Boerum Hill Transitory Housing Project

In this current economic climate, it has become pertinent to look to design for social housing as a means of creating space and systems for the displaced of society. The Boerum Hill Transitory Project was created in conjunction with an NGO for a multi-purpose cultural complex within a pre-existing structure in Brooklyn, New York. The building was created to both house seven single mothers and their children, while also creating a commercial space to both bring revenue into the building and teach the women skills that they can then bring with them into the real world. The design takes into account the psychological and economic factors that are present in social housing projects. The programmatic elements of the interiors were set up to aid in the recuperation, direction, responsibility, and overall transformation of the women. The ground floor, commercial space is designed as a multi-purpose studio. The ideology surrounding the studio is to give the women a creative outlet for themselves, in conjunction with a way to bring in money for both the women and the building itself. There are modular tables that can be moved and changed in order to accommodate for the ever-changing programs within the space. It was also designed as a place for speakers to come in and teach the women skills, so they will not only be creating but learning as well. The products that they create are intend to be a means of inspiration, that they can then sell which will in turn make them self-reliant. 

There are a series of formal explorations throughout the building floor that were put in place in order to aid in the women’s upward mobility out of displacement and into a self-confident, independent life. There is a succession of different elevations upon entry of the building. These are a way of helping the women to actually feel the physical movement of upward mobility and to also give them a newfound sense of hierarchy. These elevations, in a sense, put on display the seemingly miniscule activities of everyday life, that are important and in some instances incomprehensible to these women. The materials used throughout the partitions on both the ground and basement levels (glass, resin, etc) give the women a psychological sense of permeability. These women have so much in their life that is unseen, that is uncertain and this permeability was designed to give them a way of perceiving what is ahead of them. Furthermore, to look up is an innately physiological means of feeling optimistic. When the body looks up, a sense of confidence in the mind is released through both the posture and the breath of the body. This building has many small moments that are high in elevation as a way to contribute to this optimistic feeling. 

Boerum Hill Transitory Housing Project: Transitory Apartments

           The first floor in this proposed three story brownstone, was to be set aside as transitory housing for impermanent residents. In an attempt to get a grasp on the creation of spatial forms that would create “good” relationships amongst these different families, I looked to Rudolf Arnheim. In 1976, Arnheim in his book, Visual Thinking, attempted to connect the way in which people perceive abstract concepts. He wanted to give form to concepts such as the past, present, and future, as well as good and bad relationships. Through successive experiments, he gave groups of students the task of drawing these concepts using only line drawing. The types of drawings that were created for the relationship portion of the test, illustrated varied results. One student illustrated a set of parallel lines. These lines spoke to the way in which two people should remain with each other, yet not over power each other. They must overlap but in some sense remain separate. Another student produced an illustration of a rigid line paired with a curvilinear, closed loop. The rigidity of the former was said to represent the ups and downs in a bad relationship, and the latter was a depiction of a smooth expression of time. 

These apartments were designed thinking about the spatial implications of Arnheim’s studies.  The spaces which were broken up for varying degrees of privacy, overlap in some areas but remain consistently separate in others. The partitions were also put in place in order to promote a sort of “parallel” lifestyle for these families, so their relationships can begin to intertwine for their betterment. The Partitions were created through the abstraction of two parallel lines, which in turn create curved spaces carved out of the original volume in a way that is meant to be conducive to a continuous, fluid existence. 

Adolf Loos Case Study

  Adolf Loos’ Villa Mueller is one of the most complex and well respected pieces of 

architectural history. In a detailed analysis of the building I became very intrigued by his 

ideologies surrounding the raumplan: different elevations signify different functions of a 

space. To not separate rooms by walls, but to separate activities by differing heights. In 

my study I casted each volume of air in every room of the Villa. I then stacked them 

according to the plans in order to see the relationship between these different spaces. 

 I chose to cast the blocks in a white plaster in order to mimic the white rectilinear 

facade of the Villa Mueller. Loos believed that a man should look inward for peace of 

mind and not outward, and most of his architecture reflects this. For instance in the Villa 

Mueller all of the windows are facing inwards. 

 I then began to think about Loos’ use of patterning on the floors. After reading his 

article, Ornament and Crime I knew that they were not there for sheer decoration. In a 

larger scale model I inlaid the floor patterns of each space onto the volumes in order 

find their interconnectivity and flow. I then continued the lines of each pattern on every 

surface of the volume to comment on people’s perception of patterning in a space and 

how it affects the entirety of a space and not simply the floor. Those lines also allowed

me to find connecting factors to each pattern. 

Brooklyn Flower Shop

   The site of the project was located adjacent to the Greenwood Cemetery in 

Brooklyn, New York. After an analysis of the site, it became apparent that most of the 

consumers who would be shopping at the flower shop were going to be those who were 

visiting the cemetery. I began the design process by creating a three dimensional map 

of the cemetery in order to understand the planning of it. In my analysis I found that 

most of the built structures, pathways and land forms were located on the outskirts of 

the cemetery and a clearing was in  the center. These built structures, pathways, and 

and land forms are what became the system of organization of the flower shop. It was 

an attempt to recreate the consumer’s experience in the cemetery, in order to find clarity 

in the center. 

   After researching Stephan Holmlid’s essay entitled Service-Scape and White 

Space: White Space as A Structuring Principle in Service Design. I began to wonder 

about the white space in a retail setting, and what the true meaning of this is. White 

space in design is defined as empty spaces in design, it is used to separate design 

elements. For instance, it may be the space in a magazine separating the title of an 

article from its contents. I then defined the White space in this spatial sequence as time. 

The time between consumer’s the entrance into the store, and the time they purchase 

the products.The displays on the outermost spaces surrounding the point of sale (which 

is the clearing in this case) are completely opaque, and only displaying few flowers. 

 As the consumer moves closer the point of sale, the displays change into a translucent 

material that display more flowers. The final displays that are closest to the time when 

the customer purchases the products are completely transparent and the flowers are 

overflowing. The transparencies are a comment on the space and time between the 

consumer and the product. 

  The project allowed me to explore the human being’s perception of space 

through different levels of transparency, translucency, and opacity. The mapping of the 

cemetery, allowed for a certain disorientation of the consumer, but the transparencies 

gave the ability to always framed views of what was to come.