dispersed : immersed
East New York has a bad reputation for being unsafe & undesirable for living, working, shopping, etc. and therefore often left neglected. So the driver for this building was to not only influence the neighborhood in a nice way but also cater to those less fortunate- homeless people.
Currently there are 60,000+ homeless people living on the streets of New York and the numbers are only exponentially growing, so to buffer this number this building exists to provide a safe haven for them. Ultimately to prove that transitional housing does not have to be "shelter-like" to be comfortable. They can be compact, efficient, & comfortable micro-units.
The concept for the building is essentially made up of two systems: a wall & a micro unit. The wall acts as a plug-in for private and public programming on either sides of the wall; mediating residential and social programs such as a shared kitchen & living rooms.
In collaboration with Ruo Bao Chen
Study Abroad Program: New York City, New York
Fourth Year Fall Semester.