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Holistic Wellbeing: Two Case Studies in Affordable Housing
by Pratt GCPE
FEATURING WORK FROM THE GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE DESIGN BUILD STUDIO SUMMER 2020 AND THE INNOVATION IN AFFORDABLE HOUSING COMPETITION
By Browne Sebright
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Featuring the work of:
Pankti Mehta, Pratt Institute MS in Sustainable Environmental Systems
Nella Schools, Pratt Institute MFA in Interior Design
Browne Sebright, Pratt Institute MS in City and Regional Planning
Kats Tamanaha, Pratt Institute MFA in Interior Design, MS in Sustainable Environmental Systems
Sabyasachi Das, NYU Real Estate program
BUILDING UP BROWNSVILLE: CULTIVATING COMMUNITY
In the summer of 2020, following the initial lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic, an interdisciplinary group of GCPE graduate students participated in the summer 2020 Green Infrastructure Design Build (GIDB) studio, Nourishing NYCHA. Taking place during the height of COVID-19 social distancing, this course would be among the first at Pratt GCPE to occur almost entirely remotely, with students and professors alike working to adapt a hands-on curriculum to the circumstances of the pandemic. The course was taught by Gita Nandan, Elliott Maltby, and Raymond Figueroa Jr.
The studio was a collaborative effort between six interdisciplinary graduate students, with advice from officials at the New York City Housing Authority, as well as two grassroots community organizations, Green City Force and Universe City. The studio was set in Brownsville, Brooklyn; due to the pandemic, however, we were all scattered around the Northeast and had limited ability to visit the site and engage with local residents. Due to these restrictions, we were grateful to the community organizations that were able to give us more on-the-ground insight during this process.
The studio was asked to engage in design and policy at two scales: within the specific community of Brownsville at the Van Dyke NYCHA campus, and at the city-wide scale by exploring the potential combined capacity of all 334 NYCHA campuses. The designs link larger site and network planning with small-scale installations.
