New Architecture and Design Program from NYCHA & City Tech

A new, free program from NYCHA and CUNY’s New York City College of Technology (City Tech) will give a group of NYCHA young adults a crash course on designing projects that could help improve their community.  

For six weeks starting in March, NYCHA residents and current architecture students from City Tech will collaborate through the virtual ARCHscholars program to research indoor and outdoor spaces at NYCHA developments and propose design ideas to enhance the built environment.    

Program participants will have the opportunity to nurture their interest in the architecture and design industries, while also learning more about various development sites at NYCHA and the importance of building environmentally friendly spaces to support a greener city. 

“We want to expose residents to the field of architecture and design as a career option for them if they’re interested,” said Tischelle George, Deputy Director of NYCHA’s Resident Engagement Department.    

Partnering with the NYCHA young adults as ARCHscholars are four City Tech students who are in their fourth year of a new, five-year Bachelor of Architecture degree program at the college. While the weekly classes will be conducted remotely due to the pandemic, some socially distanced site visits to NYCHA developments may also be offered. 

“They’re all going to work together on thinking about the built environment at a NYCHA development,” said City Tech architecture professor and program instructor Jason Montgomery.  

One of the course objectives calls on the NYCHA students to explore their neighborhood by using senses such as sound, smell, and touch to better understand how people experience the local environment. Focusing on healthy and durable housing for low-income individuals and families, the students will also examine how urban design can be used as a tool to address various social issues.  

“It’s about diversifying the narrative about NYCHA communities with storytelling from the lived experience of residents, and looking at where you live through your own eyes,” Ms. George explained.  

Mr. Montgomery noted that through their collaboration, the NYCHA students will be able to offer insights on being a public housing resident, and City Tech classmates will, in return, provide some exposure to the life of a college architecture student.  

“It’s a great opportunity for the young adults who participate to experience what City Tech is about and what kind of environment it’s like with the particular kind of scholarship that goes on in an undergraduate program like ours,” he said.  

Jordan Stennett, a 17-year-old resident of Brooklyn’s Sheepshead Bay Houses, believes the program will set him on the path toward his goal of becoming a civil engineer. 

“This will be a major experience on giving me knowledge on structures and making this city a better place for people,” he said. 

Based on their research, the ARCHscholars will develop a project proposal to enhance the community’s built environment and design an academic research poster to present the idea at the end of the course. The primary requirement is for the idea to be a “buildable” project, with some potential examples including an urban garden, lounge area, or free outdoor library, said architect and instructor Naomi Langer-Voss. 

“The idea is that the collective, thoughtful design solution will greatly improve the space and that the students will form a bond with fellow architecture enthusiasts. Ideally, this would be the first of many courses that introduce and foster architecture education among the ARCHscholars,” Ms. Langer-Voss said.  

The ARCHscholars will have the opportunity to showcase their work when they present their completed poster designs during an Emerging Scholars Program event at City Tech this spring.