DESIGN WORKSHOP 2006
Click Here for the official site.
DESIGN WORKSHOP 2005
Project:
Artists Residency Program
Site: 120 Broadway
Client: The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council
The 2005
Design Workshop project is the design for a de-mountable and transportable
exhibition/performance space for the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC)
award-winning artist residency program. The project's first location will
be in the existing communal space situated in their present headquarters in
lower Manhattan's financial district. Subsequent installations will be in
various lower Manhattan public sites coinciding with future LMCC events. Among
the ideas for the program, are:
" Informal gathering space for artists-in-residencies outside of their
individual studios;
" Meeting space for visitors and guest speakers to engage with artists-in-residence,
present and discuss work and ideas, etc.;
" Venue to present ongoing work to the public when studios are closed
to the public;
Also see article in Metropolis Magazine click here.
DESIGN WORKSHOP 2004
Site:
Prince George Hotel, 28th St, NYC
Client: The Common Ground Community
In 2004 The Design Workshop undertook a project in collaboration with the
"Common Ground Community," a nonprofit organization dedicated to
providing safe, attractive and affordable housing for the formerly homeless,
supported by access to medical and mental health care, job training and job
placement. The organization operates three buildings in Manhattan as supportive
housing. In 1999, Common Ground renovated the Prince George Hotel on 28th
St, built in 1904, as efficiency apartments for low-income, special needs
and previously homeless single adults, including those with HIV/AIDS, those
with mental illness and the elderly. In the spring of 2004 Common Ground assigned
the Design Workshop the problem of creating a connection between the 27th
and 28th Sts entrances of the Prince George by designing a lobby for the old
ballroom. The space will act as a stand-alone entry to the ballroom and as
an exhibition space, including coat-check, bar, catering station and bathrooms.
Common Ground will use money raised by renting out the ballroom to support
the residential program of the hotel. The design of the space was greatly
informed by Common Ground's own philosophy: rather than hiding the homeless,
the organization aims to house them with dignity and respect. Likewise, students
working on the project felt compelled to take the same attitude towards the
historic Prince George Hotel built in 1904, preserving and honoring its history,
including its hard times. Rather than advocating a pristine return to the
building's original condition, students chose to reveal its complex past history
through its architecture. The lining of the lobby has been stripped away to
reveal the brick and terracotta tile beneath. An aluminum clad mezzanine floor,
a glowing sandblasted glass restroom area, and a concrete and recycled wood
bench have been inserted into the space, sitting hand-in-glove inside the
old walls. A series of floating fluorescent ceiling panels is suspended from
the existing ceiling, guiding visitors through the lobby to the ballroom.
DESIGN WORKSHOP 2003
2003 Project: Athletic Equipment Storage Facility
Site: Grand St. Campus, Brooklyn, New York
Client: Take the Field, NYC
Take the Field is a public-private partnership that is re-building the athletic
facilities of New York City public schools. With twenty-six projects completed
and over twenty to go, Take the Field came to Parsons in search of an equipment
storage facility in keeping with the Olympic quality of the rest of their
athletic field renovations. Together with Take the Field and the community
of the Grand St. Campus High Schools, the Design Workshop developed a structure
that not only responds to the specific needs and constraints of the Grand
Street Campus, but also could be used in the future as a prototype for other
Take the Field projects. The final result is a field house of naturally weathering
steel construction with varying expressions of transparency and opacity. The
building is sited so as to separate the expanse of the track and field from
a more intimate yard for half-time huddles. It extends its modest footprint
of 600 square feet through a series of operable panels that open to engage
the surrounding site.
DESIGN WORKSHOP 2002
Project: Thresholds and the Extension of Identities
Site: Elevator Lobbies, Floors 7 and 10, 2 West 13th, NYC
Client: The New School
The 2002 Workshop focused on ideas about thresholds at multiple scales in
the improvement of the Parsons' elevator lobbies at 2 West 13th Street. Students,
challenged by a complicated set of existing conditions, were asked by the
New School Facilities Department to imagine ways in which these renovations
could foster better inter-floor communication, while preserving the identity
of the individual departments. Through the use of innovative materials such
as tinted thin set concrete, cast polyurethane, polycarbonate ceiling panels
and bent plate aluminum, the students transformed the lobbies into bright
spaces open to natural light and gathering students. A channel/conduit was
cast into the lobby floor, emerging from an abandoned glass mail chute to
engage a wall of departmental display, and a ceiling of folded aluminum and
polycarbonate panels. The "conduit" finishes its circuit by slipping
out of the building in the form of a bright acrylic beacon to the surrounding
urban context.
DESIGN WORKSHOP 2001
Project: Choreographing the Space of Production and Presentation
Site: 451 Greenwich Street, 4th floor, NYC
Client: The New York Studio Program
Working with The New York Studio Program with sponsorship from Turner Construction,
students renovated a 4000 square foot space into transformable studio system
for young art students.
DESIGN WORKSHOP 1998-2000
Projects: The Event Corridor, the Glass Corner and the Swing Room
Site: 25 East 13th St, Second floor, NYC
Client: Department of Architecture
The Design Workshop undertook a three-year project to renovate the Department
of Architecture's facilities, including an exhibition corridor, a lecture
hall, and a large classroom for design studio reviews. Challenging the existing
space and the acquired habits of the student, this renovation project improved
daily academic life while re-constructing future possibilities for the school
as a whole.
