Families in New York are strugling with high living costs, especially childcare costs which can consume up to 50% of a family’s income. Also, only one in four eligible families receive childcare assistance, leading to widespread childcare deserts. Considering the citywide economical and environmental hardships of childcare and electricity are worse in low-income families which are mostly located in outer boroughs , a proposal to transform transit-oriented development (TOD) into Family Oriented Development (FOD) is put forward, utilizing the proposed Interborough Express (IBX) to connect underserved areas. By infusing the IBX corridor with clean, affordable energy and family-oriented facilities the aim is to reduce living costs and improve quality of life.
As a pilot project of FOD, a site between Brownsville and East New York in Brooklyn was selected. This site features intersecting transportation modes and a city-owned vacant rail yard with development potential. Despite current challenges, the area has the potential for excellent public spaces and improved transit connections.
Proposed IBX Line
Research Question: Why Do Families Leave NYC?
Families with young children are leaving NYC
Families with children need to make double to attain a modest living standard in NYC
Parents left jobs due to a lack of accessible childcare, resulting in significant econimic losses
Childcare costs can consume up to 50% of a family’s income , with families facing the highest burdens, sometimes up to 63%. Pre-K for All programs apply only to three- and fouryear-olds, and only one in four income-eligible families receive government assistance. The capacity for childcare centers is low, leading to many community districts living in childcare deserts. Affordable, quality childcare is essential for economic stability. Lack of access leads to job instability, harms children’s development, and drives families out of the city.
Necessary family-centric programs along the IBX line
Rezoning proposal
The site integrates multiple transportation modes, with light manufacturing to the east, row houses to the west, and NYCHA housing to the north. Served by MTA lines 3 and L, freight rail, and proposed IBX, the focus lies on the city-owned vacant rail yard, offering developmental potential. To optimize the railyard, rezoning for denser, family-oriented programs is proposed, adding to current light manufacturing and residential zoning. Integration strategies for the IBX prioritize accessible and affordable family programs, with childcare centers on the second floor. Improved accessibility, a landscaped plaza, and walkable canopy aim to create inclusive outdoor spaces for community interaction.
Prioritizing site circulation improves connectivity, addressing current challenges such as reliance on a small pedestrian bridge. By envisioning an open site, travel paths were adjusted, resulting in diamond-shaped forms that informed the design massings. The proposal adopts this formal language, evident in massing, sun shading, seating, and atrium designs. At its heart lies a walkable canopy and plaza, serving as vibrant, enriched open spaces where children can thrive, fostering community cohesion. Elevated above street level, these public areas bridge the gap between neighborhoods.
Programmatic organization revolves around essential family and community services, centralized around the main plaza. Green spaces and child-focused amenities are core elements on every level. Two childcare centers on the second floor interact with a ground-floor senior center. North-side facilities encompass energy storage, job centers, and offices, while the south side hosts a wellness center and library. Markets and stores are easily accessible on the ground floor, aligning with the IBX platform, while residential units occupy floors three to twelve.
Affordable housing - 3F~10F
Childcare center - Accessible from the canopy
Senior center - Accessible from street level
Affordable housing - 3F~10F
Library - Accessible from street level & the canopy
Interior view of the IBX platform
Exterior view of the main plaza & buildings
Communal Compound: The Cadence of Collective Living
Los Angeles is often stereotyped as a city dominated by single-family homes, yet it harbors a rich history of communal living waiting to be unearthed. Our architectural endeavor is to delve into this obscured past, merging it with contemporary innovation to redefine the city’s living spaces.
Inspired by the 1920s collective living ethos exemplified by Schindler House , our design ethos seeks to foster interconnectedness and community engagement. Embracing L-shaped clusters, our vision integrates public gathering spaces seamlessly with more private, individual retreats. Sliding doors and extended flooring blur the lines between indoors and outdoors, inviting residents to embrace the vibrant Los Angeles climate and lifestyle. Additionally, rooftop spaces are repurposed as versatile hubs for communal activities, further enhancing the sense of shared living.
Situated at 1939 Purdue Ave, Sawtelle, Los Angeles, the project site spans 3,685 square feet within a low-medium residential district, offering ample opportunity for creative exploration while adhering to a maximum height limit of 45 feet. By drawing inspiration from the past while embracing contemporary sustainability principles, the project aspires to transform the notion of community in Los Angeles, fostering belonging and shared purpose while honoring Los Angeles’ communal heritage. Through thoughtful planning, it endeavors to create a space where residents can truly belong and thrive together.
Thanksgiving at the Schindler House,1923 / Collections of the MAK Center
Client Profile & Co-Living Scenario
The communal-living scenario envisions four distinct yet interwoven populations residing in a series of cascaded clusters arranged around the site. These populations encompass parents or single parents with children, low-income seniors, artists, and international students, with the potential for spouses or children to accompany any of these individuals. Deliberately mixed within each cluster, these diverse groups contribute to a spectrum of “permanence” on the site; while parents and seniors may have partial ownership and reside for extended periods, artists and students may be more transient occupants. This intentional blending fosters an inclusive and vibrant community where each resident is valued equally, and where the unique attributes of each population enrich the collective experience. Through this eclectic mix, the community thrives and reinforces itself, creating a dynamic environment that embraces diversity and fosters mutual support.
Design Approach Cluster Composition
45° Orthogonal Elevated Walkway
Rotating Repetitive Clusters
Four identical L-shape residential clusters rotate around the center one (amenities)
The SE cluster is pushed inwards to provide enough backyard areas & parking stalls, and its ground floor serves as ACU
The SW and the center cluster is rotated to offer different sense of public spaces on the ground level along the pathway
The center cluster is split into half and rotated to make an enough space to walk between buildings
Areas next to the center cluster is sunken to serve as a plaza and to collect rainwater. Big open spaces serve as playground, bbq, etc
The second floor areas are offset outwards and smaller than the ground floor, reducing overwhelmed feeling as a whole
A bridge on the second floor connects all clusters to provide casual networking and easy access to the public programs at the center
The third floor only occupies less than the half of the ground floor, serving as a rooftop sitting and sleeping room
Opportunities for inter- and intra-cluster communal interaction appear across the site in shared kitchens, at ground-level green spaces, and at points along the cascade of each cluster, traversed by a radiating network of elevated walkways.
ThirdFloor
The housing features three typologies of units:
1. A basic module with a bedroom and a bathroom is distributed evenly on every floors. It serves seniors and university students on the ground floor, young parents and artists with with older K-12children on the second and the third floor.
2. An ADA comliant unit with a bedroom and a bathroom is located closest to the dropoff area on the ground floor for better accessibility, serving a senior and a single parent.
3. A small unit with a bedroom and a bathroom is located on the second and the third floor, serving university students and younger K-12 children.
SecondFloor
GroundFloor
Basic Module (340 SF)
ADA Compliant (380 SF)
Small Unit (280 SF)
Room
Young Parents
Single Parent
Senior Couple
Senior Student
Artist
K-12 Child
Exterior View of the Co-working Office & Communal Garden at the Middle Cluster
Interior View of the Communal Kitchen & Childcare at the North Cluster
Rainwater Collection Design
Rainwater is collected from the roofs of housing units. The roofs act as catchment surfaces, channeling rainwater to designated collection points. Gutters are installed along the edges of the roofs to capture rainwater and direct it towards downspouts. Downspouts guide the rainwater from the gutters to a filtration system. Filters remove debris and contaminants from the collected rainwater, ensuring that it is suitable for irrigation. The filtered rainwater is then stored in an underground tank. This tank is placed underground to minimize its visual impact and maximize space efficiency. The sunken garden in the middle, a lower level than the surrounding ground, is a landscaped area designed to hold and use rainwater . A drip or spray irrigation system is integrated into the sunken garden , distributing the collected rainwater directly to the plants’ root zones, ensuring efficient water use. This system reduces dependence on traditional water sources by utilizing rainwater for landscaping needs, and the sunken garden enhances the aesthetics of the area, providing residents with pleasant outdoor activities such as outdoor yoga, meditation, cinema, etc.
Rainfall
Irrigation re-use
Multi-purpose catchment
Water-square sunken garden
Storage tank and pumps
Elevation
Color Palette
Frayed Resiliency : Farragut
Pratt Institute GAUD M.Arch - 703 Studio
Instructor: Erich Schoenenberger & Benjamin Martinson
Program: Residential (Mid-rise public housing)
Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA
Partner: Jordan Henry
Bordering major Brooklyn neighborhoods such as Dumbo, Fort Greene, the Navy Yards, and Downtown Brooklyn, the Farragut serves as a vital gateway in the design. The discovery that Farragut residents, with predominantly lower annual incomes compared to surrounding neighborhoods, lack safeguards against extreme heat and related health risks significantly influenced the design approach. Through comprehensive research and analysis, it became evident that implementing a ‘greenway’ across the site could serve as a crucial connecting element between the developed and undeveloped areas. This greenway would bridge the gap between old and new, fostering a sense of cohesion while improving the quality of life for both current residents and the broader community. The greenway’s design aims to create a seamless integration of nature and urban living, promoting environmental sustainability and social interaction.
The design approach started from utilizing the unique geometry of the existing Farragut towers. By wrapping around them, a series of repetitive shapes comprising arcs, tangents, and straight lines were generated. The manipulation of these lines through offsetting, pushing, and pulling informed the overall site strategy . This weaves through the interior and exterior of the site, forming varied sizes of open green spaces with different levels of intimacy and privacy. These green spaces are designed to cater to diverse community needs, providing areas for recreation, relaxation, and social gatherings.
1. Wrapping the existing buildings
3. Pulling & Pushing the lines
2. Grouping towers with lines
4. Offsetting & Defining public spaces
NAVY YARD
DUMBO
DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS
FORT GREENE
In accordance with this urban strategy, the lines were employed for massing by creating multiple sloping strips that merge, bifurcate, and fray both vertically and horizontally. These fraying strips give rise to three inner courtyards , facilitating the penetration of sunlight into the building. Additionally, they seamlessly integrate with the ground through smooth ramps, providing direct access from the ground to the second floor for the residents.
The fraying strips provide people with different kinds of open space. On the rooftop slopes which are accessible from stairs of top floors of each strip, residents can take a walk enjoying a beautiful view of Lower East Side Manhattan and the East river. On the ground level, the west strip connecting with one of the the existing Farragut Houses creates a shared office spac e and an inner courtyard where people can take a rest and mingle together. The strips on the ground level is also offsetted inside, which creates shelters from the rain and makes a big plaza between the existing Farragut building and the new building, and a library cafe opens to this plaza. The ground level’s strips are divided into three chunks which merge into one chunk on the upper floors and they create two main green corridors that open to the adjacent street . Two other green corridors from the south go up to the second floor of the new building and they eventually extend the strips following their geometry.
Concept model of fraying strips
The inner courtyards are enclosed with a slanted frosted and clear glass on each side. They offer a big plaza on the first ground level, open to the sky, and provide a view of the plaza to the residents on the upper floors. Studio units are adjacent to the courtyards and can be expanded to one or two bedroom units. Two bedroom and three bedroom units with lofts are located on the upper floors where the strips end. Shared spaces with seats and shared open kitchens are located on the south ends of strips allowing residents to socialize with each other.
Lounge
Communal kitchen & dining
Laundry room
Atrium
Materials & Assemblies
Colorful terracotta tiles featuring vertical stripe patterns adorn the exterior walls. Windows are strategically positioned at every point where the walls bend inward. Metal screens, perforated with circles of varying sizes , not only create visually appealing patterns from a distance but also contribute to vibrant light and shade patterns within the units. The walls comprise a combination of terracotta panels, rigid insulation, cavity insulation, gypsum board, and plaster finish.
The ceiling is constructed using UHPC (Ultra-High Performance Concrete) panels anchored to a concrete slab with stainless steel brackets. Beneath the areas covered by metal screens and terracotta panels, 3” insulating glass units (IGU) serve as walls for the ground level , primarily facing northern areas. This design welcomes the local community and ensures accessibility from adjacent streets, namely Navy St and York St.
02
SECTION DETAIL
SECTION DETAIL
Scale: 3” = 1’-0”
Scale: 1” = 1’-0” 04
SECTION DETAIL
SECTION DETAIL
Scale: 3” = 1’-0”
Scale: 1” = 1’-0”
The Cathedral of Waste
Pratt Institute GAUD M.Arch - 704 Studio
Instructor: Sara Lopergolo & Cristobal Correa
Program: Industrial
(Waste-to-energy & Recycling & Art Production)
Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA
Partner: Zeynep Görken
The Anable Basin, a 500-ft-long artificial inlet of the East River created in 1868 by developer Henry Sheldon Anable, is situated in Long Island City. Initially utilized for shipping and manufacturing during the city’s industrial peak, the basin faced decline in the latter half of the 20th century. Recent revitalization efforts respond to the trend of waterfront redevelopment, aiming to repurpose industrial spaces into a mixed-use community.
This project seeks to transform the industrial waterfront into a dynamic space with a Waste-to-Energy facility, recycling center, art production facilities, and various commercial and recreational spaces. The primary goal is to enhance mobility convenience and accessibility while fostering active engagement within the building through diverse public spaces on different levels, including a cafe, open-floor-plan gallery, observation deck, immersive art space, and a rooftop skateboard park.
Architectural concepts feature innovative designs that marry functionality with aesthetic appeal. The design dives into the details of how form meets function. Beginning with a warm and open building on the western edge, seamlessly blending with the promenade, the design invites a harmonious integration of urban and natural elements. The ground level becomes a vibrant stage for interaction, featuring a café, an open-floor-plan gallery, and an information hub, injecting vitality into the community fabric. Two dynamic courtyards emerge, adapting effortlessly for market days, lively events, art exhibitions, and a practical bike station. Intentional segmentation mitigates overwhelming impressions, offering a refreshing contrast to the sturdy backdrop of surrounding buildings. In this symphony of architectural decisions, the design becomes not just a structure but a living, inclusive part of the area, providing an inviting and dynamic space for all to engage and enjoy.
3. The green patches are weaved along the water as a car-free zone and a main pathway, isolated from the logistics circulation
1. Connect the isolated urban green patches while offering a spacious riverfront park
2. Locate Recycling Center on the west & WTE on the east, and the logistics circulation in the middle on the ground floor
4. Locate Art Production Facility and public programs on the upper floors while weaving two different programs underneath
4. Skateboard Park 3. Outdoor Exhibition
2. Riverfront Park
1. Green Promenade
5. Parking Lot
6. Bike Station
10. Waste Holding Area
9. Barging Area
8. Waste Unloading Area 7. Lobby
Floor Plan
Employing a structural system featuring a 40’ span, 3’ girder depth, and 2’ MEP pipe depth, this design maintains a 12’ floor-to-ceiling height . Cantilever areas are supported by 2D trusses or diagonal beams, while a space frame at the top ceiling upholds the curvy envelope. Space trusses are utilized in the column-free area to support the rooftop skateboard park.
Fenestration geometry aligns with massing in each elevation, complemented by 20’x12’ GFRC panels covering the envelope. Thin 7.5” diameter mullions create seamless-looking windows, and translucent polycarbonate windows illuminate the Waste-to-Energy facility with incinerator light.
3. Observation Deck 4. Ceramic Studio 5. Textile Studio
Crocheting uses a single thread to generate elastic surfaces, with loops interlocking row by row. This technique allows for the creation of complex three-dimensional volumes without breaking the thread’s continuity . By applying hyperbolic geometry , multiple linkages and emergent forms can be achieved. By examining crochet’s topological traits and ductility, the project tests how different materials and structures can adapt in volatile environments and transforms crochet from a traditional craft into an architectural design method, creating innovative, “fluffy” shelters.
The project combines computational analysis and physical prototypes to explore the spatial characteristics of crocheted fabric. Custom modifications to robotic arms enable architectural scale crochet operations, refining mechanics like tensioning and stitch variation . Ongoing analog prototyping addresses the challenge of selecting large-scale, flexible, and strong fiber materials.
Interestingly, although the materials appear industrial, they provide comfort when crocheted into enclosed spaces. This insight suggests that crochet techniques can be expanded to create habitable structures using environmentally friendly materials, such as basket reed made from cane plants.
Intergrated Circuit
Instructor:
Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA
Pratt Institute GAUD M.Arch - 612 Mediums2
Hart Marlow
From the existing large mass of Higgins Hall, a new architectural form emerges, defined by its distinct shapes and parameters through strategic modifications to the poche . This transformation begins with the transition from 2D to 3D, enhancing the original design with upgraded textures, coloration, and materials, all while preserving the core circulation concept that defines Higgins Hall.
The process involved multiple iterations of adding and subtracting various scales of repetitive curves. This iterative approach was crucial in achieving a dynamic and visually striking final form. The resulting structure not only stands out with its unique design but also integrates its own circuit system, reminiscent of an integrated circuit, adding a layer of complexity and functionality to the overall design. The interplay of curves and volumes creates a sense of movement and fluidity, inviting users to experience the space in a novel way.
Serenade of Nature
Left : Guryongsa Temple, Gangwon-do, South Korea
Right : Seongsan Ilchulbong, Jeju-do, South Korea
https://chaieunhwang.github.io/gamedesign/
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