Front Cover: The Moynihan Connector extends the High Line above the street level in New York City. Photo Credit: Robin Styles-Lopez.
The September issue highlights the many ways architects are helping communities across New York “Thrive in ’25.” Through stories of collaboration, human-centered design, and sustainable innovation, these pages reveal how resilience is built when people, places, and purpose come together.*
* The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of AIA New York State. Any content provided by our authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual or anyone or anything.
President’s Message
Dear Members and Colleagues,
As the fall season arrives, I’m excited to welcome you to the September issue of ARCHITECTURE New York State. This month we’re focusing on “Shaping Resilient Communities Across New York State,” a theme that feels especially meaningful as we reflect on how architecture can bring people together, protect what matters, and create spaces that help us all thrive.
That word — thrive — is also at the heart of AIA National President Evelyn Lee’s theme, “Thrive in ’25.” It’s a powerful reminder that our work is not only about designing buildings, but about building stronger, healthier communities. Thriving means making choices that lift people up, celebrate belonging, and prepare us for the challenges ahead.
In this issue, you’ll find inspiring examples of that in action. Stories of Transparent Leadership & Community Engagement highlight how architects are working side by side with neighbors to preserve heritage and shape local futures. Features on Human-Centered Design Solutions show how design can strengthen belonging, accessibility, and joy in everyday spaces. And through Resilient Infrastructure & Sustainability, you’ll see how adaptive reuse and thoughtful stewardship are helping communities grow stronger while honoring the environment.
What’s so exciting about this collection is the diversity of perspectives it offers. From revitalizing sacred spaces and preserving Shaker heritage, to reimagining classrooms and converting offices into homes, each article shows how architects are responding to unique challenges with creativity and compassion. These projects may vary in scale, but they share a common thread: a belief that resilience is built when design truly serves people.
For me, resilience isn’t just about weathering storms or adapting to change — it’s about finding ways to connect, grow, and keep moving forward together. It’s about creating places where history is honored, innovation is embraced, and people of all backgrounds feel welcome and supported. That’s the real spirit of “Thrive in ’25,” and it’s something I see reflected in the incredible work of our members across New York State.
As you read through this issue, I encourage you to think about how these lessons might inspire your own projects this season. What opportunities do you have to strengthen connections in your community, to design with empathy, or to bring resilience to the forefront of your work? Together, by carrying these ideas forward, we can continue shaping communities that don’t just endure — they thrive.
Warm regards,
Andrew Harding, AIA 2025 President, AIA New York State
Dear AIANYS Members,
As we enter the final months of the year, I’m proud to share this issue of ARCHITECTURE New York State, which highlights how architects are shaping resilient communities across New York State. The projects and perspectives featured here demonstrate the many ways design strengthens neighborhoods, honors history, and prepares our communities for the future.
For me, this theme reflects not only the work happening in studios and on job sites, but also the collective effort of our statewide network. With more than 9,600 members, AIA New York State is built on a foundation of collaboration, advocacy, and professional growth. This year, we have provided resources that empower members at every stage of their careers — from robust continuing education programs, to targeted legislative advocacy, to new opportunities for recognition through awards and publications.
Equally important has been the leadership and service of our officers, board members, and volunteers. Their dedication has guided conversations on emerging practice, equity, climate action, and the evolving role of architects in society. These contributions — often happening quietly in committees and task forces — have made a tangible impact on how we serve you as a statewide organization.
In addition to programs and advocacy, we have continued to expand ways for members to connect. Conferences, design awards celebrations, webinars, and chapter collaborations have provided spaces to exchange ideas and share successes. Each gathering reinforces a simple truth: the strength of AIA New York State lies in the voices and experiences of its members.
This issue reflects that same spirit of collective achievement. The articles illustrate how resilience can take many forms — from engaging communities in meaningful dialogue, to reimagining educational spaces, to ensuring historic structures continue to serve as cultural anchors. Together, they remind us that architecture is as much about people as it is about buildings.
Thank you for your membership and for the trust you place in AIA New York State. We remain committed to delivering value, amplifying your voice, and celebrating the work you do every day to improve life across New York.
Sincerely,
Georgi Ann Bailey, CAE, Hon. AIA Executive Vice President, AIA New York State
01 FOR THRIVE-ING COMMUNITIES, ARCHITECTS DESIGN FOR TRIGGERS IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE
Proven ideas from trauma-informed design approaches are essential to design excellence in an expanding range of building types and user profiles
by Ámbar Margarida, AIA, IIDA, WELL AP, LEED AP, Principal, Spacesmith LLP
For many of us, the national AIA theme of shaping resilient communities first conjures images of physical protections from fire, flood, famine and fighting. Indeed, many of our greatest recent breakthroughs in design and urbanism have addressed these threats. Yet with training and exploration, however, the profession is beginning to see and address insidious and largely invisible forces at work in our society that demand something more of true design excellence.
Today’s human-centered design solutions incorporate evidence-based and experience-
grounded responses to the traumas endured by many users over their lives. From youth and families impacted by addiction or violence to entire communities suffering from displacement and disinvestment, these traumatic experiences lead to behavioral and experiential challenges that thoughtful design can help ameliorate. The benefits of these highly intentional approaches, many under the aegis of trauma-informed design (TID) research, are proven and repeatable — and they are getting more effective with every application.
These successes have added new dimensions to the transformative impact of AIANYS members across many practice areas. Projects prioritizing user experience, emotional accessibility, social equity, and community well-being are often the unsung yet most important case studies to emulate. For example, “By applying the principles of trauma-informed care to the built environment, trauma-informed design has the potential to reduce retraumatization and promote resiliency among youth in care,” concludes the research team of Rebecca L. Ames and Janet E. Loebach at Cornell University’s Department of Human Centered Design.
Other projects serving communities in need — such as foster care facilities, reentry programs, free legal services, social support centers, and health clinics — offer further clear illustrations of architecture’s potential to transform lives. These are often places where design excellence is overlooked, but where it is most urgently needed.
Successful project teams recognize this, beginning their work with a commitment to equity, social justice, and universal access — principles that ensure design responds to all people with respect and fairness. “Design excellence requires an unyielding focus on dignity, wellness, and community integration,” says Spacesmith founder Jane Smith FAIA. “At Spacesmith, we design environments that inspire safety and trust, nurture well-being, and promote healing
Inside POTS, where architecture and design reflect organizational values of dignity, hospitality, respect and empowerment. Photos by Kevin Chu and Jessica Paul, courtesy Spacesmith
“At the end of the day, POTS has a well-designed, bright, and welcoming space that allows the organization to effectively meet the diverse needs of clients in a dignified and hospitable way.”
while preserving privacy. Our approach minimizes triggers and carefully manages sensory experiences to create environments where people can truly feel at ease.”
Projects such as the new community resource center for Part of the Solution in the Bronx — known best by its acronym, POTS — exemplify the trauma-informed design journey. POTS serves people in need by providing food, clothing, counseling, and other supportive services. With this mission in mind, Spacesmith’s integrated architecture and interior design team transformed an existing building into a multifaceted services platform featuring a kitchen, pantry, counseling offices,
medical suite, barber shop, showers, dental rooms and mail services.
The design maximizes flexibility and comfort while minimizing sensory stressors such as disruptive noise, harsh lighting, and overwhelming textures. Environments were also crafted to visibly convey safety and security, reinforcing a sense of trust for clients and staff alike. It’s a powerful example of how architecture can be both functional and deeply compassionate.
The design team “was able to translate our organizational values of dignity, hospitality, respect and empowerment into the design of the space,” said Christopher Bean, executive director of POTS. “At the end of the day, POTS has a well-designed, bright, and welcoming space that allows the organization to effectively meet the diverse needs of clients in a dignified and hospitable way.”
Another example arose from an ongoing relationship with human services provider SCO Family of Services, which sought our help in reimagining a four-story building as a community center offering foster care services, medical and mental health support, and residential and youth justice programs. To transform an outdated and overcrowded facility into a new and efficient workplace with robust client program spaces, the design partí prioritized creating welcoming and safe environments.
By addressing both physical and emotional needs, the gut redesign emphasizes privacy, well-being, and choice in every aspect. It embodies sustainable and socially responsible design, reducing energy use and carbon footprint through an upgraded HVAC system with six new mechanical units and bipolar ionization for improved indoor air quality, and energy-efficient LED lighting with daylight controls to provide clear, glare-free visibility.
POTS is a community resource that serves people in need by providing food, clothing, counseling, and other support services. Photos by Kevin Chu and Jessica Paul, courtesy Spacesmith
Accessibility is enhanced with a new elevator, ramp, and motorized entry doors, and the goal of environmental justice is reflected in the use of nontoxic, Red List Free finishes throughout. The redesign also promotes health and wellness: staircases are highlighted to encourage daily movement, adaptable workstations support future growth, and biophilic elements — including visual connections to nature, areas for retreat, and uplifting furnishings — foster calm, reduce stress, and create a sense of welcome.
Together, these strategies ensure the space is not only highly functional but also deeply aligned with SCO’s mission of healing and care.
As many of SCO’s clients are under duress, this human-centric design takes into deep consideration the principles of traumainformed design: safety; trustworthiness and transparency; peer support, collaboration, and mutuality; empowerment, voice, and choice; and cultural, historical, and gender issues.
“From one workplace consolidation project to two others, a state-of-the-art training facility, and a multipurpose recreational facility, the relationship between SCO Family of Services and Spacesmith has grown and blossomed well,” says William Biancardi, director of business operations for SCO Family of Services.
“The project team has been highly responsive to our needs, and has put forth insightful designs that will have a positive impact on our organization, and those we serve, for years to come.”
Spacesmith has had similar opportunities to partner with Brooklyn Community Services, New York Legal Assistance Group, and the Staten Island Family Justice Center, among other mission-driven clients. From the start, dealing with legacies of individual and community trauma has become central to our design mission. Working with organizations like these, which tangibly improve lives, offers opportunities for architects everywhere to apply design as a tool for social impact— crafting spaces that honor the vulnerability of the users, foster connection, reduce stress, and support healing.
For SCO Family of Services, Spacesmith reimagined a four-story building as a community center offering foster care services, medical and mental health support, and residential and youth justice programs. Photos by Eric Laignel, courtesy Spacesmith
About the Author
Ámbar Margarida, AIA, IIDA, WELL AP, LEED AP, a Principal with Spacesmith, speaks widely and writes for publication about trauma-informed design and other architectural topics.
marvin.com/architectural-resources
CALL FOR ENTRIES
DESIGN AWARD 2026
NPO Aoyama Design Forum (ADF) is pleased to announce the “ADF Design Award 2026”, the 16th annual international design award organized by ADF.
Award submissions will be accepted from Friday, August 15, 2025, to Friday, December 19, 2025 (JST). There will be a Grand Prize of US$10,000 and two Awards of Excellence of US$5,000 from all categories, for approximately US$20,000. The ADF Design Awards is an excellent opportunity to showcase your design work to the world.
https://www.adf.or.jp/english/
Designing with, not for: A Community-Led Vision for Women’s Transitional Housing
It should have been obvious, but we hadn’t thought about it.
When three of us architects toured a new client’s Women’s Justice Program— a transitional housing facility for women returning from jail or prison—Eric, the male architect in our group, was asked to stay downstairs and not walk the residential floors. It was explained that some residents had experienced trauma at the hands of men. In keeping with their Sanctuary Model, our hosts from Providence House politely asked that Eric not enter those private areas.
Wow. Of course. This is their home. Their safe space. A place for healing, stability, and growth.
It hadn’t occurred to us that even a gentle, kind man like Eric could unintentionally create a sense of intrusion or unease. That moment made clear that trauma-informed design requires more than good intentions— it requires empathy, deep listening, and humility. From that point onwards we understood that we needed to learn more about what we didn’t know.
UNDERSTANDING THE MISSION
In 2021, Providence House engaged ESKW/ Architects to conduct a feasibility study for three adjacent buildings in the BedfordStuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. The properties, which the organization has owned for more than 25 years, were the focus of a plan to accommodate transitional and/or supportive housing along with their main administrative office, in support of their core mission—the Women’s Justice Program. While our study included detailed code analysis, zoning, and physical assessments, the most meaningful component was the intentional and inclusive community engagement process.
DESIGNING WITH COMMUNITY WISDOM
Since the 1960s, ESKW/Architects has followed the simple principle that design should be rooted in the lived realities of those who use the space. For Providence House, that meant inviting the expertise of those who knew the program best: residents, alumni, staff, and board members.
We engaged program directors, case workers, maintenance staff, and medical teams. We toured current facilities, created online surveys, and facilitated thoughtful conversations to better understand the needs, challenges, and strengths of their programs. We also introduced Providence House leaders to peer organizations we’d worked with before, sparking valuable cross-learning.
In total, nearly 100 participants took part in shaping the vision—current residents, women with incarceration experience, staff, and community stakeholders. This process was especially poignant following the summer of 2020, when questions of justice, equity, and inclusion were at the forefront. Like many others, we asked ourselves: How can architecture do better?
THE WORKSHOP: TRUST, DIGNITY, AND VOICE
At the heart of our process there were inperson workshops designed to foster trust and invite honest dialogue. Here’s how they worked:
Workshop Agenda:
1. Dinner First: Sharing a meal builds trust. Coffee and pastries at the very least—food is the ultimate icebreaker.
2. Introductions: We explained why we were there, what we hoped to learn, and how their voices would directly shape the project. Participants could introduce themselves if they chose to.
“We didn’t just design a building. We built trust. We created space for their voices.”
Q. 18 What is one thing you'd like people to know about you?
I'm a mother. I love music.
My incarceration was one part of my story that is now 18 years old. I am POWERFUL Kindness is important
Do NOT judge anyone. You do not know their specific journey in life. Change is possible. I am people-centered. I love to shop. I'm cool and to myself.
• What were the biggest challenges when coming home?
• What helped the most?
• What stood in your way?
• What do you wish you had known then?
Some wrote on paper instead of speaking. Staff helped re-direct tangents when needed. We took notes verbatim because their words mattered. We learned that while structure and support are essential, having the freedom to choose when and how to engage is equally important.
4. Image Boards
We invited participants to mark images that resonated with them—what felt safe, warm, comforting, or triggering.
TRANSLATING STORIES INTO DESIGN
Every major design decision was grounded in what we heard.
Structure + Autonomy
Each of the upper residential floors includes 17 private bedrooms, arranged along four short corridors around a shared core: kitchen, dining, lounge, laundry, and support offices. This promotes a balance of connection and independence.
Residents will have private rooms with lockable doors, individual climate control, and natural light. Small clusters foster informal “micro-communities,” while maintaining personal space. One resident shared: “Women helping women is a powerful healing energy.” This layout honors that.
Self-Expression + Control
Residents asked for agency. One simple yet powerful idea: let them choose a paint color for a wall in their room. Providence House embraced this, with a preselected palette that the maintenance team can easily manage as residents (who typically stay 6 to 18 months) move in and out. It’s a small act with a big impact, helping residents feel that the space truly belongs to them.
Multi-user bathrooms, standard in most institutional buildings, were a clear trigger. Instead, the design includes single-user bathrooms for each residential wing. This supports dignity, safety, and a shift toward independent living. Residents will also clean and maintain their own spaces, a critical part of preparing for long-term housing stability.
Safety + Belonging
A secure, ground-floor visiting area ensures that the upper residential floors remain private and calm. In the rear yard, a landscaped gathering space allows for safe, dignified visits with family and friends.
Additional design elements directly reflect community feedback— from how the outdoor space is programmed, to the texture of the brick façade, to the warm, welcoming shared lobby.
Conclusion: Design that Listens
From the outset, Providence House understood that housing alone isn’t enough. Safety, dignity, and belonging must be designed into every part of the building. As architects, we cannot assume that concepts of home are experienced in universal ways. For individuals who are healing from traumatic experiences, these concepts can carry very different meanings—privacy, control, security, and dignity often take precedence over the conventions we might expect. The success of this project did not come from our assumptions, but from our questions, our humility, and our willingness to set aside what we thought we knew, to learn directly from the justice-impacted women that Providence House seeks to uplift.
We didn’t just design a building.
We built trust.
We created space for their voices.
And, we hope, we helped shape a home that reflects the strength, wisdom, and resilience of the women who will call it home.
Kimberly Murphy, AIA, began her professional career in New York City in 1998 after completing her degree at Kansas State University. She has had the privilege of working exclusively on educational facilities, shelters for the un-housed, and supportive and affordable housing for non-profit organization clients ever since. She joined ESKW/Architects where she found an instant fit working on public and community-based projects in underserved New York City neighborhoods. Her first design for the renovation of a small Community Center in a public housing development earned a local AIA Design Award. Kimberly was named a Partner in the firm in 2017 joining a long legacy of female leadership in a firm rooted in mission-based work. “It’s quite possible that Judy Edelman is the reason I’m an architect. While I can’t recall it specifically, I suspect it was Judy’s 1980’s guest appearance on Sesame Street showing the world what an architect does that set me on the path”, says Kimberly. Her work focuses on a humanistic and experiential perspective to bring high quality design to all people. Engaging deeply with clients and end users to solve design challenges and develop design direction is a specific area of Kimberly’s expertise including working with justice impacted individuals.
About ESKW/Architects
Founded in 1960 by Judith and Harold Edelman, ESKW/Architects (ESKW/A) is an award-winning, New York City-based practice led by Partners Andrew Knox, FAIA, Randy Wood, AIA, and Kimberly Murphy, AIA. ESKW/A has over 60 years of experience in NYC’s design and construction industry. Continuing our founders’ lifelong dedication to the public sector, we pride ourselves on being a service-based practice that partners with mission-driven nonprofits, institutions, and government agencies to develop practical, yet innovative designs that provide shelter, education, healthcare, and culture for all New Yorkers. Some award-winning developments in the housing, education, healthcare, and cultural sectors are Bedford Green House I (Bronx, 2024), Landy Court (Yonkers, 2024), Thomas S. Murphy Clubhouse Pool (Brooklyn, 2021), New Settlement Community Campus (Bronx, 2013), and Ocean Wonders: Sharks! (Brooklyn, 2012).
by Tosin Odugbemi Hoskins, MArch I, MBA Founding Principal, Atelier Oluwatosin
Reclaiming Formalism for Human-Centered Design 03
A Ribbon of Redress:
Architecture has long spoken a language of ideals: proportion, purity, and permanence. But what does it mean to build the futures of our cities, neighbourhoods, and families when the very grammar of the discipline has been used to erase, exclude, and overwrite?
In Harlem, red brick and limestone hold stories older than any zoning map. And yet the tools we are taught to design with — the grid, the module, the datum line — too often flatten what is already alive, severing cultural memory from architectural form.
Much of my practice and academic research has centred this challenge: how can we use design in a way that feels equitable, contextually aware, and celebratory, not despite form, but through it? Can we redress places with an equivalent fervour for lavish beauty and intentional inclusion?
Architecture, at its most noble, aspires to make space for human dignity. But in its most insidious traditions, it too often perfects a kind of bodily erasure — rationalizing it through typologies, proportions, and precedents that render certain bodies excessive, illogical, or even invisible. For many of us, form was never neutral. It excluded us, surveilled us, and distorted us. And yet, I could never quite abandon the seduction of classical geometry and seemingly frivolous ornament.
The first time I visited New York State as a young professional, exploring neighbourhoods from the ritzy professionalism of FiDi, all the way to the quiet charm of the Hudson Valley, the region squarely in the centre of these two worlds captured my heart and attention. Often forgotten at best, or avoided at worst by New York’s elite, I fell in love with the culture, texture, and complexity of Harlem. This borough became a testing ground for a series of speculative projects that became my
promise that clarity and rigour might still be made to serve beauty, equity, and belonging.
In my research, I began exploring the idea of a ribbon of redress. This is not a physical intervention but a design methodology, a conceptual thread that winds through speculative proposals in Harlem and beyond. It is a form of architectural unforgetting, one that asks: How can the tools of formalism — symmetry, repetition, monumentality — be wielded in defence of the very bodies they once marginalized? In the most literal sense, the spatial ribbon is derived from a buffer zone in code where buildings get their elbow room. It is where awnings are permitted to hang, stoops are able to protrude, and ramps can wrap.
Playing within this margin comes to life in two of my speculative projects: Mélange and Body-ody-ody.
MÉLANGE is a restaurant concept sited in Sugar Hill, Harlem. Conceived as a culinary commons and formal love letter to Black diasporic hybridity, the project uses heavy brick massing, monumental arches, and a descending sequence of intimate dining alcoves to celebrate what it means to gather, blend, and belong. The primary architectural moves for this project were super-scaling the bulkhead and awning to provide new spaces for seating, leaning, and eating to bring the life of the street into connection with Harlem’s food culture.
BODY-ODY-ODY, uses a similar idea, pushing it further to a boutique retail and wellness concept that directly engages the politics of measurement. Practically, we amplify the bulkhead to create surfaces for seating and merchandising. In place of a conventional storefront window that peers into an interior retail life, the façade, instead, becomes an activated form and space for retail activity.
“In Harlem, red brick and limestone hold stories older than any zoning map.”
Here, we interrogate the Vitruvian ideal and the legacy of Le Corbusier’s Modulor by inserting voluptuous, non-standard female bodies into the very grid from which they’ve been historically excluded. Using steps, voids, and carved niches, the design becomes a topography of bodily affirmation — a place where garment, form, and ritual coalesce. The name itself, pulled from pop cultural vernacular, reclaims both celebration and critique of the hypervisible Black femme body.
Designing first in elevation, the façade is altered through a tactical additive strategy with intentional subtractive punctures to create alcoves for pop-up shops and as an aperture strategy for light. Design changes to the exterior produce consequences on the inside that are resolved by embracing and echoing the exterior to create similarly versatile spaces on the inside. This ribbon of potential produces a two-sided opportunity for the creation of form and space through the façade.
Together, these projects ask what it means to design outside of a singular language into a space of legibly designing for multiples. Negotiating between the lines of registration through undulating curves that return to a rectilinear language native to the masonry unit in areas where the human body isn’t frequently in direct contact with the architectural body. The shadows created by the design language move us further from
singular linework into a jittery fill, making visible the deltas.
The ribbon of redress doesn’t reject form; it reframes it. And that, to me, is the deeper invitation of humancentred design: not to abandon architectural precedent, but to subvert it in service of those long left out of its lineage.
About the Author | Tosin Odugbemi Hoskins, MArch I, MBA, is a brand strategist, designer, and the founding principal of Atelier Oluwatosin, a transdisciplinary studio at the intersection of architecture, identity, and cultural narrative. With a Master of Architecture from Harvard and a business education spanning marketing theory, behavioural economics, and management strategy, Tosin’s work explores how formal design languages — especially those rooted in classical precedent — can be reimagined to serve equity, embodiment, and belonging. Her academic research and design work challenge dominant spatial grammars by centring marginalized bodies, rituals of care, and communal memory. Grounded in the Gesamtkunstwerk tradition of total design, she treats brand and environment as inseparable tools for meaning making. Her current practice spans conceptual architecture, spatial storytelling, and high-touch consulting for clients ranging from luxury brands to public institutions.
About Atelier Oluwatosin | Atelier Oluwatosin is a transdisciplinary studio shaping space, identity, and strategy through a lens of cultural attunement and design ethics. Merging architectural rigour with narrative intelligence, the studio works across scales and mediums to create emotionally resonant environments and brand experiences.
Rooted in the philosophy of Gesamtkunstwerk—the total work of art—Atelier Oluwatosin approaches every project as an ecosystem. Whether designing a spatial prototype, a brand system, or a public installation, the studio’s work seeks coherence between form, story, and social impact. Their clients span emerging ventures, cultural organizations, and legacy institutions committed to beauty, meaning, and justice.
by Eugene Flotteron, AIA, Principal and Director of Architecture, CetraRuddy
25 WATER STREET
A Paradigm Shift for Human-Centered Office-to-Residential Design
In order to adapt the building for residential use, architects CetraRuddy punched hundreds of new window openings into the existing brick facade, and designed a 10-story overbuild that holds apartments and amenity space.
While New York architects are globally recognized as longstanding leaders and innovators in adaptive reuse, the post-pandemic era has brought heightened attention and new momentum to this practice – especially office-to-residential conversions. An August 2025 report from the New York City Comptroller’s office, for example, estimates that recently completed, in-construction, or newly proposed conversions could generate as many as 17,400 housing units. These numbers make it easy to understand the transformative potential of conversion projects and the excitement around them: Architects engaged in this work
and knowledge of local
can meaningfully boost housing production, limit the need for environmentally wasteful demolition and new construction, and support the continued vitality of city neighborhoods undergoing major shifts in living and working patterns.
But the scale of such adaptations makes it clear that just delivering a change in use from office to apartment is no longer enough. In fact, now is a critical moment for architects to ask questions that will shape the next generation of conversions: What design strategies make these projects more livable, and enable them to become truly human-centered environments?
How can conversions do more to foster thriving communities? Recent zoning and regulatory shifts – such as New York State’s new tax incentives, zoning changes and funding for housing, or the recently approved Midtown South MixedUse Plan in Manhattan – give these questions even greater urgency. The door is now open for larger and more complex conversions, in new locations and in much greater numbers.
A case study exploration of 25 Water Street, regarded as the country’s largest-ever completed office-toresidential conversion project, illuminates exciting possibilities. At well over 1 million square feet,
A creative design approach
zoning code allowed the architects to create two light wells that deliver daylight and air into the deep floor plate — and then reallocate that floor area to the top of the existing structure. Massing Diagram Courtesy of CetraRuddy
this project designed by architects CetraRuddy for GFP Real Estate, Metro Loft, and Rockwood Capital, illustrates the scale of conversions likely to emerge in the future. With its explicitly resident-centered design approach, reaching through 1,320 apartments and over 100,000 square feet of shared amenity space, 25 Water Street also highlights key design strategies for ensuring that office-toresidential conversions holistically prioritize user experience and community wellbeing.
Leveraging Technical Challenges to Unlock Design Opportunity and Enhance Livability
At first glance, 25 Water Street might have seemed a prohibitively complex conversion candidate. Originally designed in the 1960s as back office and computer space for a bank, the building’s 40,000plus square-foot floorplates and minimally glazed brick façade were not seen as well suited for apartments. At the same time, its massive scale made it possible to conceptualize a project that could in effect become its own thriving neighborhood for residents. And with a creative design vision and a deep understanding of local zoning codes, the architects saw that such a transformation was possible. Some of the first critical moves focused on introducing daylight and air through extensive façade modifications and the creation of two large lightwells in the center of the building. For the façade, the architects initially considered a complete reskin. Close analysis, however, showed that keeping as much of the original brick as possible and instead punching in
thousands of new window openings would actually save time, money, and substantial embodied carbon. With the remaining brickwork refinished in white, this reworked façade now looks brand new and offers the best possible sunlight for residents while significantly reducing material waste. In fact, by preserving the original rhythm of façade insets, the design team was even able to create small bay windows for many apartments, subtly enhancing the experience of natural light.
The lightwells also unlocked even greater opportunities. On the one hand, by allowing for more apartments closer to the core, this solution resolves a major roadblock to converting midcentury or newer commercial structures with large floorplates. The number of units on each floor can be substantially higher, and the apartments themselves are bright and appealing, with gracious floorplans across a broader range of unit type and size – from studios to
three-bedroom apartments – than is typically possible in a conversion. These layouts are also readily adaptable for different living situations, and suit single occupants, couples, co-living, and even families, introducing a welcome mix of people and individual experiences into the community of this building. Notably, thanks to New York State’s new 467-m tax incentive program, more than 300 of these apartments are reserved as affordable, showcasing how conversion projects can also directly address social equity considerations.
Creative Visions for Communal Space
Another key benefit of the lightwell approach takes advantage of zoning to enhance both individual apartments and the overall community experience at 25 Water Street. In this case, New York City zoning rules allowed the architects to reallocate floor area
from the lightwells and create a 10-story overbuild on top of the existing structure. Crucially, while this addition necessitated bracing the entire building with new steel elements, its scale was carefully modulated to avoid triggering a need for any structural modifications to the foundation – a major challenge in areas like this part of Manhattan which is a flood zone on filled land.
The overbuild at 25 Water Street now holds apartments with skyline views, as well as extensive shared amenity space including an outdoor pool and varied landscaped gathering areas. Especially in dense urban settings, the physical and emotional benefits of outdoor space, greenery, and related biophilic elements are consequential. Activating an adapted rooftop with these shared exterior uses and additional residential units sets a valuable precedent for how architects can leverage zoning and policy guidelines for better conversion outcomes.
The design and programming at 25 Water Street form useful new benchmarks in other ways, too. Access to a broad array of services and amenities, and to effectively organized spaces for interaction and community-building, are critical components of housing development intending to prioritize end-user experience and human wellness. These are especially important to multifamily housing solutions in neighborhoods such as the Financial District surrounding 25 Water Street, which may not offer the full range of services and amenities preferred for a 24/7 residential neighborhood. In addition, for residential conversion buildings with very large unit counts, such as the over 1,300 apartments at 25 Water Street any shared spaces need to comfortably accommodate a potentially high volume of residents on a daily basis. Finding an effective concept for integrating these opportunities into the architectural solution became a key goal for the 25 Water Street project team. Like many
large commercial structures, the building included substantial below-grade space – in this case a former tenant cafeteria and related amenity areas, along with two very large lower cellar levels used for storage and other back-of-house office functions. These large interior volumes formed the perfect setting for a communally oriented amenity program.
In response to the below-grade setting, the architects designed a central atrium to carry lobby daylight down into the new common areas and also accomplish several other goals. The welcoming, open interior volume fosters physical and visual connectivity across three levels and forms a community focal point and gathering area. The atrium also organizes all the different amenity zones and ties them together in a way that can accommodate relatively high-volume foot traffic and create a strong sense of openness and an invitation to explore.
Offering informal gathering areas, stadium seating and projection services for screenings, lectures, and other events, the atrium design allows different amenity uses to radiate outward from this communal zone. Depending on their particular function, the amenity spaces leading out from the central atrium are scaled to be more intimate or more expansive. Uses include wellness and fitness offerings such as a basketball court, two pickleball courts, spa, and an indoor pool. Residents also find maker rooms, an art studio with professional-grade equipment, recording areas for music and podcasts, workspaces, flexible gathering zones, game rooms with bowling, virtual golf and other virtual reality uses, and children’s
play areas. This below-grade zone also includes parking for 100 cars.
25 Water Street also illustrates how these human-centered design solutions can enhance the public realm. Like many other New York City office towers constructed after 1961, the 25 Water Street site has a substantial publicly accessible exterior plaza area. As part of the conversion, the architects reimagined this zone and integrated it more closely with new ground-floor retail uses and a gracious landscaped residential entry experience that also takes advantage of existing curb cuts to facilitate drop-off and pickup areas. These strategies preserve public access to the plaza, while creating a more inviting and activated experience for visitors, residents, and passersby alike.
Truly a city-within-a-city, 25 Water Street represents a both glimpse into the future of office-to-residential conversions and a potential roadmap. As many architects are learning, it is essential that with growing project footprints and occupancies, these conversions must also provide meaningful and honest pathways to the most enriching possible experience for the people who will live there. It’s time for architects to be ambitious in how the profession designs for communities that THRIVE.
About the Author
Eugene Flotteron, AIA, is recognized as one of the country’s foremost experts on officeto-residential conversions and multifamily housing. He is a Principal and Director of Architecture at CetraRuddy, an international award-winning integrated architecture, planning and interior design firm based in New York City. www.cetraruddy.com
by Margot Kleinman, AIA and Danielle Begnaud
Co-Designing the Classroom
NYC public school students co-design school spaces for engagement and belonging
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, a large portion of students are absent in classrooms every day, missing the academics, socialization, and real world lessons that regularly attending school provides. Research indicates that the built environment of educational spaces has a deep influence on students’ engagement, social interactions, and effective learning. Therefore an important consideration in students’ return to consistently attending class is the strengthening of their connection to their school spaces.
With students as design partners, Co-Designing the Classroom explored how the designed objects and spaces that surround students can support a reconnection to the school environment. We assembled a team of four adults and nine children, ages 10 to 12, who each attend different New York City public schools and conducted five
collaborative design sessions over the course of a year to research, ideate, and develop improvements for the school environment that encourage students’ feelings of engagement and belonging in school.
Our design approach, rooted in the cooperative inquiry methodology from human-computer interaction research, aimed to make children equal partners in the design process through a long-term design relationship and a breaking down of the power dynamics between adults and children. By working with students as experts in their own educational experience, we aimed to design together with their points of view at the forefront.
The first two sessions focused on understanding the students’ definition of belonging, identifying spaces, activities, and times in the school day that fostered
and depleted their sense of belonging, as well as deepening our understanding of what it’s like to be a fifth and sixth grader today.
The discussions, creative activities, and reflections from our sessions suggest that being a 10 to 12 year old, public school student in New York City is overwhelming. Students felt the weight of the responsibility of being older, the pressure of their academic careers, and the constant overstimulation from being surrounded by classmates and teachers all week. Michael, age 10, shared that, “you are the seniors of elementary school so you are responsible for everything.”
From these beginning sessions, we created a student-determined definition of belonging. According to our student partners, belonging in school means feeling like you don’t have to wear a mask; feeling supported and included by the people around you; feeling like you can trust another person and that
they also trust you; feeling safe to share parts of your life with other people, like your stuff, your culture, your thoughts and feelings, and your identity; and being “together but different.”
With this foundation, during session three we began to brainstorm changes that would increase the students’ sense of belonging at school. Our findings suggest that school spaces that promote belonging and engagement need to (1) provide moments to be calm, moments to be active, opportunities to socialize, and space to be alone, (2) provide students the freedom and flexibility to move between these activities as they see necessary, (3) foster a sense of customization and personal ownership within the school, and (4) allow students to feel “together but different,” celebrating individual differences while feeling accepted in the school community.
Sessions four and five began the iterative process of building, testing, and developing our design solutions. Building prototypes allowed the co-design team to test ideas, evaluate functionality, and identify opportunities for improvement. A significant part of the prototyping process involved hands-on testing of materials at various scales to explore options for fabrication, material and structural integrity, and manufacturing feasibility.
The co-design project resulted in three design concepts: a redesign of a typical classroom chair, the “Chill Out Zone” modular furniture system, and a floating partition system.
The Desk Chair, a redesign of a typical classroom student chair, is designed for customization with incorporated fidgets. The chairs are made of three simple parts that the students assemble, giving a sense of ownership and customization
Co-Design Sessions with New York City public school students, ages 10–12, collaborating as design partners for the Co-Designing the Classroom initiative.
to their learning spaces. Students choose the color of the legs, seat, and foot fidget, and assemble their chair on the first day of school with simple hand-screwed knobs. Neron, age 10, liked the customization and assembly features of the chair, noting that, “you’ll feel more comfortable because it’s the way you want it to be.” Hand and foot fidgets are also built into the chair, to calm nerves and increase focus without distracting other students. The opportunity for movement impacts students’ success in the classroom and school spaces, and incorporating ways to fidget into the chairs allows all students the same resources. The chair design is lightweight and stackable, fitting in with classroom procedures for cleaning and storage.
The “Chill Out Zone,” also known as the COZ, is a modular furniture system that creates opportunities to be alone, sit with friends, move, and stretch. The COZ is made of three modules that invite different activities, which can be moved independently and arranged uniquely. Our student design partners understood that a break for quiet or movement can contribute to better class performance and appreciated moments to be alone as well as time to catch up with friends. Penelope, age 11, noted that the COZ, “...makes me feel like there’s a safe space.” The flexible design allows the COZ to be used in hallways, classrooms, libraries, or any room that has additional space.
The Floating Partition System is a dynamic element for the classroom that allows division of space, while adding softness, transparency, and more vertical working space for collaboration. The system is suspended from the ceiling and controlled by the teacher, leaving the floor free of obstructions. The
A co-design session exploring the redesign of a typical classroom chair, Co-Designing the Classroom.
The Chill Out Zone (COZ), Co-Designing the Classroom.
“Penelope, age 11, noted that the COZ, “... makes me feel like there’s a safe space.”
height and transparency of the system allows visibility throughout the room, while reducing distractions and overstimulation. Penelope, age 11, liked this balance between privacy and supervision, “I think it’s cool because it can be distracting to have all the other things around the room.” Texture and transparency provide a calming, smaller space within the larger classroom environment with inset magnets to provide more vertical space for collaboration. Students and teachers can attach project work, art, notes, etc., in the subdivided classroom for group work, club meetings, and more.
Co-Designing the Classroom was exhibited as part of New York Design Week 2025, showcasing the process and artifacts of the project as well as the resulting three design solutions. Although our participants, findings, and design solutions were focused in New York City, current education reporting notes that issues of absenteeism and disconnection are widespread. Regardless of age group or location, we hope this project demonstrates how the student educational experience is further supported through an environment that is carefully designed alongside its learners.
Furthermore, a significant outcome of this project is the increased creative confidence of the student partners. When asked through a written reflection what he learned about himself from being part of this project, Silas, age 11, wrote, “I’m a pretty good designer. :)” Neron, age 10, wrote, “Everybody’s idea can help make something better.” As STEM identities are formed and solidified during middle school, involving this age group in real-world design projects can have a lasting impact on how they view their own agency as creators and change makers.
As much as we work to understand the student experience, it is constantly changing, and therefore this work is always evolving. We will continue researching and facilitating co-design workshops, remaining focused on improving youth experiences by understanding and co-designing their built environment at the hand, body, room, and building scales.
About the Authors | Margot Kleinman, AIA, and Danielle Begnaud are experienced co-design partners, professors, and researchers dedicated to designing with communities, not just for them. Margot is an architect with a background in human-centered research and design at a variety of project scales. Danielle is an industrial designer with an anthropological background. She has experience researching and working with young people and focuses on designing children’s products. Together, through thoughtful, youth-centered design and research, Margot and Danielle collaborate with and empower young people to see themselves as designers, creators, and change makers of the built environment. Margot and Danielle’s wide scope of experience allows them to co-design at a range of scales, including handheld objects, furniture, interior spaces, playgrounds, and buildings.
The Floating Partition System, Co-Designing the Classroom.
NYCxDesign Exhibit, Co-Desiging the Classroom.
by Elisabeth Martin, FAIA, ASID H2M architects + engineers Practice Leader | Libraries and Interiors
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Creating Spaces to Thrive: Oceanside Library’s Reimagined Community Hub
As one enters the new expanded 48,000 square foot Oceanside Library, its human-centered focus can be felt immediately. Known for their vision of innovative customer service offered with a “can-do” spirit, Oceanside Library asked for out-of-the-box thinking in each design decision made. In response, the design team created a vibrant and welcoming community hub that doubles as an open platform for collaboration and creativity.
As one of the first libraries in New York State to transform circulation desk services into an active Patron Experience Center, Oceanside Library has made the quality of the user experience the primary focus for its library spaces and services. The prioritization of humancentered design and commitment to a community-centered library. can be found throughout the building.
Oceanside Library’s Welcome Zone is an opportunity for personal greetings to each customer and easily connects to all spaces.
As one enters the Welcome Zone, they are warmly welcomed by a member of the Patron Experience team. Designed to communicate its role as a portal for connection and customer service, the Welcome Zone’s white oak and tapered Porcelanosa Krion™ surfaces are bathed in natural light and the warm glow from sculptural lighting above. The open staircase that wraps the brightly colored elevator bank invites patrons to connect to the rich offering of services on each of the three levels. SculptformTM Wood-batten screen walls gently distinguish the nearby café zone from the open reading room, technology hub and stacks.
Each redefined space is multifunctional, people-centered, and centers on user comfort. As drivers of the design of each space, the quality of the experience is as important as the quality of appearance. Together, these elements guided architectural and sustainable solutions in open, flexible areas that optimize user choice within an inviting palette of materials informed by biophilic design principles.
By offering both physical and virtual access, the library has become a 24/7 beacon with a greatly expanded role as a center of active, transformative learning in the local community. In an increasingly fractured society with many opting to work alone rather than in a communal workplace, the value of the public library as the place of encounter has grown. The new
spaces communicate welcome, comfort, and a biophilic feeling of well-being. Where far fewer visited the former building, over 2,700 people arrived to celebrate this locus in the community on opening day, and records of daily attendance, program offerings, and circulation statistics have been set since.
Oceanside’s Vision 2020 Plan - itself a product of extensive community outreach - drove essential parts of the solution. It articulated goals for building spaces, the site surrounding them, and programs designed to enrich the lives of library users. These goals prioritized transparency, choice, sustainability, and accessibility, underscoring the value of designing for human behavior and satisfaction. The reimagined Oceanside Library responded to this call for “sustaining
community” with a state-of-theart community hub with social sustainability at its core. Key among community member’s requests for new services were 24/7 services, a vibrant café, flexible study/meeting spaces, a theater showcasing local arts, and tech spaces and services for community content creation. The library embraced these challenges and delivered on each.
The building physically and metaphorically extends into the neighborhood with relocation of the entry to the corner of the sizable addition. A new “front porch” welcomes the community to this newly reimagined space. The large, glazed openings in the streetfacing façade foster connection by showcasing the activity within and providing a connection to passersby. Two outdoor reading gardens welcome library users providing
sunlit reading space, a chance to be outdoors, and an opportunity to garden and nurture planting beds from the library’s own seed garden. Materials were chosen for longevity, sustainability, and contribution to a healthy indoor environment. Guided by biophilic principles, the design promotes well-being in spaces that warm and embrace users. Each redefined space was designed as an open, multi-function area, with biophilic design goals supported by the natural light that warms a palette of white oak, mixed with white and vibrant colors.
Oceanside Library’s warm palette and open vistas across the axes connect people to light, choices in environments, and ad resources. Users are welcomed to the main level through the light-filled vestibule with its 24/7 reservation lockers and automated book return.
The Patron Experience staff at the custom Welcome Desk personally greet all who enter. With open sightlines everywhere, the space unfolds, embracing users and inviting connections to the open stairs that wrap the elevators, large café, enticing collection displays, a Tech Hub, varied seating options, quiet study rooms, a sunroom with a fireplace, and light-filled open reading rooms with easyto-browse collections. Each of these offerings enjoy active use, provide for individual comfort and choice, support intellectual and cultural enrichment, and draw the community closer to its public library.
The unique lower-level Program Zone invites users to take part in a daily collection of programs of every imaginable variety. The open stair and elevators at the Welcome Zone draw users to a state-of-the-art Theater, “Whisk & Brush” kitchen and craft activity zone, Podcast
recording suite, a STEM workshop, a Discovery Lab maker space, three meeting rooms of different sizes and configurations, and a vibrant gallery with a rotating display of art created by artists within the community. Each space strives to foster community content creation in spaces that mix light wood, a neutral palette of white and gray, and accents of color. The carefully coordinated palette extends throughout the building spaces, bringing calm to some spaces and vibrancy to others, as it considers the needs of each program and user group it serves.
The new upper level now offers vibrant children’s and engaging teen spaces that nurture the lifelong bond shared by devoted library users. Bathed in natural light, the upper level offers Oceanside’s youth a wide variety of spaces to choose from, including colorful light-filled reading rooms for children, tweens and teens. Other
new features include an a brightcolored open service desk, an “Imagination Station” for dedicated youth programming, an open story time area for children, easy-tobrowse open stacks and collection display, a nursing lounge, stroller parking, ergonomically appropriate restrooms, and a teen “Beacon” zone designed just for them with varied seating choices, large bay windows, and a unique glass enclosed teen “Lightbox” lounge for gathering, gaming, and casual group work.
Views into the building welcome the community to this newly reimagined space. All reading areas were strategically oriented to maximize natural light with insulated glazing and motorized shades to reduce energy consumption from artificial lighting. Opening the glazed areas of the perimeter to seating and views increased user satisfaction and infused the interior spaces with natural light. Variety and choice
Top: The library connects to the neighborhood across its long glazed “Living Edge.”
were an essential goal throughout the library. The main level offers comfortable café seating, a coworking option in the Tech Hub, open area reading tables with shapely Normann Copenhagen Herit chairs, sculpted lounge chairs along the street face, glassenclosed study rooms with varied seating configurations, swivel chairs facing the sunroom fireplace, and a “Vinyl Station” for enjoying music. Projecting window bays with long, built-in window seats, open views, the reading patio, and the new front porch connect the library to the site and community, beckoning all to come.
The reimagined Oceanside Library responded to a call for “sustaining community” with a state-of-theart community hub that integrates environmental, economic, and social sustainability at its core. It embraces resilience, adaptability, and reuse in a changing world through visible strategies that account for future risks, including those brought about by climate change, social shifts, and economic challenges. Oceanside Library demonstrates how thoughtful architecture elevates human experience and fosters pride and participation while addressing environmental and social imperatives. Oceanside Library is more than a building; it is now a beacon of possibility, creativity, and connection. Its innovative approach demonstrates the power of public libraries to overcome resource constraints, enrich civic life, and serve as international models for sustainable and inclusive design.
A registered architect and active member of the American Institute of Architects, Elisabeth Martin, FAIA, has four decades of experience working on projects of a wide array of building types and scales. She holds a Master of Architecture from Yale University and serves our profession as a Practice Leader at H2M architects + engineers and as an adjunct professor in Architecture and Interior Design. In recognition for her advocacy for design excellence in public buildings and the stewardship she has brought to projects in the public realm, she was awarded the AIANY Public Architect Award in 2002 and elevated to the AIA College of Fellows in 2017.
Ms. Martin contributes her skill in Library Planning and Design through her work with the International Federation of Library Associations Library Design Section, Public Library of the Year Jury, and its Inspiring Libraries Task Force as well as through her decades of prior leadership roles in the many library design committees under the American Library Association.
Ms. Martin has years of experience navigating complex project relationships, procurement requirements, and budgets. Prior to joining H2M in July 2025, she served as principal of MDA Designgroup Architects & Planners, leading their portfolio of public and private sector projects for over two decades. Before leading MDA, she served as the Director of Planning, Design, and Facilities for Brooklyn Public Library and as the Program Director for Libraries at the NYC Department of Design and Construction. Her 11 years of stewardship in the public sector brought accelerated schedules and higher quality design and construction to a large portfolio of library design and construction projects at over two hundred NYC library sites. Known for her strong advocacy for quality design. Ms. Martin continues to lecture widely on successful strategies for library design and construction.
Wood Pro Expo Lancaster is the largest, most comprehensive professional woodworking industry event in the region. It’s where woodworking businesses go to explore, discover and educate.
• An expo floor filled with leadingedge technology and the latest in materials and supplies for small to large-size shops and manufacturing facilities.
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• Machinery demos in the Running Machine Pavilion and Classic Machine Pavilion.
The only professional woodworking event in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions.
Spooky Nook Sports Center October 23-24, 2025 Manheim, PA, Lancaster County
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L10 Arts and Cultural Center
Weaving Culture into the Civic Fabric
by Dichen Ding, Senior Architect, Andrea Steele Architecture
In the heart of Downtown Brooklyn, the L10 Arts and Cultural Center is quietly reshaping what it means to be a cultural institution in the city today. More than a building, L10 is a layered civic landscape — a firstof-its-kind collaboration between public agencies and cultural leaders.
Born from a public-private partnership, L10 brings together four of Brooklyn’s most vital cultural institutions — Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Brooklyn Public Library (BPL), Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan
Arts (MoCADA), and 651 ARTS — into a shared home that invites cross-pollination and community participation. Initiated by two city agencies (DCLA & NYCEDC) and occupying the 2nd–4th floors of a mixed-use development, the project was charged with empowering cultural expression, elevating underrepresented voices, and fostering creative collaboration.
Designed by Andrea Steele Architecture, L10 translates this ambitious vision into a layered, inclusive, and civically engaging architectural experience.
A Grounded, Human-Centered Strategy
The design responds to the challenge of visibility and access with all cultural programming located above street level in the base of a residential tower. A stepped public plaza transforms the building’s podium into an outdoor amphitheater and cultural stage. It is both threshold and program — a space for screenings, dance, and public gathering, extending the public realm into the building.
Exterior Programming Extending Into Interior Cultural Landscape. Image Courtesy of Andrea Steele Architecture.
Inside, the design unfolds as a civic and cultural landscape — tactile, porous, and attuned to how people move, gather, and connect. A café greets the public upon entry, defined by a sculptural wood ribbon — a continuous architectural surface that undulates and mediates between the galleries, gift shop and library. More than a formal gesture, this curvilinear form was shaped through dialogue with stakeholders. It expands and contracts to increase shelving and exhibition surface, fostering diverse individual and collective moments, and responding to programmatic needs. The transition from white wall to wood signifies the change
in use while maintaining a cohesive panorama. On one side, MoCADA’s undulating gallery supports diverse exhibitions and multimedia work. On the other, BPL’s library wraps shelving and seating into an immersive “theater in the round.”
The wood ribbon continues through BAM’s spaces with large-scale portals signaling ticketing and concessions, peeling open to guide patrons into screening and performance venues. A glass-enclosed, double-height reading room houses BAM’s first publicly accessible archives. From its perch on the uppermost floor, 651
Outdoor programming in the plaza, Left: COMMON GROUND by Chery l Wing-Zi Wong, Image Courtesy of Cameron Blaylock for Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, Right: 651 ARTS 2023” WeOutside! A Brooklyn Juneteenth Celebration”, Photographer: Kay Hickman, Image Courtesy of 651 ARTS.
BPL + MoCADA: Creating Synergy. Image Courtesy of Andrea Steele Architecture.
ARTS offers light-filled studios, a gallery, and a Blackbox Theater with sweeping skyline views, firmly establishing the institution within the city.
Underlying the design is a belief that public resources only fulfill their promise when they are visible and accessible. “The design extends the public realm,” said Andrea Steele, Founder & Principal of Andrea Steele Architecture, “weaving this incredible programming into the urban fabric and making it a part of our daily lives — connecting people to people, people to resources, and people to a sense of place.”
Every moment is a curated opportunity of connection: circulation is pushed to the façade, framing visual connection to the city; performance volumes push beyond the tower footprint, clad in vibrant-colored fins, and glowing at night to reveal movement inside. Interior adjacencies invite curiosity — visitors may come for a performance and discover a new exhibit; stop in for a film and leave with a book about the director.
This is cultural infrastructure designed to support reflection and collectivity at once — prioritizing human experience and community well-being, empowering a sense of discovery, exploration, and belonging.
Top: BPL (Library for Arts & Culture), Photographer: Alexander Severin
Bottom: MoCADA Café, Gift Shop and Galleries, Photographer: Alan Karchmer
Designing for Sustainability, Resiliency and Belonging
L10 was conceived not only as a permanent home for cultural partners, but as a future-facing civic platform capable of adapting, evolving, and supporting the full complexity of artistic expression and community life. With cinemas, studios, galleries, library, archives and event spaces, the architecture needed to be both robust and responsive.
Performance spaces — including BAM’s cinemas and 651 ARTS’ theater and studios — use box-in-box construction for acoustic isolation. Ceilings and walls are fitted with pipe grids for rigging, AV, and lighting, while retractable seating allows for various spatial configurations. In the galleries, cafe and library, pivoting partitions and integrated additional power and low-voltage infrastructure in ceiling accommodate changing installations and events. This future-proof approach supports both technical excellence and creative freedom. Each institution retains autonomy over its space and programming while contributing to the collective ecosystem. BAM’s archives offer access to 160 years of cultural memory. MoCADA’s Culture Lab II amplifies contemporary voices through exhibitions like Esteban Whiteside: Beyond Rage, poetry slams and artist talks. BPL’s Library for Arts & Culture blends international collections with drop-in events that draw neighbors and newcomers alike.
For 651 ARTS, L10 marks a profound milestone:
“This permanent home at 10 Lafayette is a watershed moment in our history,” said Toya Lillard, Executive Director of 651 ARTS. “It is our opportunity to boldly declare: the world is our stage, but Brooklyn is our home.”
That sense of rootedness animates the building. Events like 651’s Juneteenth celebration this year — which drew over 6,000 participants — show how architecture can foster civic identity and pride. These programs are not separate from the building’s mission; they are its lifeblood.
L10 is more than the sum of its parts. It is a cultural infrastructure shaped by trust, collaboration, and responsiveness — a model for equity, belonging and resilience.
This ethos extends to environmental performance. Certified LEED Gold and a NYC Leading Green Public Project, L10 incorporates:
• High-efficiency lighting and HVAC systems
• Low-flow plumbing for water conservation
• Recycled materials reducing embodied carbon
• Enhanced indoor air quality and thermal comfort
• Ample daylight and framed views promoting occupant well-being, and more…
But sustainability here isn’t just technical — it’s cultural. By housing programs that celebrate
BAM Archives Reading Room & 651 ARTS Dance Studio, Photographer: Alan Karchmer
heritage, place, and shared identity, L10 becomes a space where environmental stewardship and cultural continuity reinforce one another. Located within a larger development that includes affordable housing and retail, the center anchors a vibrant ecosystem - embracing both daily life and artistic ambition.
In a city where cultural space is often siloed, L10 affirms that architecture can be an act of care — not only supporting the arts but weaving them into public life.
Designing in Partnership: Collaboration as Civic Practice
As a public-private partnership between city agencies, a private developer, and four cultural institutions, the project demanded
more than coordination — it required shared vision, civic intention and close collaboration.
Each institution brought its own mission, audience, and needs.
The design process became a continuous dialogue, aligning individual priorities with a collective vision. The built space balances shared values with their unique identities, fostering synergies and strengthening resilience.
Equally crucial was the role of city leadership — fostering alignment with public values, shaping the project into a civic landmark.
When L10 opened its doors during an Open House New York preview in March 2025, 500 visitors danced together, explored exhibitions and archives, joined design tours and performances, and openly sharing
their excitement about the space. The building came alive with celebration — a glimpse of what is to come.
A Platform, Not A Monument
Ultimately, the L10 Arts and Cultural Center is a platform — for performance, for voice, for gathering. It makes the arts visible, yes, but more importantly, it makes them approachable, participatory, and vital. It celebrates the belief that design can create opportunities for individual expression and collective belonging, and architecture can be the catalyst for civic transformation, one shared moment at a time.
Design Team: Andrea Steele, AIA, Principal in Charge; Dichen Ding, AIA, Project Manager; Charles Mattern, AIA, Technical Director; Sam Rosen, Nuria Heras Diez, Joe Murray, James Carse, AIA, Vi Ngo.
L10 - Technical Diagram, Image Courtesy of Andrea Steele Architecture
About the Author | Dichen Ding is a Senior Architect at Andrea Steele Architecture in New York. Her work focuses on cultural and civic architecture that advances equity, access, and public life. With over a decade of experience, Dichen has led the design and delivery of projects for libraries, arts institutions, youth and community centers—creating spaces that are inclusive, missiondriven, and deeply engaged with their urban contexts. At ASA, she is the Project Manager and a vital team member on the L10 Arts and Cultural Center, a dynamic new home for four of Brooklyn’s leading cultural institutions.
Andrea Steele Architecture (ASA) is a New York-based, woman-owned firm with a 20-year track record of designing cultural, educational, and civic projects that foster connection, creativity, and community. With a team of 12 designers and a portfolio of over 40 built works, we specialize in transforming complex programs into spaces that support public life and creative expression.
From NASA’s research facilities to neighborhood libraries and performing arts centers, ASA brings both technical expertise and a deep commitment to architecture as a public responsibility — a catalyst for institutional mission and civic value.
651 Arts 2025 “WeOutside!” Juneteenth event at the plaza
OHNY event at L10, Photos by Ben Tso Photography.
Arts And Cultural Eco-System Within City Skyline, Image Courtesy of Andrea Steele Architecture.
Preserving the Legacy of the Mount Lebanon Shakers:
How Zoning & Community Can Preserve the Past for the Future
Image Top: Existing Shaker buildings owned by the Shaker Museum (photo credit: Richard Pieper)
Image Bottom: Historic Shaker Family Map from the Library of Congress edited by this Author to show the current owners of the properties.
by Elizabeth Brutsch, AIA, NCARB, Project Architect, CSArch, and Chair, Town of New Lebanon Planning Board
Mount Lebanon, founded in 1785, was among the earliest, and later the largest, Shaker settlements in America until its decline in the early 1900s. Many Shaker buildings still stand in New Lebanon, a town of about 2,500 people located in northeastern Columbia County, bordering Rensselaer County and Massachusetts. Of the historic structures that survive today, many now serve non-profits like the Darrow School and the Abode of the Message, who find their upkeep costly with undesired development threatening their preservation.
In 2020, an entrepreneur purchased the Shaker’s Second Family cluster of buildings with plans to restore the former Shaker Chair Factory into a special event venue.
Unfortunately, a special event venue was not a permitted use and would have required a use variance, which is the most challenging variance to obtain. After meeting with various committees and boards in town, the owners pivoted their business plan to utilize the buildings as a local museum dedicated to the Second Family with the ability to host special events. The funds from primarily those special events would financially support the continued operation of the museum and maintenance of the historic structures. The Town Board recognized diversification of use as an important part of preserving Shaker structures and tasked the Zoning Rewrite Committee (ZRC) with suggesting code updates that allowed for this flexibility. The ZRC was unsuccessful in its first attempts to develop a proposal that expanded opportunities on the mountain, and so in 2023, the Shaker Preservation Committee was brought on board to assist.
The Shaker Preservation Committee was created in 2022 specifically to respond to concerns regarding the need to preserve and share the Shaker heritage of New Lebanon. Their goals are to preserve the existing Shaker history across town by acting as a resource to the owners of historic properties and to help inform the development of projects in an historically sensitive manner. Their participation on the working group provided
balance to the land use-minded Zoning Rewrite members by drafting thorough design standards for existing and new buildings and providing the historical background for new uses that are reminiscent of Shaker practices and tradition.
In March of 2024, volunteers, including this author, from the town’s Shaker Preservation and Zoning Rewrite Committees began dedicating time weekly to focus on historic preservation and zoning ideas that would preserve Shaker history. Their work spanned the development of a zoning map, area bulk and regulations table, proposed new and revised allowable uses, and design standards. Hundreds of hours were spent developing these key building blocks for three new zones with regular review and support by the parent committees, and semi-annual presentations to the Town Board.
As an iterative process, the working group would often make a determination and find future changes were warranted. The most significant of these was the adoption of three proposed zones; three zones more accurately reflected the current land use patterns on the mountain and reduced the need for significant restrictions and permitting requirements on the whole in respect to the proposed uses. The first zone was centered on the existing clusters of buildings that remain from the original five Shaker families and allowed for
Image: Proposed zoning map from the working group’s proposal, developed by this author.
to address them in a revised proposal, but waited to receive a better understanding at the community sessions before presenting alternatives.
The final large hurdle in the process will be gaining support from the Town Board. As we enter another political season with the majority of the Board up for re-election, only one of 5 seats is not being contested, there appears to be a potential lack of cohesion, particularly on long-term planning projects such as this, which can lead to additional setbacks as new voices learn and familiarize themselves with the project. Despite all of the current candidates having stated the importance of having community support on the proposal, the working group will once again have the onerous task of retelling the story of how the proposal was developed and why the many other ideas that will be presented were already discarded. Meanwhile, the ZRC is working on an update to the Comprehensive Plan which moves the Mount Lebanon proposal to the back burner for the committee. In the meantime, the SPC continues to investigate the issues raised during the public discussions and work with their members to draft their thoughts on the future for the town’s Shaker heritage. The challenges of this process reflect the ongoing balancing act between preserving our history and embracing the future. The dedication and collaboration of all involved, including the ZRC, SPC, and the community, has been critical to this process. It is with these collective efforts that we are paving the way for a thoughtful, sustainable future for Mount Lebanon that respects both its past and its potential.
About the Author
Elizabeth Brutsch, AIA, NCARB is the Chair of the Town of New Lebanon’s Planning Board and a Project Architect with CSArch in Albany NY. Elizabeth, licensed in both New York and Massachusetts, is community driven, which has led her to specialize in small, rural K-12 Educational design and award-winning Emergency Response projects. She furthers her passion for community development by working with the Town Board, Building Department, other Planning/ Zoning committees, and state agencies, to improve the application and approval process and propose new legislation related to planning and zoning. Holding a Master of Science in Design & Historic Preservation from the UMASS Amherst and Hancock Shaker Village’s joint program, Elizabeth’s passion for preservation made her the ideal candidate to spearhead the initial efforts to provide zoning recommendations to protect the Mount Lebanon Shaker heritage and history. Synthesizing her focus on community and enthusiasm for history, Elizabeth strives to meet the community’s needs while creating and furthering a vision for the Town’s future.
From Structure to Soul: 09
Restoring Community at St. Nicholas
by Ian Millington
When St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine reopened its doors, it marked far more than the return of a building. The original church, founded in 1916 by Greek immigrants, was the only house of worship destroyed on September 11. Since then, for more than two decades, the parish has had no home. Over time, Santiago Calatrava’s luminous marble vision rose above the 9/11 Memorial in Liberty Park, symbolizing resilience, sanctuary, and light. While the structure had been rebuilt, it was missing the people and sense of community that once gave it life.
That was when Reverend Andreas Vithoulkas, Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Throne and Proestamenos of the St Nicholas National Shrine, turned to Christina Halatsis. “He called me and said that I was going to be on the Parish Council. It wasn’t an option,” she laughed. A practicing architect and parishioner of St. George Tropeoforos in Midtown, Halatsis had built her career designing residential, business, and sacred spaces. Reverend Vithoulkas had previously worked with Halatsis on the renovation of St. George during the pandemic. “She shows
Translucent marble dome inside St. Nicholas by Santiago Calatrava.
Photo credit Karjaka
“Christina has a way of making spaces functional and beautiful at the same time,” Reverend Vithoulkas reflected. “She understood that buildings need to serve both the soul and the community.”
up, she serves, and she has a vision for how the parish can grow,” Reverend Vithoulkas said. “You don’t ignore people like that, you invite them to lead.”
The first volunteer meeting was in the fall of 2022. It was announced that there were three months to prepare for the first ceremony inside the new church on the feast day of St. Nicholas. Halatsis stepped in without hesitation. “We had no idea how many people were going to show up,” she said. The service was packed, and it was clear that the existing structure had to cater to the growing congregation and the various events.
Over the course of 2023, more than 150,000 people walked through the doors.
Halatsis started by focusing where she could apply her architectural talents. Teaming up with Peter Zaharatos – architectural designer, together they prioritized their most immediate needs. The altar required solutions to accommodate visiting clergy, acolytes, and even a gifted relic, from His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew. Storage was added for robes and liturgical items, along with prep space for communion and sacraments. These practical changes made it possible to serve the liturgy while also accommodating the growth of parishioners returning each week.
From the altar, their focus moved to the priest’s office. Reverend Vithoulkas was needed at the shrine daily, and having a proper office onsite meant the clergy could now welcome parishioners and visitors daily, anchoring the church in the neighborhood.
Halatsis transformed an empty room into a functional working environment with private space for the priest to host dignitaries and welcome parishioners and guests. Custom display shelving showcases the abundance of gifts he has received and serves as a testament to the many guests who have visited the space.
The number of visitors continued to grow each month. The front entrance became the next project. On Sundays, it functioned as a traditional Orthodox narthex. However, during the week, thousands of
St. Nicholas Good Friday evening service. Photo credit Karjaka
tourists and visitors streamed in, and the narthex became a welcoming center. To bridge all these roles, Halatsis designed a pangari, a moveable, flexible counter. The pangari has become one of the shrine’s most practical and beloved features. During the week, it functions almost like an information desk, greeting tourists and guiding visitors through the space. On Sundays, it can be split in two, providing a dignified station where parishioners can light candles, receive programs, and be directed toward the service.
“It has been one of the greatest additions to the shrine,” Executive Director of St. Nicholas National Shrine, Andrew Veniopoulos, said.
“Christina has a way of making spaces functional and beautiful at the same time,” Reverend Vithoulkas reflected. “She understood that buildings need to serve both the soul and the community.”
Early in 2024, as the parish continued to flourish, Reverend Vithoulkas felt it was the right time to start outreach programs. He turned again to Halatsis. She reached out to Midnight Run, a New York–based nonprofit that already had a successful program. Once a month, volunteers meet in the Shrine and turn the social hall into multiple assembly lines making 200 sandwiches, packed lunches, hygiene kits, and sorted clothing. The group then loads up the cars and caravans through the city, making two separate stops predetermined by Midnight Run.
Christina sets the tone by welcoming volunteers with warmth, music, and camaraderie. “Somehow, she makes handing out sandwiches feel like a block party — minus the daylight and a lot more coffee!” Veniopoulos said.
Volunteers at the Shrine, assembling food and donations for Midnight Run. Photo credit Karjaka
Fellow parishioner Maria Makres agreed:
“It has become a cannot-miss event! The volunteers are highly engaged, they bring friends, and there is a positive, enthusiastic spirit that carries over to the people we are trying to help.” Reverend Vithoulkas isn’t surprised his expectations in Halatsis were exceeded. “She turned what could have been just another outreach program into something the whole parish felt a part of. She made it real, personal, and prayerful,” he said. Since its start, participation has more than doubled from 15 to 40 volunteers. Halatsis also forged a relationship with the Antonio Olivieri Drop-In Center, arranging to deliver 50 additional meals and clothing. Food partnerships and parishioner donations have greatly helped the mission, as has working with Bombas, which has supplied socks through their “buy one, donate one” business model.
“Christina changed things here since reopening,” Reverend Vithoulkas reflected. “She lifted the standard. Whether it was how we organize outreach or how we design our spaces, she made sure we did it with excellence and with heart. Her fingerprints are everywhere, from the altar to the vestibule to the Midnight Run ministry. And in every case, she made us better.”
Now in 2025, St. Nicholas is on track to break last year’s record for visitors. Since its reopening, more than half a million people have attended the shrine. The church has become a community once again.
For Halatsis, this work is deeply personal. “I moved around a lot in my life,” she reflected, “and in different cities, the people at the Greek church have always become my family.” Today, she channels that experience into creating a place where the entire parish can feel at home together.
While Calatrava had given the shrine its striking design, Halatsis gave it its soul, and when she walked through the space with him in October 2023, the two shared a moment of seeing vision and community come together.
About the Author
Christina Halatsis is the founder and principal of Halatsis Architect PLLC, specializing in timeless, thoughtful design with a modern sensibility.
Top: Easter midnight service attended by more than 2500 people. Bottom Left: Revend Vithoulkas’ office designed by Halatsis & Zaharatos. Bottom Right: Calatrava & Halatsis walking through the completed Shrine.
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Revitalizing Sacred Spaces:
Preserving the Architectural and Community Legacy of Three Historic Churches in New York City
St. Raphael, Photo Credit: Jason Galindo / Zaskorski & Assoc.
10
Walking through New York City, you don’t have to look far to find a church spire rising above the rooftops or stained-glass windows catching the sunlight. These buildings are more than architecture, they are witnesses to generations of faith, struggle, and renewal. For many communities, they remain the heartbeat of neighborhood life.
At Zaskorski & Associates Architects, we have been fortunate to play a role in the restoration of three such landmarks: St. John the Baptist in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn; St. Raphael in Long Island City, Queens; and The Church of the Most Precious Blood in Astoria, Queens. Each project told a different story, yet all carried the same truth: by saving these churches, we preserve not only historic architecture but also the living communities that gather within them.
Stories in Stone and Glass
When we first stepped inside these churches, the sense of history was undeniable—but so were the challenges. Roofs leaked, plaster crumbled, and windows were broken or boarded up. In some cases, structural failures threatened the very stability of the buildings. Still, beneath the wear of decades, there was beauty waiting to be uncovered.
Stained glass that once glowed with color was hidden under layers of grime. Stone walls, dulled by time and soot, concealed intricate craftsmanship. And in one unforgettable case,
a magnificent rose window—22 feet across—stood silent, its original wooden frame long deteriorated.
The question was never whether these buildings should be saved. It was how.
Balancing Past and Present
Historic preservation is both an art and a science. Our team leaned on the National Park Service’s Preservation Briefs to guide decisions, ensuring every intervention respected the past while preparing the buildings for the future.
That balance was most visible on the exteriors. Masons carefully repointed brick and stone, artisans repaired stained glass, and roofers replaced aging slate with materials faithful to the originals. Wherever possible, wood and steel windows were restored rather than replaced. Inside, new lighting and HVAC systems were discreetly integrated to bring comfort and efficiency without compromising aesthetics.
by Carlo Zaskorski, AIA, Zaskorski & Associates Architects PC
Every decision was made with a dual responsibility: to honor the original architects—Patrick Keely, Thomas Houghton, and Henry McGill—and to serve the present-day congregations who rely on these spaces.
More Than Architecture
What makes these churches extraordinary is not only their architectural merit but their enduring role as centers of community. At St. Raphael, Mass is celebrated in multiple languages, reflecting the diversity of its Long Island City neighborhood. At St. John the
St. Raphael, Photo
Credit: Jason Galindo /Zaskorski & Assoc.
“Preserving these churches is not just about mortar—it’s about sustaining community, for generations.”
Baptist, the restored rose window now floods the sanctuary with light, a beacon for a parish that has weathered many changes in BedfordStuyvesant. And at Most Precious Blood, an Art Deco gem in Astoria, parishioners gathered this year to celebrate its centennial in a space restored to its original grandeur.
These churches provide food pantries, social services, and cultural celebrations. They are where milestones are marked—baptisms, weddings, funerals—binding generations together. Saving them meant safeguarding far more than bricks and glass; it meant sustaining the very fabric of community life.
A Legacy Carried Forward
The work spanned years, budgets, and countless hands: clergy, artisans, parishioners, engineers, and fellow architects. Together, we returned these churches to their communities not as relics of the past, but as living institutions ready to serve for the next hundred years.
For me, the greatest reward comes not in the polished stone or gleaming copper, but in watching a congregation walk into their church and see it shine again—knowing it belongs to them, as it always has.
Preservation, in this sense, is not simply about conservation. It is about resilience. It
Most Precious Blood Roman Catholic Church, Astoria, Queens.
Left: Church Tower; Middle: Wall Building; Right: Aerial
Photo Credits: Aerial: Jason Galindo/Zaskorski & Assoc.; Belfry Lattice: Carlo Zaskorski /Zaskorski & Assoc.
about bricks and community, faith, and culture
is about ensuring that these sacred spaces remain places where faith and community can continue to thrive in a city that is always changing.
With Gratitude
These projects would not have been possible without the dedication and commitment of many individuals. I extend my deepest thanks to Fr. William Krlis; Fr. Paul Kim; Fr. Astor Rodriguiz; Robert Dadonna; Peter Fede; Darek Knapik; Nazariy Sukhovych; Marek & Sylvia Smulski; Daniel Gasior; Jason Popkin, RA; Darian Fernando, RA; Sheryl Jolta, RA, Marios Drakos; Jason Galindo; Reaz Kamal; Larry Green, PE and Andrei Pascalovici (Mechanical Engineer); and Tad Alberski, PE and Liam O’Hanlon, PE (Structural Engineers). Their leadership, collaboration, and vision ensured that these sacred spaces could be preserved not only as architectural treasures, but as enduring homes for faith and community.
Pre- and post construction images of St. John the Baptist in Bedford-Stuyvesant,
The New York Landmarks Conservancy supported these projects through financial grants from its Sacred Sites program, and all three churches were further honored with the Conservancy’s prestigious Lucy Moses Awards for Historic Preservation. St. John and St. Raphael also received recognition from the Victorian Society of New York for their exemplary preservation efforts, while Most Precious Blood was celebrated by the Preservation League of New York State with an award for Design Excellence.
Photo Credit: Carlo Zaskorski /Zaskorski & Assoc.
About the Author
Carlo Zaskorski founded Zaskorski & Associates in New York City in 1979, specializing in adaptive reuse, historic preservation, renovations, and sustainable design. Known for a collaborative, detailoriented approach, he has led high-quality transformations of premier residences and worked alongside internationally recognized designers. A graduate of The City College of New York, where he served as president of the Architectural Alumni Association, Carlo is an active member of the AIA, the New York Landmarks Conservancy, the Preservation League of New York State, the Association for Preservation Technology, and NCARB.
Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Photo Credit: Carlo Zaskorski/Zaskorski & Assoc.
Photo Credits: Aerial: Jason Galindo /Zaskorski & Assoc. Rose Window: Carlo Zaskorski /Zaskorski & Assoc.
Everything, Everywhere, All the Time
Case Study Campus: Comprehensive Defects— Watercolor by Roy R. Pachecano.
Contributors: Mike Krismer, CIEC & Moises Cruz, PE
by Roy R. Pachecano, AIA, MSRED
When Failure is Complete
Once in a while, a project is so completely defective, that it requires a comprehensive remediation strategy impacting all trades on all levels. This paper explores a comprehensive failure by all trades simultaneously, hence a nod to the title, ‘Everything—Everywhere—All the Time’. The case study was discovered to be so utterly disastrous, that the Owner of its brand new campus contemplated the worse-case scenario: demolish the entire campus and the upending of its entire capital investment.
By examining this remarkable case study, the higher aim of this article is to impart key design and construction concepts that address how the multiplicity defects can directly impact health, occupancy, and serviceability of new construction. Sound professional practice ethos and ethics resonate throughout.
Unlike new construction, a remediation schedule exemplifies a ‘top-down’ sequencing of trades--Project Timeline by
Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up
When a new building, or in this case a collection of buildings, is erected with substandard architectural and engineering plans, flawed details, and built without adequate supervision or quality assurance programming, it sets the conditions for adverse consequences to follow. Hidden defects began to emerge immediately upon Owner taking occupancy. And the Owner, fearing the worse-case scenario of a total destruction and reconstruction, instructed its team of remediation experts to assess the damage to salvage its campus.
Unlike new construction, which typically sequences trades from the bottom-up, resolving defects to an existing facility is often orchestrated in a top-down manner. This strategy appears counterintuitive to even the most sophisticated builders, whose general orientation is framed from the point of view that new structures are raised from the foundation in an upward trajectory until reaching a ‘topping out.’ The Owner’s campus was designed by prominent architectural and engineering firms, nationally recognized for their design expertise at the highest level. The Owner believed that retaining the highest-caliber design professionals was their insurance policy against errors and omissions.
When construction drawings were released during the bidding phase, the Owner again thought it was armed with a flawless design. Often, remediation projects turn scheduling ‘upside down’ by requiring the sequencing of trades generally in reverse order when compared to new construction. This is counter-intuitive to most A/E/C entities unless they have experience with remediating a failing structure such as the case study discussed herein. The above remediation schedule directs the path of remediation bifurcated in two phases, beginning with roof scope (red), followed by interior work (blue), ending with site/civil (green), and masonry repair (orange). Typically, the interior work follows the exterior work in new construction. In a remediation project this is often reversed as illustrated in the above remediation project schedule, which describes a “top-down” vs. “bottom-up” approach.
Surprise—You’ve Got Mold Mail
A concerted effort was made to remediate buildings with the target of eliminating all mold that metastasized since the building was weatherized. A licensed remediation team was retained to lead the effort to painstakingly expunge microbial and mold growth in crevices, components, and surfaces whose population exploded as water infiltration
PorticoREI LLC.w
seeped into the mechanical systems. To the Owner’s surprise, every building component was impacted by mold: Electrical, HVAC, ceilings, walls, and other interior finishes.
The graph above shows the time the HVAC system is cooling (Ramp) and the time the HVAC is not cooling (Drift). The results of this graph indicate that the HVAC system fails to run long enough to remove moisture from the air, resulting in an RH between 70% and 80% in the occupied environment. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has targets for controlling RH in built environments. The quote below is from the EPA: “Sometimes, humidity or dampness (water vapor) in the air can supply enough moisture for mold growth. Indoor
relative humidity (RH) should be kept below 60 percent–ideally between 30 percent and 50 percent, if possible.”
The brown dust in the image above, right, is a sign of a severe mold mite infestation. This dust is composed of biomass, which consists of dead and live mites, their shed skins, fecal matter, and food particles. The food is mold growth in the ducts due to elevated humidity levels above 60%. This same condition was present in ducts where HVAC systems were not oversized due to overwhelming moisture intrusion into the building envelope and the resulting elevated humidity. The graphs below document typical conditions. Note: RH is frequently above 60% RH when mold growth can occur.
Left: 100x view of mold mite (Tyrophagus Putrescentiae). Right: Video still of mold mite (Tyrophagus Putrescentiae).
the building envelope.
Failure to Install Insulation in a Code-Compliant Manner
The International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) requires that insulation in exterior walls be in substantial contact with the building’s air barrier. In this case, the air barrier consisted of the exterior sheathing with a liquidapplied air barrier, and the insulation was an open-cell spray foam. During remediation, it was discovered that the spray foam had delaminated from the sheathing, creating a pathway for air and convection currents in and around the insulation in the exterior walls. This defect was exacerbated by moisture entering the exterior walls through a poorly constructed and flashed parapet assembly. This defect is likely the reason the spray foam did not adhere correctly to the sheathing.
Pre-Existing Building Envelope Was A Mess
To this day, it remains highly perplexing how the original building ever passed numerous [required] building inspections given what has been discovered at the site. What began as a simple reconnaissance of a building envelope with a few water leaks, turned into a full investigation that revealed a failed project. The preremediation effort revealed known building envelop defects, yet, what became apparent upon commencement of the Owner’s first phase, was that other disciplines, namely spray foam insulation and HVAC systems, were also thoroughly compromised. The newly designed campus resembled a commercial building; the facility also contained elements found in learning centers. Since the remediation does not require an architect/engineer to redesign the facility, the Owner endeavored to exceed minimum requirements and sought to retain qualified
engineering entities to guide it through its remediation effort: Site/Civil, Structural, and HVAC/M.E.P. engineering services.
Site Planning Errors
They say all good design begins with an excellent understanding of the site. A client’s vision is usually tested at the earliest stages of design. The client’s A/E team was given full control over site planning. Rather than place the cluster of buildings at the high point of the site, the design team chose to place the cluster at the low end, allowing storm water to freely enter a courtyard enclosed on three sides, giving rise to a lagoon effect in several areas immediately adjoining the perimeters of the structures.
The accumulation of water along the perimeter of the building created a condition that encouraged excessive foundation movement—as manifested by the appearance of over 6000 LF of cracks and foundation distortion.
Conclusion
The Owner discovered twenty-six major design & construction defects. The multi-tiered failure resulted in the creation of a remediation strategy in an effort to save the Owner’s capital investment in its brand new campus. The discovery of mold mites across campus triggered a complete remediation. This paper reveals how poorly designed details adversely impact the health, occupancy, and serviceability of facilities with a compromised building envelope. By association, the subject matter touches on professional practice and A/E/C ethics.
About the Author | Roy R. Pachecano, AIA, MSRED, is a licensed architect and builder operating PorticoREI LLC. For over 40 years, he has served in multiple capacities in the academic arena for Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Pratt Institute, University of Arizona, and Texas A&M University, performing research and teaching on the subjects of: financial impacts of zoning/land use, real estate development, construction & remediation cost, forensics, and emerging technologies impacting the design/construction industries. He is currently serving the US State Department overseeing design/construction at embassies world-wide with Siegel Design/New York. This paper will appear in a forthcoming university publication highlighting professional practice and ethics.
The film is a production of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation in collaboration with Stanton Eckstut, FAIA.
Stanton Eckstut, FAIA, City-Making Architect
Stanton Eckstut is a pioneering city-making architect who has designed many of the most important large scale urban redevelopments in cities across the United States. A Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and a longtime collaborator of our organization, Eckstut’s reputation as an innovator and leader in large-scale architecture was forged more than 30 years ago when he worked on the master plan for New York City’s Battery Park City. His work has since focused on strengthening the urban fabric of cities nationwide by creating centers of social and civic activity.
Click on the image above to watch the video or go to https://youtu.be/btOjDh3fxjA.
When people think of cities, they often think of buildings. But it is streets rather than buildings that define cities, says Stanton Eckstut, a city-making architect. If you are interested in urban design and how the built environment influences how people interact with each other, check out “Streets Make Cities,” a short film about the essential role of streets in urban life.
“Streets Make Cities” takes viewers on a stroll down New York City’s West 4th Street, in Lower Manhattan’s Greenwich Village Historic District. It explores the dazzling array of
activities that play out on city streets every day— the interaction of pedestrians, cyclists, motorists, wildlife, and others— as they compete for space on the street.
The film is a production of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation in collaboration with Stanton Eckstut. It is a part of the organization’s ongoing advocacy and educational programs to highlight the importance of streets as a fundamental aspect of how cities and historic places, function and grow.
