Housing offers the city more than private residences, it provides a platform for education. Situated on a site isolated from the rest of East Harlem, the project seeks to mediate the issues of safety, security, lack of amenity, and disconnection from other neighborhoods through the merging of a k-8 charter school, public library, and 300 residential units. The school, and its multi-purpose spaces provide the foundation from which the housing community can grow and thrive. This union of program helps to eliminate local risk (theft, assault, etc) and strengthens the user’s association with the site and community by giving the residents a sense of accountability and guardianship. Spaces are activated through an intersection of the multiple programs. Leaving the security of one’s apartment or classroom, but still belonging to the social order of the ‘public’ area rejects the solitude of living in a big city while still maintaining the possibility for personal expression. Organized by the filtration of light, both school and teacher’s housing allows a plasticity of forms and solids which creates a constant fluctuation of light and continuous activity. This landscape of fissures, gaps, and separation of volume create a spatial richness that facilitates diverse vertical communications.
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