Building/Site research

Design Overview and Methodology

As a final focus, we used design to hone in on how individual sites were impacted by historic districts - to see how the individual owner or developer could respond to the history of the area (as discovered by the history and planning groups), the surrounding materials, and the regulations applied by historic districts or other zones. Our designs made use of material discovered during research phases and fed back into the study as regulations were questioned - requiring more research - and recommendations were formed based on the manner in which the designers responded to the study area and its constraints.

At the individual site level, we identified soft sites we felt were vulnerable to development and created designs for infill and adaptive reuse based on this assessment.

This studio’s design group was challenged to research the history and zoning of various sites within the study area. Each member developed a program that took into account the marketable value, the available developmental rights, and most importantly, the historic context of Boerum Hill and Cobble Hill. Three sites were ultimately chosen, each one presenting challenges and opportunities specific to real-life development opportunities in historic neighborhoods, which are often pressured by insensitive and large-scale development.

The design sites were identified during the studio’s initial building by building survey. Certain sites, about 100 total, were flagged as they were considered vulnerable to development. These sites included vacant lots, lots underutilizing their FAR, parking lots, or vacant and abandoned homes or storefronts.

These flagged sites were reviewed again by the design group and Professor Freeman to consider as sites for intervention. Thirty “soft sites” were chosen and considered based on their placement within the historic fabric of the neighborhood, as well as the built FAR and potential FAR of the lot. After further research into these ten sites, we reduced the number of potential sites to 3, based on available development rights and the perceived opportunity due to the size of the lot, immediate adjacencies, and overall context.

Each of the three chosen sites presented a special challenge to the design process: 357–359 Atlantic Avenue is in the Atlantic Avenue Special Zoning District, and required the designers to consider the restrictions and limitations of the Special Purpose District; 188 Pacific Street is in the Cobble Hill Historic District and provided an opportunity to revitalize a parking lot used by the historic school turned co-op; and finally 128 Smith Street is not in a special purpose district, but it challenged the design team to develop the site in present-day circumstances when historic typology is rarely considered.

All programs for each site considered the most economical way to develop the chosen lot. What would a developer most likely build on the site? Each student carefully looked at the zoning and special overlays for the sites and applied these limits to the designs. These rules and regulations for the sites made for interesting challenges that will be explained in each of the individual Site 1: 128 Dean Street Source: student photo

Site 2: 188 Pacific Street Source: student photo