In this housing studio, students research the physical, environmental, social, and cultural conditions of a NYC urban site, one that currently has some socio-political import in New York City. It is both a housing studio and an urban context studio and students examine the urban dwelling unit’s contingencies relative to urban systems and infrastructure. I decided to focus on the concept of inhabiting the roofs of “big box”-type neutral spaces with a modular housing system that would create thriving communities in otherwise dross unused spaces. The modular system came about after doing a number of studies through unit development, and then aggregating the units onto the top of the mixed use component (“big box” type structural system), which in this case is a YMCA. The complex is composed of 54 units, ranging from studios - 3 bedrooms, and is a 4 story walk up, each unit is entered separately. The system is extremely flexible, allowing me to easily get rid of units or add units, and is able to be added onto in the future for further development.

Published: February 09, 2014