COMPETITION TEAM MEMBERS:
Andrew Benavides (Competition Chair) Charite Carballo Danielle Dottin (Competition Co-Chair) Laura Ellis David Espinosa Alexis Greiner Bran Lachnicht Natalia Ledesma Ann Nguyen Marjorie Tello Khang Truong Gaby Villalobos Eduardo Villamor Raymond Vista Sophie Wojtalewicz CONTRIBUTED TO: Concept diagrams/collages, design development, research, digital modeling |
This project focuses on developing a mixed-income residential development that includes commercial, retail, and community spaces in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York — while considering forces of gentrification, housing equity and keeping the local culture and aesthetics of today’s Flatbush in place. By simultaneously preserving the privacy of residents and providing accessibility to public spaces within the same building, this project facilitates the relationship between occupants and the community in a comfortable and productive way.
The designated site it located in a vibrant community filled with many cultural spaces accomdating a diverse demographic population: ranging from religious sanctuaries, performing arts theatres, and educational facilities. The rich sense of community, especially through art, in Flatbush was a vital generator to the design of the NACCA. The foremost instances of this artistic influence occurs in the publicly accessible art walls, permitting an opportunity for community interaction between the residents and the surrounding neighborhood. Consisting of removable panels, the ever-changing art walls reference the evolution of the culture of Flatbush. This influence continues in the gallery and studio spaces, providing a space for the outside community to come together and celebrate a shared artistic heritage. The NACCA seeks to celebrate history, but also to provide sanctuary. By allowing a degree of separation and contrast between public and private spaces, residents are permitted a sense of ownership of their own space in comparison to the scale of the celebratory public areas. This building functions as a microcosm of the larger community, and thus provides facilities necessitated by the mixed income housing. An atrium space, while again acknowledging the community outside of the residents, and is utilized as a source of literal sustenance and creates potential for further aesthetic and cultural development. The atrium functions as a component of a gestural outdoor system of spaces, which begins with the art wall entrance on the east side of the building. This entrance allows the larger community to be almost funneled in as the space tapers as it leads towards the central atrium. This spaces references the history of the Brooklyn block in the Brooklyn urban context, referring to many housing complexes with a large center courtyard located in every block for residents primarily for the use of residents. What makes the potential of this project unique is its ability to create an active interaction between residents and the larger community. The atrium space creates the optimal opportunity to foster this interaction. By referencing the Brooklyn Block, the NACCA project acknowledges the past as a method to shape the potential of community interaction as a whole in Flatbush. A coexistence and close proximity of privacy and community has the potential to shape a mixed use project as a socially proactive center of celebration and progression. |