CITY YEAR COMMUNITY IMPACT

Overview

City Year + Gensler is a firmwide partnership in which we work with City Year and a local school to transform an unused or underutilized space. This has been an ongoing partnership in the NY office since 2014. Our team visions with the City Year AmeriCorps members, the students, and the school to develop a program and design based on their needs and what represents the school’s culture and community. The projects aim at creating a sense of unity and having an impact from within City Year and the students, to the classroom, and beyond to the community. Practice areas involved in the project include: consulting, programming, brand + graphics, design, and implementation.

PROGRA M: PRO-BONO

SITE: LONG ISLAND CITY, NY USA

CO-AUTHORS: ELISABETH MEJIA, ALYSON CANAL, CRISTINA BATTISTON

PHASE 1: VISIONING CRAFTING WITH STUDENTS 01.22.2020

This year, our team partnered with Dutch Kills Public School 112 in Long Island City, New York to renovate and improve an existing classroom. The Students were asked to make their dream space. Genlser provided old shoe boxes, recycled materials, and cutting + gluing tools. The aim of the activity was to understand the spaces the students desired and felt comfortable in. The kids loved this activity and channeled their creativity into making rooms ranging from the airplane landing in Hollywood to a cozy space with endless rugs. At the end of the activity, we interviewed the students and asked them to explain their design decisions. By involving the students in the design process from the visioning stage, we noticed a stronger desire from the students to stay involved throughout the construction process, till reveal day.

TO HOLLYWOOD”

“Welcome to Hollywood”

Esa and Amanda want to be movie stars when they get older. Their dream space is the LAX airport!

“Football Championships”

Jackson, Daniel, and Charlie all added to the “Football Champions” dream space. Jackson explains his