end of Utica Avenue along with one community bank. Although there is a vibrant street condition in terms of vehicle and pedestrian movement, the streets appear to be managed poorly as trash litters the sidewalks and civic provided receptacles are overrun. Some of the store fronts belonging to barber shops, salons, restaurants, churches, and general stores are dated. There is minimal communal activity or spontaneous locations to informally or formally gather, with a visible lack of public and green space.

Businesses anchoring Utica Ave

S.W.O.T Analysis:

Wayfinding system

STRENGTH

OPPORTUNITIES

THREATS

- Strong Retail presence.

- Prime location for multiple zoned industries - Proximity to mass transit nodes.

- Anchored financial institutions.

- Cultural diversity.

- Substantial Growth.

- Mixed-use building stock - Commercial retail presence.

- Proximity to other thriving sectors

- Scaled retail presence from local vendors to franchised brands.

- Sustained growth in neighboring community.

- Rezoning initiative to landmark and preserve existing area.

- Vacant land and storefronts.

- Heterogeneity of incomes, cultures.

- Increased rent for residential and small business spaces.

- Lack of proposed program funding.

- Lack of community involvement.

-Increased cost of doing business.

-Exclusion of existing local residents.

WEAKNESS

Utica Avenue: Social Enterprise Development Plan 4

- Precarious building conditions - Lack of visible street maintenance - Overgrown empty lots - Homogenized commerce sector - Lack of public spaces

Utica Avenue: Social Enterprise Development Plan 5

MTA bus stop upgrades

RECOMMENDATIONS:

IMPLEMENTATION:

Street Aesthetics:

Street furniture network

The recommendations are designed to isolate the street, as the first encounter with Utica Ave. to be perceived as a safe and vibrant place, appeal to local community members, businesses, and potentially external parties with emphasis on developing strong community networks of public, private, commercial, and religious entities prior to large private speculative investments being proposed or executed. By working with city, state, federal, and philanthropic organizations to extend capital resources to these networks will limit speculative activity.

Urbane Growth

Street Aesthetics:

Commerce as entry point: Because of Utica Avenue“s strong retail presence, local businesses have the opportunity to collectively pool their resources, ideas, and man power to promote and execute a set of operational standards for business on the street. This strategy should focus specifically on managing an aesthetic set of standards for those participating, in an effort to support consistency amongst the group and appeal more to members of the community while capturing transient behavior.

Street Furniture:

Commerce:

This includes street vendors, both formal and informal. Where possible businesses should alter the security gates on the façade of the building or provide an alternate form of security mechanism to supplement them, this measure not only enhances the visual aesthetic it also promotes a sense of security.

Create campaigns around the incorporation of various kinds of street furniture to be placed along Utica Avenue. Invite local artist and designers, NYC DOT employees, MTA personnel, and community members to propose ideas for possible solutions for benches, chairs, racks, etc…

Create a Business Improvement Team (BIT), analogous to a Business Improvement District with the exception of incorporating street vendors, churches, and community within the process.

Business owners in conjunction with property owners should perform graffiti removal from buildings and other compromised structures.

Identify municipal and arts programs that provide funding for similar initiatives. There should be continuing dialogue between funding sources and the actors of the street furniture program to allow for multiple iterations of research and development.

As a measure of scale and to qualitatively capture participation, operators should target the immediate spaces in front of their respective business to ensure the area is trash free and also use this as an opportunity to engage the community by announcing commercial initiatives with them in mind.

Establishing a taskforce that collects local data for what community members want identified on the street and in the neighborhood. This will provide the data needed to begin a Utica Avenue wayfinding exercise.

The taskforce would also be responsible to the existing wayfinding standards of the Borough.

Street Furniture:

Visual Embelishment

Enhance street engagement by introducing street furniture such as benches, bike stations and wayfinding.

These elements provide improvements that activate the street by promoting a sense of rest or lingering that informs active street life.

Utilizing New York City and New York State programs for small businesses (Commercial Revitalization Program, Economic Development Fund) will offer economic security to participating business and property owners. The BIT will function as a semi-autonomous entity within the community.

Decisions regarding substantial transformation would be assessed by identified stakeholders within the community by connecting consumer environments with civic, cultural, and religious organizations via the BIT. This incubates innovative programming that was previously siloed and compartmentalized in regards to specific missions and funding. The structure will also engage the potential for new types of public-private funding structures.

It also allows for visual representation of community amenities through signage, providing a legend for navigating not only the street but the entire neighborhood.

Publc Space/Tree Planting program Utica Avenue: Social Enterprise Development Plan 6

Hedging Transition Economic Development Brooklyn, NY

Recommendation Booklet:

Utica Avenue: Social Enterprise Development Plan 10

Yellow Footprint: Medellin, Colombia

Corporacion Cultural Nuestra Gente: Non-Place Making and Residency Communa 2:

The design studio spent two weeks of duing intensive field research in Medellin, Colombia. We partnered with a local arts organization in an effort to investigate startegies that would faciitate incremenal growth at the neighborhood scale as well as the state scale. By examing the micro-spatial tactile condition of the community we were able to documnet and catalog what we preceived as community assets. These ranged from college students, teachers, informal vendors, small businesses, and community elders.

The organizational growth would be representational, artistic, physical, and physiological. Our propals consisted of the annexation of an adjacent vehicular active street that was poly-functional. Serving as a outdoor theater, football field, gathering space, and parking lot among other improvisational functions. Also, the implementation of an arts residency program that validates international artist through there work around social justice and arts activism. This program would be scaled to involve the entire community as well as cultural organizations throughout Medellin.

Mapping Community Assets:

Collaborators: Aran Baker, Santiago Giraldo Anduaga, Dagny Tucker, Raqui Deanda Yellow Footprint Casa Amarilla Cultural Lab Medellin, Colombia

Street reassignment:

Reassigning the street to be more conducive for mixed programming with the creation of more platform surfaces, soft scapes, barricades, and foliage promotes activity that extends through to the entire community for potential open programming.

Yellow Footprint Casa Amarilla Cultural Lab Medellin, Colombia

Existing Street Condition:

4wks 1

Development

NG

CI

C.I.L

M

1 draft proposal partnership develops propsal for participants

2 secure funding 3 solicit artist(s)

2wks 2

4wks

Rotating Team

NG

C

CI

M

1 identify participants

team identifies local/intl residents and secures accomodation

2wk

2 securing hosts

3

Research & Syn 1

resident arrives to meet host team

2

develop research strategy

C

A

primary group synthesis

host team meets residents and begins development for community outreach and proposal implementation

NG

4wk

3 sytehsis and adjustment

4

Production 1

A

NG

mobile interventions situated in communa

C

temporal intervention

4wk events and installation at museum

5

Exhibition & Convo

NG

C

A

CI

2wk

1 events/installation @ museum

1wk 6

Post-Reflection

NG

A

CI

hosts team, partneres, artist relfect on lessons learned

C

1wk

1 dialouge session

7

Revisit DP

?

NG

A

CI

C

NG

A

CI

C

?

Nuestra Gente and host team discuus strategies to implement ideas into develoment plan

1 articulate new strategies for DP

2wks

8

Rethink Process

NG Nuestra Gente

Artist Pool:

Partnership identifies strategies to improve program .

1 articulate new process

CI

Cultural Institution

M

Municiplaity

C

Community

Direct Participation

A

Artist (Local/International)

Indirect Participation

Phase

rotating team 2 weeks

research & synthesis

production

exhibit & programming

reflection

4 weeks

4 weeks

2 weeks

1 week

Neighborhood Arts Residency Duration

2 weeks

Cultural Institution Lab:

Yellow Footprint Casa Amarilla Cultural Lab Medellin, Colombia

6 weeks

10 weeks

14 weeks

15 weeks

My thesis examines the current landscape of housing in New York City, both as a point of contention and collaboration for thousands of individuals whom are directly and indirectly affected. Utilizing housing data, current architectural and financial models used to generate residential footprint in New York City, and conducting dozens of interview with city officials, designers, academics, tax professionals, bankers, and affordable housing developers I begin to create the frame work for an affordable housing discourse that at the surface was porous and undefinable but my research lead to a highly involved system of networks and interconnected strategies that eventually affects numerous industries across sectors and skill levels.

My findings did not present an operational strategy by one of a multilayered approach to the design of an equitable built environment that incorporates the social sciences, designers, educators, residents, capital generators, and politicians. Using the Sugar Hill housing development as a case study to allow housing to act as a incubator for neighborhood stabilization through thoughtful program, aesthetic, and funding structure.

Naming Discourse: New York, NY Extremely Low Income

Very Low Income

Low Income

Moderate Income

Middle Income

% of AMI

Non-Burden 0 - 30% Up to $629 Rent

30% - 50% $630 - $1,049 >$25,150

Area Median Income Affordable Housing Unit Scale:

Thesis Naming Discourse New York, NY

51% - 80% $1,050 - $1,678 $25,151 - $41,950

$41,951 - $67,120

81% - 120% $1,679 - $2,517 $67,121 - $100.680

121% - 165% $2,518 - $3,461 $100.680 $138.435

Private Funding

Public: Federal: State: City Funcing Sources

Donations/Gramts

Federal TRA 1986

HERA 2008

Treasury Dept: IRS

ARRA 2008

Capital One Bank

Allocated over 10yrs

Richmond Housing

Sirus Fund

Oak Foundation

Deutsche Bank Amer.

Corporation for SH

Brownfield Revitalization

2012: $2.30 x population NYC: 18 M x $2.30 = $40M Fed Min: $2.5 M Types: 4% & 9% Actually 3.18% & 7.3%

Federal Home Loan. Cap One

State

Federal Home Loan. HSBC

Uncapped volume cap of 1.8B bond amount

4%

NYS TaD Asst.

9%

NYS Energy

LIFF Low Income Housing Invest.

Capital One Fund

4% in conjunction with bond capacity. New construction / Rehab 9% New construction w/o other subsidies

HFA

NYSHPA

DCHR

City QAP HDC

HPD

Qualified Action Plan

Mayors Office Gives proiority to projects serving lowest income community. Must remain affordable.

Allocation applies to setting credits aside for project completion.

City Council

HPD Avg. $12 - $14M in credits per year over 20 years

Sugar Hill Exploded:

One annal round of 9%, yearly for 4% QAP Application 9% criteria.

NY Trust

Based on loaction/houisng needs charateristics, project charateristics, sponsor characteristics, tenenat population, public housing waiting lists, intended for ownership, energy efficiency, historic preservation.

Marketing

Public Housing Authority Neoliberalism

Grants

Congress Lawyers

Judicial Branch

Social Science

Developer

Low Income

Regulation

Private Equity Bonds

Governance

Districts Grants

Real Estate

Debt Amoritize

Census

Budget Building Code

Students

Bank

Parking Mutual Fund

Accounting

City

InsecurityEconomics

GDP

Interior Design

Auction

Corporations

Variables

Design

Police

Contingency

Rent Stabalized

Qualitative

Rating

Acquisition Balance Sheet

Community Boards

Vulnerability

Court Property Tax

Liability Philosophy

Arbitartor AMI

AMI

Contract

Syndicator

Bankruptcy

Econometrics

Depreciation Curriculum

Municipal

Investor

Mediation Multi Family

HPD

Sequetration

Design

Professional

Labor

Pro Forma

Banks

Counseling

Control

Single Family

Ethnography Commercial Tax Base

Loan

Constituents

Inflation

Housing Lottery

Policy

Collateral

Cash Flow

Fees Tariffs

Homelessness

Law

Business Credits

Rent

Voucher

HOPE IV Accounts Recevable

Package Tax Credit Deals

Sociology

Security Capital Gains

Inventory

Syndicators

Notarizer

Theory

Product Design

Management

Represent investors typically sole point between developer and investor

Reports

Welfare

Activism

CRA Community Reinvestment Act

Section 8 Data

Professor

HFA

Sublease

Affidavit

Certificate of Occupancy

Financial Institutions

Research

Codes

Freddie Mac

Individuals

FHA

Anti-Discriminatory

Architect

Carthography

Council Members

Mortages

Architecture

Fees

Volume Cap Rate

Securities

RateSocialofSciences Return

Senate

Business Improvement District

Urban Design

Title Community

Manufacturing

Elections

Judge

Gentrification

Invsetor/Developer

Diversity

Budget Write-off Hierarchy

Stocks

Monitoring & Evaluation

Default

Recession

Life Safety

Eviction

Abatement Levy

Diagrams

Housing Plan

Liscense

Consultant

Consumer Price Index

Legislative Branch

Topography

Food Justice

Materials Anthropology Site

Bonds

GIS

Depression Occupancy

Programming

Appreciation

Engineer

Pedegogy

Land Use

NYCHA

Graphic Design

Credit Rating

Zoning

Audit

Developer

Polls

Tax Credits allocated through state and city

Landscape Design Dedcutions

Prototyping

HUD

Foreclosure

Department of Treasury

Politics

Immigration Land Trust

Surplus

Globalisation

Salaries Tolerance Public Space

Pension Fund

Austerity Expert

Academia

Rights

Mining

GIS

Certificate of Deposit Regulation

Sugar Hill Funding Structure:

Program

Art

Map

Fear

Loans

Fannie Mae

Research

Identity

Inequality

Quantitative

Certifications

Development

Broker

Administration

IRS

Taxes

Finance

Deed

Accounts Payable Non-Profit

Poverty

NOI

Tax Credits Industrial Design

Federal Reserve Bank Environmental

Insurance

Law Suit

Warrant

Lobbyist

Healthcare Contract

Drafting Votes

Creditors

Enterprise Zones

Cartography

Construction documents EconomistEmpiricism

Yields

Assets

HDC

Reform

Continued Education

Risk

City Planning

Co-Op Accurual

Building Systems Survelliance

Thesis Naming Discourse New York, NY

Taxes Federal

Site Planning

Novograd

State Analysis Subsidy's

Subpoena

Class Equity

Executive Branch

Ratio

Survey Ergonomics

Psycholgy

Affordable Housing Network Components:

Hedge Fund

Interest Rate

Tax Returns Science

1 START WITH A QUESTION AND QUESTIONING! How can the

issue of housing production be addressed without the notion of capital accumulation but with thoughtful gestures towards an an environment of access and opportunity?

1. Designers 2. Economist 3. Finance 4. Teachers 5. Artist 6. Social Scientist 7. Activist 8. Lawyers

2 CROSS-DISCIPLINARY CHARRETTES

A continuios examination of the typolopgy of discipolines and discourses. Qustions will be addressed through potetntial models. By unpacking the problems in pre-deterministic formats and allowing for a constant critique that informs indeterminant models, a wholistic approach to deisgn is realized.

Assemble a diverse group of backgrounds and really attempt to remedy the issue of an aged housing model.

Design Praxis Format:

Thesis Naming Discourse New York, NY

3 SYNTHESIS

BROADCASTING/EXTERNAL COLLABORATION

These potential models are then placed in a number of hypothetical models that lend themsleves to real-world case study conditions to understand why it would NOT work.

Subsequent to trouble shooting the models are launched in a series of work shops, informal critiques, and fromalized scrutiny

4

5

SYNTHEIS/PRODUCTION

PROPOSALS

The feedback from the broadcasted models will be addressed within new strategies that either challenge or complement discoveries. The ensemble will actively engage public entities, private developers, and other disciplines to introduce proposals for design, work force development, education, programming, etc... This will be an open loop system that is iterative in form and dynamic in its impact.

Examining the discourse of affordable housing is as complex as it is ubiquitous; the singularity of the object is becomes a mode of production and antagonism rather than the process to create the object.

By deconstructing the process and identifying the socio-spatial conditions of housing production, my proposal presents a Praxis strategy for affordable housing that isolate all components of production such as anthropology, social work, urban design, public management, etc. into a design practice that becomes a testing ground for analysis, testing, and rapid prototyping.

This open-loop process promotes policy recommendations, design interventions, and social programming.