ENY Convergent Lab - Where Creativity Meets Collaboration

Location: East New York, NY

Typology: Cultural

Work: Academic, MS Arch

Year: 2022

The shift towards post-industrial times has placed significant strain on communities like East New York (ENY) and Brownsville, leading to complex socio-economic challenges. A viable solution lies in urban regeneration. By repurposing underutilized IBZ lots, particularly Site G, into spaces centered around community needs, we aim to significantly improve the quality of life for residents.

The proposed ENY Convergent LAB, situated at "The Glenmore Junction"—a location identified for its high accessibility and potential as a community node—will act as a platform for creative innovation, economic opportunity, and collaboration between artists, designers, and makers.

Convergence

By capitalizing on the open space and ‘assembly-line’ flow, we seek the interaction between the digital and traditional makers. A central atrium, designed with visual connections and circulation bridges, will serve as the heart of this convergence. For instance, digital makers, while engrossed in their work, may be drawn by curiosity to participate in a hands-on program, sparking an interest to physically create. Conversely, traditional makers might be inspired to integrate new technologies into their craftsmanship.

This blend of education and collaboration not only nurtures creativity but also introduces a new model business for the community. Envision a place where a single product undergoes design, development, experimentation, construction, packaging, testing, promotion, exhibition, sale, and shipping—all under one roof. This approach offers new entrepreneurs invaluable opportunities and equips them with the essential tools needed for success.

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The program spans five floors, with the design strategically distributing different functions for optimal access and flow. The first floor, directly accessible from the street, houses an Indoor Plaza, Cafe, Makers’ Market, Warehouse, and Administration areas, creating a functional hub for all visitors.

The next three floors are dedicated to fostering creativity and innovation, dividing the space into distinct zones for digital and traditional makers. On one side of the building, digital creativity thrives with two computer labs, a digital lab, a video/photo lab, and a music studio, all separated into mezzanines to maximize the use of space. The opposite side preserves high ceilings to accommodate traditional maker spaces, including wood, metal, sewing shops, and a culinary studio, facilitating a variety of crafts and activities.

Three bridges—one on each level—link these distinct sides, leading to communal spaces like the Library, Coworker Station, Recreation Area, Controlled Plaza, and Maker’s Residency, promoting interdisciplinary collaboration. The top fifth floor is dedicated to an event space for exhibitions and community events, completing the facility's blend of creativity and community interaction.

The approach emphasizes materiality, with a focus on metal finishes to reclaim and repurpose a prevalent material in the IBZ. A prefabricated wood structural system introduces natural elements, while indoor/outdoor vegetation mirrors the nearby Glenmore Green Mile, aiding in summer solar gain protection for windows and skylights.

The building's hybrid structure and mega core combines concrete, metal, timber frame, and Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT), leveraging each material's strengths for enhanced performance. This strategy supports a circular economy and allows for incremental construction over time, ensuring sustainability and adaptability.

During the Lab’s construction, the scaffolding will be transformed into a ‘Mural Factory.’ The artworks will extend into the urban landscape at strategic corners, creating vibrant, rotating art spaces to promote pedestrian flow and enhance community access.

ENY IBZ Community Session - Time To Listen

Location: East New York, NY

Typology: Research - Cultural Community

Work: Academic, MS Arch

Year: 2022

Manufacturing, traditionally perceived as an impersonal, mechanized production line, was in essence a deeply human story during the Industrial Revolution, touching countless lives with its duality of progress and hardship. As we transition to a post-industrial society, the remnants of this period pose challenges and opportunities for urban centers once reliant on manufacturing. The shift has been difficult for communities accustomed to industrial employment, yet it also opens avenues for innovation and growth in technology, services, and the creative sector, reflecting the enduring impact of the Industrial Revolution's complex legacy on our contemporary world.

This study case focused on the East New York Industrial Business Zone, explores the principles for an urban rehabilitation strategy while, in parallel, considers its important long history of social justice activism and advocacy. Shared between the community of District 5 and 16, this area is largely zoned for industrial uses with the majority contained within a low-density M1-4 district, which allows light industrial uses, as well as offices, hotels, retail uses and some community facilities. ENY IBZ is also a diverse, well-connected neighborhood in Brooklyn with unique urbanist characteristics that reflect its history and identity. Its residents have faced many challenges over the years, including poverty, housing discrimination, and racial inequality. However, through collective action and organizing, this community has become a hub for social justice initiatives and progressive change.

Through research, site visits, and listening during community sessions, we analyzed and interpreted the urban and historical context to understand the needs, challenges, and assets the neighborhood presents.

Residents of East New York and Brownsville convened several meetings at Universe City to collectively envision and articulate their goals and perspectives. Their discussions focused on exploring meaningful opportunities for the extensive inventory of city-owned vacant lots that have been long neglected. These deliberations posed critical questions about the future of post-industrial urban spaces: What possibilities exist for these areas? How can we reinterpret the concept of manufacturing to benefit local communities more effectively?

Fake It Until You Make It

The “Makers” board game was designed as part of the fourth envisioning session at Universe City. "Fake it until you make it" offered a hands-on interactive activity in which the concept was trying to expand a massive block party creating objects that promote gathering, circular economy, or education to take over the streets and, finally, the vacant lots for the community. The response was enthusiastic and with very creative objects.

Read more about the study response: ENY Convergent Lab - Where Creativity Meets Collaboration

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