The convergence of the housing and environmental crises offers a unique opportunity to re-evaluate the performance of existing structures and pioneer new housing solutions for current socio-economic and climate-adaptive needs.

New York City’s housing stock has undergone two significant transformations over the past century. In the 1930’s, New Deal era policies helped fund and construct numerous housing projects that incorporated community spaces and parks. Through the Public Works Administration, architects William Lescaze, John Louis Wilson Jr., and others designed projects that incorporated large and small courtyards and playgrounds for family living. In the 1970’s, New York State formed the Urban Development Corporation, inviting architects and policymakers to collaborate on addressing the housing crisis. Architects, including Kenneth Frampton and Werner Seligmann, utilized the low-rise high-density housing typology to create a variety of units with private entrances, backyards, and terraces.

Today, the City is embarking on an ambitious policy titled City of Yes: Zoning for Housing Opportunity. The proposal’s goal is to create 82,000 new homes by 2040 by encouraging shared housing, building on parking lots, and modernizing existing housing stock. The objective of this studio will be to capitalize on this opportunity to design collective housing on an existing parking lot and retrofit an adjacent historic landmarked housing project.

The design studio will focus on a city block located on the Lower East Side drawing inspiration from the innovative modernist solutions of the 1930s and 1970s. The north side of the block features a project called First Houses, built in 1935 as the city’s first publicly funded housing development. The project has never been modernized and presents a critical window to implement the city’s new policies for housing and climate adaptation. The south side of the block is a parking lot where students will design new low rise high density collective housing. Final projects will go beyond responding to crises by injecting creative solutions and talent for greater problem-solving that can reshape the standards of living and how they are constructed.

The work will be broken into two parts. It begins with an analysis of a historical housing typology and domestic spaces. Students will develop methodologies for drawing and modeling structural components, material ecologies, as well as formal and spatial strategies. Readings and discussions will delve into complexities of housing, policy, and socio-economic divisions that have long affected the city. The second part is the design project focuses on incorporating climate-adaptive solutions across three scales: urban (public/private space, pathways, green space), building (climatic comfort, solar orientation), and unit (new domestic ideas, diverse layouts for families, individual living). Students will collaborate with dedicated structural and climate engineers who will guide project development throughout the semester.

Students will travel to New York City to visit various housing projects and meet with offices involved in housing design, research, and education. Students will work in self-selected pairs. The instructor will be in-person every other week, with alternating weeks held on Zoom during studio time.