Autumn Bender
Marissa Hayden (Streetwise)
Eryn Conlon
Dylan Russ (AutoConnect)

Joyce Hwang
Omar Khan

ARC 403
Fall 2019

BS Arch

The driving force of cities arises from collective energy, which often results in a challenge of balance between public and private realms, an issue that becomes central in the design of urban housing. This senior studio focused on the urban dwelling as a threshold between self and society, local and global, and nature and culture. Students were challenged to think of these conditions as symbiotic, rather than opposites, with relationships that flux with scale, from room to building, neighborhood, city, and natural environment.

Students worked in teams to develop a critical position based on an understanding of current socio-cultural, environmental conditions, and speculation about the future. Each team designed a mixed-use scheme for Queens, New York, that included residential units and a public or semi-public program of their choosing, which was developed to ‘charge’ the conceptual strategy of the project. In this way, each team shaped the project to reflect their interests and to grapple with a current social, economic, or cultural issue, resulting in a diverse range of proposals.

The goals of this studio were to develop the ability to formulate a site-specific architectural proposal within a conceptual framework that works at multiple scales; sharpen critical awareness of the interaction between aesthetic, technical, social, cultural, political, and economic values in the shaping of architecture; investigate conventions regarding public and private space in the city; explore relationships between form and meaning, type and context, function and materiality; and understand the formal, spatial, and conceptual potential of materials and construction assemblies and the interplay of multiple ordering systems.

As usual, the senior studio culminated as a design competition. 

Streetwise, proposed by Autumn Bender and Marissa Hayden, seeks to create a safer environment for children in urban areas. During non-school hours, one in five New York City children are left unattended due to undesirable living conditions or the effect of parent or guardian’s long working hours. Streetwise addresses this issue by offering free recreational programs to the public, shifting children off the streets and into a safer environment. The programs are available through a co-op system; educators of all kinds are incentivized to live and teach, utilizing underused skills and giving back to the community.

Their design draws on Jane Jacobs’ concepts of urban observation, “eyes on the street.” The idea is that streets convey a sense of safety when there are people around, whether on the street or in their homes, looking out for their neighbors and community. Streetwise reflected this theory through the design of its residential housing. Apartments were tiered on top of the public program, allowing residents to look down on the artificial street. This becomes important as a safety feature when children will be occupying this space as an afterschool educational area.

These ‘streets’ that carve between the residential buildings act as social thresholds. The public ‘street’ opens up to the urban fabric, directly connecting to the surrounding streets and allowing for an intense fluctuation of social interactions. The residential, public area was designed solely for the community of residents, allowing for interactions between residents. 

Russ and Conlon began their project by researching different forms of transportation and travel times between major cities on the east and west coasts. This led to speculation on the future of transportation and how that can redefine the relationship between travel, cities, and architecture.

AutoConnect proposes a new “smart” infrastructure for domestic travel through a network of ultramodern hotel facilities serving major cities throughout the United States. At its Forest Hills, Queens, location, AutoConnect offers 84 stationary SmartSuite units designed specifically for the autonomous SmartPod to plug into.

Each SmartSuite is equipped with a P.V. window and a solar panel, which generate energy for a SmartPod charging station. Building circulation is designed around the movement of the SmartPod as it brings people in and out of the building, between rooms, and to the social gathering spaces within the building.

The autonomous SmartPod is a newly emerging form of hospitality that blends transportation and hospitality into a single form. The SmartPod is a driverless, door-to-door service equipped with basic sleeping, working, and washroom facilities. This travel method allows for flexible arrival and departure schedules, higher energy efficiency, lower costs, total privacy, and, above all, comfort.