TOWARDS AN INTERGENERATIONAL WILLIAMSBURG

Location: Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Spring 2019, studio project

Washington University in St. Louis

Instructor: Petra Kempf, Viren Brahmbhatt

Individual project

What if Williamsburg transitions towards a neighborhood that embraces intergenerational living to give different generations a platform to work and live together? Taking the shutdown of the L train as a trigger, this project re-appropriates the anticipated vacancies caused by the shutdown as an entry point to re-think the current zoning regulations for the waterfront in this neighborhood.

Within this context, we believe diverse job and housing opportunities in the area for different types of residents could stabilize the current development trend in Williamsburg. To test this scenario, we imagine the L train will shut down, which will trigger an increase in vacancies along the waterfront in Williamsburg. As these luxury apartments will lose their values, we begin our intervention by re-appropriating the vacant apartments or floors through the introduction of a more diverse set of uses and services to attract multiple generations to the community.

As an entry point, we begin our operation with three different typologies: a large block-size luxury apartment building located on 325 Kent Avenue; a skyscraper, located on 22 North 6th Street and an old factory, located on 79 North 11th Street. Through a careful process of placing and combining different uses, such as co-working scenarios next to a kindergarten, a gym and a senior living facility, we slowly transform the core of Williamsburg from a bedroom community into a self-sustaining neighborhood.

Implement Methodology

Various functions are inserted in vacant units on different floors to provide housing, job and recreation options for multi-generation people.

Robert Shelton is a worker who has worked in Domino for 20 years. During his time at the sugar factory, he bought his first car, bought his own house and paid for the tuition for univeristy for his sonr. However, after the Domino closed, his friends lost their jobs and became alcoholics because their wives left them and their children had to drop out of school.

Life Formulas

The Edge

A new residential skyscraper

Life Formulas

The edge prioritizes the needs of the aging generation by renovating multiple types of residential units on different floors to meet the needs of a wide range of seniors. The new residential type can meet the needs of ordinary elderly, elderly with half selfcare ability, elderly with no self-care ability and multi-generational families. By adding functional connections between floors, it tests scenarios while creating a shared space but reserve private spaces.

Life Formulas

The brewery tests a combination of variety of production spaces. It creates a variety of public life by building functional links with surrounding buildings with a all kinds of production spaces.

Location: San Francisco

Fall 2016, studio project

Iowa State University

Instructor: Bosuk Hur

Individual project

Influenced by the local culture and new technology fluid, the neo-monumental icon of San Francisco grows upon the most flour ish street of the city. The Nike innovation center project starts from the idea of bringing the sports culture into the architectural design. Sporting activities create a strong bond connects the building and the community also connects the two visually isolated structures at the same time. Unlike traditional office building, the office was designed to provide a close work relationship and to enhance the interaction between the Nike staff and various partners. Also, the design offers a variety of different sports spaces for working and testing new products. The mountain form public gymnasium matches harmoniously with the city’s topography. Meanwhile, climbing the mountain to access the upper-level working space is one of the most interesting features in the building design. The office design has enabled the firm to develop an impressing digital office to promote innovations in the sports industry.