BUILDING SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE

Students:

Faculty:

Term:

Course:

Program:

Song Eun Han

Elaine Chow, Seth Amman, Brian Carter, Kenneth MacKay (coordinator), Jin Young Song, Bradley Wales Spring 2022

ARC302

BS Arch

What is “social infrastructure?”

This third-year studio defines it as structures that house foundational services to support the quality of life of a nation, region, city, or neighborhood. Education, healthcare, public safety, and cultural aspects are some of the themes students tackled. Following the fall studio, where students designed a low-density, primarily single-story project, this project challenged students to grow their knowledge of structure and the integration of building systems through a multistory design project. As the “integrated” undergraduate studio, building systems such as structure, ventilation, and egress were primary objectives.

The site, Black Rock, NY, is a relatively isolated neighborhood and disconnected from the rest of the city. This forced students to think deeply about how to integrate forms of social infrastructure into their community center proposals, to increase social connectivity, community appeal, and civic participation.

Song Eun Han, whose scheme is featured here, built on themes of connectivity and designed her program to provide opportunities for Black Rock residents to engage in social activities. Her proposal included a library, classrooms, lecture halls, exhibition spaces, and more. The addition of a cafe promotes civic participation and serves as a source of economic growth for the neighborhood. It also provided a space where people are welcome to congregate and linger regardless of making a purchase.

The spatial needs of each program drove the form-making strategies for the project. Paper models and sketching were integral to the design process and final idea generation. Weaving programs together through a series of slanted, stacked planes integrated spatial functions with one another, furthering visitor socialization.