CIT

SPITZER
SCHOOL of
ARCHI

Y
TECTURE

WO
Architecture

Urban
Design

RKS
Landscape
Architecture

X 2014 to 2017
Sustainability
in the Urban
Environment
 CIT
The Bernard and Anne Spitzer
School of Architecture is deeply
committed to creating a just,

Y
sustainable, and imaginative future
for a rapidly urbanizing planet.
Through innovative research and

WO
interdisciplinary collaboration, the
degree programs in Architecture,
Landscape Architecture, Urban
Design, and Sustainability in the
Urban Environment seek to educate

RKS
a diverse student body to become
engaged professionals, both
reflecting and enriching the complex
communities of local and global
environments. The School acts in
the spirit of the City College of
New York’s historic Ephebic Oath:

X
“To transmit the city, not only
not less, but greater, better,
and more beautiful than it was 2014 to 2017

transmitted to us.”
 CITYWORKS X

Contents: Student Work Contents: Texts

NEW INSTRUMENTALITIES 41
FOR A CITY IN CRISIS: THE CITY
AS INTENT AND METHOD
Julio Salcedo-Fernandez, Chair and Associate Professor
Julio Salcedo-Fernandez proposes pedagogy for an urban world.

CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY: 65
TOWARD A THEORY OF
COMPREHENSIVE DESIGN
Architecture Landscape Christian Volkmann, Associate Professor

9 Architecture Christian Volkmann places technology at the nexus of thought and materiality.

49 TYPECASTING? 87
TEACHING THE STUDIO FOR
DESIGNING SUBURBAN FUTURES
June Williamson, Associate Professor
June Williamson makes a case for building in suburbia.

TRANSIENT SPACES 107

Marina Correia, Adjunct Assistant Professor;
Loukia Tsafoulia, Adjunct Assistant Professor; and
Susan Wines, Adjunct Associate Professor
Marina Correia, Loukia Tsafoulia, and Susan Wines probe the
potential of design for the refugee crisis.

Urban Design Sustainability in the

Preface 4
73 Urban Environment Introduction 6
95 Acknowledgements 115

2 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York

33
 CITYWORKS X

Preface
I am pleased to present City Works X, the tenth
volume of the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of
Architecture’s compilation of student work drawn from the
Bachelor of Architecture, Master of Architecture, Master
of Landscape Design, Master of Urban Design, and Master
of Sustainability in the Urban Environment programs. For
its tenth volume, City Works has been conceived of anew.
The student work showcased on the pages that follow is
exemplary instead of exhaustive. The excellence of the
projects demonstrates the hard work of our students
and the dedication of our faculty and staff. The featured
work is also a direct result of the school’s new curriculum,
including a new core studio sequence for BArch students
and advanced studios shared by upper BArch and MArch
students. These curricular changes were led by the faculty
in order to emphasize new directions in architectural
education, trends in the profession, community
engagement, and a trajectory for evidence-based design
and speculation. Finally, these curricular initiatives have
created the opportunity for new sponsored design studios,
a recent initiative begun in the spring 2017 and fall 2018
semesters. In these semesters, the architecture firm
CentraRuddy has sponsored studios for second-year
MArch students focusing on housing on Staten Island’s
north shore. I take enormous pride in sharing the wide
spectrum of work that follows.

Gordon Gebert
Interim Dean
Spitzer School of Architecture

4 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 5

 CITYWORKS X

Introduction
It has been a few years since the Bernard and Anne of Comprehensive Design,” Associate Professor Christian
Spitzer School of Architecture has released a new volume Volkmann argues that construction technology must be
of City Works, the school’s publication of student design grasped at the nexus of its conceptual understanding
work. While past volumes of the book were comprehensive, and material reality. In the third essay, “Typecasting?
it would have been far too overwhelming for the reader Teaching the Studio for Designing Suburban Futures,”
to sift through the rich backlog of work and take note of Associate Professor June Williamson examines suburbia
the whirlwind of activity at the school in the past couple as a generative site of architectural investigation. Adjunct
of years—including a revamped Bachelor of Architecture Assistant Professor Marina Correia, Adjunct Assistant
curriculum, the rebranding of the school’s research center, Professor Loukia Tsafoulia, and Adjunct Associate
the J. Max Bond Center for Urban Futures, under the Professor Suzan Wines are the authors of the final essay,
leadership of its new director, Shawn Rickenbacker, or the “Transient Spaces.” As part of their broader pedagogical
syrupy pots of honey produced by the bees buzzing on and curatorial project of the same name, they prompt
the school’s roof. A more selective approach has therefore architects to ameliorate the spaces and everyday practices
been taken to present student work in the tenth volume of of refugees. Much like the student work featured in CWX,
City Works—rebranded as CWX. The projects illustrated these essays are not meant to be an all-inclusive statement
and discussed here are threads in a denser tissue of of the philosophies and approaches of the school’s faculty;
design practices, pedagogical inquiries, and research they are but four possible trajectories. Collectively, the
trajectories at the school. The point of showing a series of visual and written speculations about design in CWX are
individual trajectories is to let distinct speculations about intended to be a testament to the diversity of our students
architectural design stand on their own merit. and to the multiple points of view at the school.
In CWX, student work is organized in four
principal sections reflecting the disciplines at the SSA: Sean Weiss, Ph.D.
architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, and Assistant Professor
sustainability in the urban environment. In between
each of these sections are essays written by SSA faculty
members who investigate topical issues concerning
architectural pedagogy. In the first of these essays, “New
Instrumentalities for a City in Crisis,” Department Chair
and Associate Professor Julio Salcedo-Fernandez outlines
a mission for pedagogical diversity as a means to probe the
role of architecture in our rapidly urbanizing world. In the
second essay, “Construction Technology: Toward a Theory
6 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 7
 CITYWORKS X
CITYWORKS X

8 Spitzer School of Architecture

Architecture
City College New York 9
 Architecture CITYWORKS X

Architecture
At the SSA, the only public school of architecture in courses in technology, structures, visual studies, digital
Manhattan, the study of architecture prepares students to techniques, history, and theory. While the curriculum of
design for the betterment of our shared global community the undergraduate and graduate programs are unique,
and urbanizing world. These convictions stem from our students collaborate in their final year in advanced design
position in Harlem, an urban neighborhood historically studios that examine topical issues in architectural design.
known for its vibrant cultural diversity. Our unique location This section of CWX is divided into twot parts to show the
encourages an awareness and appreciation of a wide range unique contributions of the undergraduate and graduate
of values and perspectives that inspire future architects to programs in architecture.
act as global citizens.
Our architecture curriculum reflects the diversity
of our students, the inventive research of our faculty, and
transdisciplinary collaborations. Students and faculty from
the several disciplines housed in the school mix together
to produce invigorated, reimagined visions for architecture
of today and the future. We prepare students to become
engaged designers and to apply an expansive set of
skills to address pressing social, cultural, environmental,
and professional challenges. With an emphasis on agile
thinking, the architecture programs aim to educate the next
generation of innovators redefining the role of the architect
in the twenty-first century. It is our intention to foster the
widest range of possibilities to prepare students through
a network of a distinguished and accomplished faculty, a
roster of successful alumni, an institutional environment of
great breadth and deep history, and a vibrant and diverse
professional community.
Architectural education at the SSA includes a
professional accredited Bachelor of Architecture Program,
a professional accredited Master of Architecture Program,
and a post-professional Master of Science in Architecture
degree. A rigorous studio-based education is at the
center of these programs and is augmented by required
10 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 11
 Architecture CITYWORKS X

BArch Program 1

The Bachelor of Architecture degree is a five-year ac-

credited program that prepares students to become profession-
al architects capable of creating intelligent design solutions in a
variety of scales and environments. Inspired by a commitment
to society and ethical practice, the program has historically
prepared graduates for positions in every facet of architectural
practice, from government agencies and prestigious design
offices to graduate programs. The heartbeat of the program is
a creative studio education, which, through imaginative chal-
lenges and open and collaborative discussion, seeks to promote
a deep knowledge of history and of building technologies, a
facility with the latest digital tools, and an intellectual engage-
ment with architectural design practice. The program uses New
York City as its research lab to craft alternative narratives about
public and private life for increasingly populated urban centers,
while also looking beyond our local context to prepare students 2
for practicing in a rapidly urbanizing world. These urban stories
are steeped in a sustainability that stems from trans-disciplinary
collaboration as the students mix with those in the school’s oth-
er programs including graduate architectural design, landscape
architecture, urban design, and urban sustainability. Students
become strong independent thinkers through an intense three-
year core program, consisting of six thematic studios, including
Craft, Environment, Cities, Histories, Assemblies, and Integra-
tion. This sequence of studios supports two years of elective
study in architectural design, history, and technology. In their
final two years in the program, students enroll in advanced
design studios focusing on topical issues in architectural design
and research, and they have the option to undertake a thesis
project in the fifth year. Collectively, the SSA’s BArch curriculum
prepares students to productively contribute to the practice of 1 Paola Ruiz 2 JuHyun Hwoang
architectural design in the shaping of future cities. Core Studio 1, Fall 2016
with Prof. Pablo de Miguel
Core Studio 1, Fall 2016
with Prof. Phillip Lee

12 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 13

 Architecture CITYWORKS X

1 3 4

1 Ngwang Tenzin 2 Chaerin Kim, Brian Ortega, and Gilbert Santana 3 Sarah Chikh Ousman 4 Ashley R. Singh 5 Armita Peirovani and Hyun Pak
Core Studio 2, Spring 2016 Core Studio 2, Spring 2016 and Alexandra Bilinkski Core Studio 3, Fall 2017 Core Studio 5, Fall 2016
with Prof. Nandini Bagchee with Prof. Anathasios Haritos Core Studio 3, Spring 2016 with Prof. Eliana Dotan with Prof. Fabian Llonch
with Prof. Loukia Tsfoulia

14 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 15

 Architecture CITYWORKS X

The program
2 4

uses New York City

as its research lab.
1

1 Jasmine Cato 2 Bernadette McCrann and Robert Bahnsen 3 Brett Barshay and Hannah Deegan
Core Studio 4, Spring 2017 Core Studio 6, Spring 2016 Core Studio 6, Spring 2016
with Prof. David Hotson with Prof. Pablo de Miguel with Prof. Pablo de Miguel

16 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 17

 Architecture CITYWORKS X

1 3

2 4

1 Wei Zhang and Pei Ying Jang 2 Marta Dominguez 3 Carlos Mo Wu and Jorge Burgos 4 Carlos Mo Wu and Jorge Burgos
Advanced Studio 7, Fall 2015 Advanced Studio 7, Fall 2016 Advanced Studio 8, Spring 2016 Advanced Studio 8, Spring 2016
with Prof. Shawn Rickenbacker with Prof. Anathasios Haritos with Prof. Julio Salcedo with Prof. Julio Salcedo

18 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 19

 Architecture CITYWORKS X

1 2

1 Samantha Ong, Juan Vallejo, 2 Samantha Ong, Juan Vallejo, 3 Brett Jun
Daniella Vega Ortiz, and Emir Abdul Emir Daniella Vega Ortiz, and Emir Abdul Emir Advanced Studio 8, Spring 2017
Advanced Studio 8, Spring 2017 Advanced Studio 8, Spring 2017 with Prof. Martin Stigsgaard
with Prof. Loukia Tsfoulia with Prof. Loukia Tsfoulia

20 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 21

 Architecture CITYWORKS X

1 2 5

3 4

1 Class Installation 2 Marija Gjorgjievska

Advanced Studio 8, Spring 2017 Advanced Studio 8, Spring 2017
with Prof. Jeremy Edmiston with Prof. Hillary Brown

3 Chaerin Kim 4 Seterotomic Casts: Mold for Plaster Casts

Sterotomic Projections Visual Studies, Spring 2016
Visual Studies, Spring 2016 with Prof. Frank Melendez
with Prof. Frank Melendez

22 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 23

 Architecture CITYWORKS X

MArch Program 1

The graduate programs in architecture at the

SSA train students to be agile thinkers—digging deeply into
architectural practice and theory, bridging disciplinary bound-
aries, networking with diverse stakeholders, and working
effectively across multiple scales. Our wide-ranging, re-
search-based curriculum connects the diverse socio-political
contexts of architecture with emerging building technologies
and challenges students to speculate on new modes of living
for a rapidly urbanizing planet. Highlights from this section
of CWX, which includes student work from both our profes-
sional, three-year Master of Architecture and post-profes-
sional, one-year Master of Science in Architecture programs
include Detroit X, a proposal for revitalizing shrinking resi-
dential neighborhoods in Detroit; Resilient Souk, a new urban
marketplace and coastal resiliency infrastructure project
along the shoreline of lower Manhattan; Carbon X-Change, 2
a new kind of cultural center in Midtown Manhattan, which
scrubs polluted air from the city; Parking PLUS, a project
which reclaims 4000 acres of surface parking lots in Long
Island; Shakers Sharing, an incubator for new kinds of in-
tentional communities in Maine; Terra Fluxus, an innovative
public swimming pool carved into the rock of East Harlem
that provides industrial water filtration and power for the
surrounding community; Homeless + Housing, an award-win-
ning project exploring the future of 3D-printed buildings; and
groundbreaking housing proposals in Staten Island from the
CetraRuddy Design Studio in Housing, an ongoing initiative
to partner with distinguished design professionals in the field.
Collectively, this work demonstrates the expanding aptitudes
of the architect today—who must not only invent new ways to
build but also write new programmatic scenarios that antici- 1 Rashidah Green Sherman
Studio 1.1, Fall 2016
2 Jason Ng
Studio 1.1, Fall 2015
pate the future challenges of the discipline. with Prof. Loukia Tsafoulia with Prof. Brad Horn

24 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 25

 Architecture CITYWORKS X

1 3

DEMOGRAPHICS
Students
Faculty
Staff
FUNCTION
Sitting
Laying
Relaxing
Waiting
FORM
Extension of concrete retaining wall
Angles based on ergonomics
A play of voids

MATERIAL
Exposed cardboard
Tubes are reusable & recycable
Contains 42% recycled content

CIRCULATION
Between two linear paths

1 Alexandra Chepanova, Wafa Kaddour, 2 Kenia Peralta, Nikitha Menon, 3 Hakan Westergren and Bryan Espinoza 4 David Clark Smith
Sadie Rayne, Nicolas Losi, Olivia Sklyarova, Patrick Muldoon, and Fengjing You Visual Studies, Spring 2016 Studio 1.2, Spring 2017
Brandon Thompson, and Fengjing You Studio 1.1, Fall 2017 with Prof. Elisabetta Terragni with Prof. Brad Horn
Studio 1.1, Fall 2017 with Prof. Loukia Tsafoulia
with Prof. Loukia Tsafoulia

26 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 27

 Architecture CITYWORKS X

1 2

1 Indre Barsauskaite 2 Jason Ng

Studio 1.2, Spring 2015 Studio 1.2, Spring 2016
with Prof. Elisabetta Terragni with Prof. Elisabetta Terragni

28 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 29

 Architecture CITYWORKS X
1
EAST ELEVATION
1/64” = 1’

Utilize design as
2

Desbrosses

Vestry St.

Laight St.
Watts St.
.

Canal St.
l St

Hubert St
na
Ca

St.
an agent of change.
West St.

PL (0,0)

Phase II
Phase III
Phase I

1
A103

1
The Hudson
River Phase I

1
A102 Master Plan
N 2
1/64” = 1’ - 0”

1 Joseph Arndt, Michelle Atri, and Kathleen Bender 2 William Sloman and Matthew Noonan 3 Kiamesha Robinson and Glenn Bell
Studio 1.3, Fall 2015 Studio 1.3, Fall 2015 Studio 1.3, Fall 2016
with Prof. Martin Stigsgaard with Prof. Ali C. Höcek with Prof. Ali C. Höcek

30 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 31

 Architecture CITYWORKS X

1 3

2 4

1 Kathleen Bender 2 Nancy Kelleher, Matthew Shufelt, and Marcos Gasc 3 Marina Santos 4 Hakan Westergren
Studio 1.4, Spring 2016 Studio 1.4, Spring 2017 Studio 1.4, Spring 2017 Studio 1.4, Spring 2017
with Prof. James Khamsi with Prof. Fabian Llonch with Prof. Fabian Llonch with Prof. June Williamson

32 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 33

 Architecture CITYWORKS X

1 3 5

2 4

1 Katerina Marcelja 2 Peter Kostelev 3 Valeria Rybyakova and Ryan Kramer 4 Grace Lawal
Advanced Studio, Fall 2016 Advanced Studio, Fall 2017 Advanced Studio, Fall 2015 Advanced Studio, Fall 2017
with Prof. June Williamson with Prof. Brad Horn with Prof. Shawn Rickenbacker with Prof. Brad Horn

34 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 35

 Architecture CITYWORKS X

Marcos Gasc
Advanced Studio, Fall 2017
with Prof. Caitlin Swaim

36 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 37

 Architecture CITYWORKS X

1 3

2 4 5

1 Miwako Akiyama 2 Yiwei He, Ryan Cerone, and Kyle Mcardle 3 Gabriel Morales 4 Laura Alison, Patrick 5 Cameron Shore, Emma Murray,
Advanced Studio, Fall 2017 Advanced Studio, Fall 2015 Advanced Studio, Fall 2017 Brophy, and Yiwei He and Jeff Kaufman
with Prof. Caitlin Swaim with Prof. Fabian Llonch with Prof. Henry Grosman Advanced Computing, Fall 2015 Advanced Computing, Fall 2016
with Prof. Jonathan Scelsa with Prof. Jonathan Scelsa

38 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 39

 CITYWORKS X
Architecture

NEW
INSTRUMENTALITIES
FOR A CITY IN CRISIS:
THE CITY AS INTENT
AND METHOD
Julio Salcedo-Fernandez,
Chair And Associate Professor

40 Spitzer School of Architecture 41

NEW INSTRUMENTALITIES CITYWORKS X
Urbem disposito non industrialization in the 1920s; the be modeled on the city. A city is Why Design?
Consilio Phylum scientification of public schools plural and hybrid. As Bruno Latour
A Designed City Not of design in the United States underscores, urban phenomena The SSA is comprised
a Design Phylum to more closely mirror postwar have slippery ontologies; they can of architects, landscape
positivist pre-occupations and exist as natural and cultural, aes- architects, urban designers, and
At the SSA, our clarity and government funding streams in thetic and social, infrastructural, urban sustainability experts,
direction derive from a newly ad- the 1960s; Columbia University’s and immaterial. Accordingly, our forging a trans-disciplinary
opted mission to design a just, complete re-cast of pedagogy as school probes for better urban fu- environment. We integrate
sustainable, and imaginative a computational paradigm in the tures through intertwined strands, streams of knowledge from an
future for a rapidly urbanizing 1990s; and, in the early 2000s, disciplines, and pedagogical phyla. array of fields—engineering,
planet. To seek a better urban fu- the University of Pennsylvania’s This radical, multi-pronged sociology, environmental
ture, we mine the city for its best transmutation through planning schema of pedagogical phyla sciences, economics—to
traits. We endorse plurality and and abstract design of landscape achieves several goals. First, dis- define instrumentalities that
hybridity, and we shy from singu- architecture as an urban discipline tinct phenomena and concerns provide conducive systems,
lar responses. The city becomes to address the failed divided mod- of design—either in an individual structures, forms, and spaces
both our intent and method pred- els that begat sprawl and urban discipline or across disciplines for a better urban future.
icated on a model of multiplicity wastelands. I refer to each of these —afford distinctly suited design Accordingly, I propose the term
of concerns and the instruments focused contributions as a peda- instruments and means. Second, “instrumentality” as a cogent
that afford their definition. They gogical or design phylum—that is, the range of means and concerns and effective way to encompass
provide imaginative resolutions to a solipsistic category of design. provide a constant ground for contingency, design suitability,
reinvigorate an urbanity in crisis. Although they have bestowed the evaluation and assessment. In application, and expertise. A
We are also keenly aware of the design disciplines with an oper- other words, diverse pedagogies design instrumentality is an
world today and of the often singu- ational range of benefits, most and concerns productively assess episteme and agent of applied
lar histories and perspectives that of them have rendered our urban the successes and shortcomings design. These instrumentalities
have brought us here. Collectively, condition less complex and less of our mission for a better urban help enact a particular
both our mission and our socio- resilient. The focused benefits of future. Our BArch studio curric- environment in terms of its
historical awareness define our a single pedagogical phylum have ulum’s core competencies are materiality, performance, spatial
difference. additional disadvantages, as much divided into categories such as reality, choreography, and
At times of crisis, stake- is lost, excluded, and ultimately “Cities” and “Craft” which provide inhabitation.
holders may call for a singular, wasted. For instance, the possi- students with a range of in-depth Collaborations with other
reactive response to right the bility of a historical continuum in research opportunities to de- fields of knowledge require
ship. Historically, this has not only design has long been a casualty of velop knowledge of various design robust instrumentalities in order
manifested in politics but also in pedagogical phylum models. preoccupations. In addition, our to utilize design as an agent of
schools of design. In architectural At the SSA, we seek to be landscape program’s studios in- change. Design instrumentalities
pedagogy, some past models in- equally radical, albeit in a deliber- terweave design, social justice, materialize and spatialize these
clude the Bauhaus’s revolutionary ately plural approach in order to and ecology, expanding the defini- new transdisciplinary connections;
re-conceptualization of peda- investigate several tracks of in- tion and understanding of the role were it not for design, other
gogy at the advent of a pervasive quiry. We believe that a school can of natural systems in the city. epistemes may not fully render

42 43
NEW INSTRUMENTALITIES CITYWORKS X
the city. This was painfully clear How to Help and capital flows are creating Why Engagement?
in many of the aforementioned the City in Crisis? radical inequalities in cities; the
pedagogical models that rely on a changing politics and protocols The pedagogical
singular phylum. One may look to Having recently recast the of public space are contesting transformations in previous
the late 1960s in particular, during SSA’s curriculum through cultural, the right to legitimate or question design schools were not without
the period of the scientification of technological, environmental, and power, history, memory, gender, heated debates which resulted
architecture when novel interests social engagement, we deploy a cultures, and race. As I list multiple in generations of irreconcilable
in fields such as sociology newfound design adroitness to flanks of a city in crisis, I have camps of thought—turf wars
became drivers of design in an address the different paradigm saved the greatest challenge for between different strains of
attempt to address the failures shifts that render our cities less last: our shared world and climate. modernity, post-modernity and
of Modernism. Their lack of a just, plural, safe, entertaining, Indeed, as Houston floods, Miami neo-modernity. In debates over
successful, encompassing design productive, and environmentally sinks, and Beijing chokes, the postmodernism, historicists
programs and their associated proficient. The respective natures changes brought about by climate believed in the symbol, form,
instrumentalities, rendered of these challenges are varied: change and resource management and content of an architectural
less performative spaces and “Disruptive” digital economies are already catastrophic. language while post-structuralists
some rather lackluster urban have impacted the socio- chose to destabilize the structure
landscapes. economic fabric of cities, often and communicative role of
displacing the disenfranchised; architecture language. Afterwards,
historical and emerging people the debate shifted to question

The chall enges the

city faces a re not only
design c hallenges.
44 45
NEW INSTRUMENTALITIES CITYWORKS X

Collabora tions with

other fields o f knowledge
require robust
instrumenta lities in order
to utilize d esign as an
agent of change.
46 47
NEW INSTRUMENTALITIES CITYWORKS X
CITYWORKS X

critical practices as oblivious to Indeed, the challenges

the nuanced expansive world the city faces are not only
beyond the academy and design. design challenges. Through
In design schools today—in the transdisciplinary collaboration
throngs of the amply described we, as SSA faculty and students,
double crises of the environment can work to identify the objects
and of the ethical, inclusive and subjects of these challenges,
market-economy society—the to research their causes and find
incidences of political upheaval new design instrumentalities to
and contrarian philosophical views address them. For we are now in a
are relatively tame compared with position to salvage and invigorate
earlier models. Paradoxically, we the urban realm.
are undergoing an equal or larger
crisis with far less argumentation
of how to operate. While past
debates were healthy, they were
often presented as a zero-sum
game. Inspired by Latour, we need
to turn to an engagement that,
rather than positing sweeping
ideologies, identifies concerns as
quasi-objects or quasi-subjects
to collectively find broad interest
and shared intent. As designers,
we can develop a research
practice and instrumentalities
to transform these objects of
concern into objects of change.
In this fashion, we can discuss
and evaluate the success of the
design instrumentalities we seek
to deploy, according to how well

Landscape
they address the phenomena
of a city in crisis and target the
myriad forces conspiring to

Architecture
negatively alter its essential virtue
of inclusivity and perhaps its very
existence.

48 City College New York 49

 Landscape Architecture CITYWORKS X

Master of Landscape Architecture

The Master of Landscape Architecture Program of qualitative capacities of urban ground are repre-
aims to prepare students to design environmentally and sented with a proposal for an abandoned nuclear power
socially vibrant landscapes for twenty-first century cities. plant. Designs for urban ecological structures were
Our curriculum supports students’ commitment to design proposed in an ASLA Student Award winning project on
excellence by developing the skills necessary to respond Plant-Based Economies Driving Ecological Renewal in
creatively and ethically to both the anthropogenic and Haiti, as well as in the Rome-Detroit studio, a Red Hook
ecological forces that shape urban centers. Emphasis is Studio, and a series of steel walls for a park in Brownsville
placed on sustainable designs that promote social justice Brooklyn. An examination of the changing perceptions
and equity. Studios explore issues of increasing global- of cultural monuments, led to a proposal to replace the
ization, expanding urbanization, environmental and social Charging Bull in New York City’s financial district with a
system sustainability, the promotion of social and environ- herd of steel origami cattle. The MLA projects section
mental justice, the need for transformed land management concludes with large-scale future city systems planning
practices in response to diminishing natural resources, at JFK airport.
and the mitigation and adaptation to climate change. The
Master of Landscape Architecture Program studios are
a collaborative effort among faculty members, students,
allied programs, and partner institutions. We have devel-
oped applied design and planning research projects for
New York City that have been presented as models for
other cities across the country and around the world.
Recent studio work presented in this section
explores the interface between environmental and social
processes occurring along a spectrum from those driven
more by land-based processes to planning and design
for areas human interactions and material culture domi-
nate the urban realm. We present the following projects
to represent the wide scope of the discipline, beginning
with investigations into landscape tectonics. Studio proj-
ects exploring aspects of urban ecological systems include
Staten Islands’ brownfield marshlands, and a radical revi-
sion of the Battery in Lower Manhattan. Investigations

50 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 51

 Landscape Architecture CITYWORKS X

Anna Speidel, “Process of Place”

Studio 1, Fall 2016
with Prof. Counts, Johnson, and Alessi

52 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 53

 Landscape Architecture CITYWORKS X

Kate Jirasiritham, “Reclamation” Jacob Fiss Hobart, “Recovering the Battery”

Studio 3, Fall 2016 Studio 2, Spring 2017
with Prof. Seavitt Nordenson with Prof. Hoffman Brandt

54 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 55

 Landscape Architecture CITYWORKS X

Christine Facella, “Forests on the Edge” James Carroll, “Rome-Detroit-Concrete”

Studio 6, Spring 2016 Studio 5, Fall 2016
with Prof. Seavitt Nordenson and Seibert with Prof. Terragni

56 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 57

 Landscape Architecture CITYWORKS X

Sarah Toth, Red Hook “Filling in the Gaps” Yifan Xing, “Brownsville Park Design”
Studio 2, Spring 2016 Studio 3, Fall 2015
with Prof. Studer and Seamans with Prof. Weintraub

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 Landscape Architecture CITYWORKS X

Mike Madden, “Nuclear Ground”

Studio 6, Spring 2017
with Prof. Seavitt Nordenson and Seibert

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 Landscape Architecture CITYWORKS X

Hana Georg, “Herd Mentality” Joint Studio with UD Mid-review “Exhibition Airport 2016”
Studio 2, Spring 2017 Studio 5, Fall 2016
with Prof. Hoffman Brandt with Prof. Hoffman Brandt and Terragni

62 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 63

 CITYWORKS X
Landscape Architecture

CONSTRUCTION
TECHNOLOGY:
TOWARD A
THEORY OF
COMPREHENSIVE
DESIGN
Christian Volkmann,
Associate Professor

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CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY CITYWORKS X
Science need not be called generators of economic devel- always work” reflect the principles to merge the material and the
anything but a collection of opment—has created a growing that promise success. The “rest” immaterial, and to move beyond
recipes that always work. sense of weariness and thus relates to poetry, our experience of design considerations merely
All the rest is literature. hinders architectural creativity. thought, and specific narratives. based in visual logic.
The relationship between the All must be utilized in concert to When addressing mate-
—Paul Valéry, Tel Quel (1941) immaterial and the material— create a holistic understanding. riality and concomitant
although vital—is often articulated Construction technology must questions concerning the ways
Paul Valéry’s connection in the “real world” in ways that are be learned in ways that connect of making, architecture should
between science and literature unsatisfying and discouraging. a conceptual design narrative to be approached endoscopi-
carries important implications Decisions seldom negotiate the specific principles of material- cally—from the inside out—by
for understanding construction conceptual and the practical with ization. Learning to negotiate the concentrating on assemblies and
technology’s bearing on archi- significant intellectual consid- two, however, is a challenging how internal relationships interre-
tecture. Science and literature eration. The building material task. They must be embraced late. In so doing, the subcutaneous
help develop tangible, creative industry encourages this discon- permanently in order to develop conditions become emphasized.
skill sets. Both encourage nection, favoring repetitiveness literacy in diverse techniques and They have to evolve through
original thinking and, beyond in its production and creating their utilization for design skills. explorations in sections and
the academic realm, promise to material solutions for which one An appropriate technical solution dissection. The deepest under-
develop a satisfying professional system fits all. Today’s landscapes must be considered in relation standing of a subject’s anatomy
path, and create a better, more of social media and the dramatic to its conceptual intent. It must develops by using techniques
meaningful, and more beautiful societal changes they have engen- serve the project’s immaterial to deconstruct and reconstruct
future through shaping the built dered also point to a world without idea. To interrelate one to the an artifact. To develop tangi-
environment. a strong, specific, and immanent other is paramount. bility in architecture requires
That a thought can actually be material understanding. Many design studios address understanding its anatomical
transmitted into material form is a Nevertheless, our admiration such comprehensive problems conditions.
compelling aspect of architecture. for customization, maker culture, by concentrating on context The technology sequence in
In that respect, a designer acts as and artisanal knowledge grows and overall conditions. They the BArch and MArch Programs
an inventor, a tinkerer, a bricoleur. constantly and sharply contrasts then zoom into a smaller scale at the SSA is composed of three
Only what exists can be used to with the immateriality of our for refinement but still address courses:
prove a case. Construction tech- digital world. The attraction program, function, circulation, Construction Technology 1
nology offers an essential design to making is deeply related public-private patterns or analyzes basic building systems,
link between the immaterial and to our experience and search historic references as part of an predominantly in wood and
the material. This objective is for an authentic way of being, ectoscopic, big-picture inves- masonry. As part of this course,
becoming more and more relevant connecting our familiarity with tigation, with rather immaterial students build 1-1/2”=1’-0”
across multiple perspectives in ourselves with the things that parameters. Accordingly, the models, addressing the aesthetic
contemporary architecture. surround us. Accordingly, mate- haptic understanding of mate- and physical qualities of key
In the past decades, our urban riality must be understood as an riality remains circumscribed. details such as wall-ground,
environment—where the building approach that merges science and Construction technologies must wall-floor, wall-opening; wall-roof
sector is one of the most powerful literature. Valéry’s “recipes that be integrated into design thinking and corner conditions. The investi-

66 67
CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY CITYWORKS X

Solar RoofPod and Harlem Garden

for Urban Food at SSA

68 69
CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY CITYWORKS X

That a thought
gation negotiates visual effect and school’s rooftop. Its ongoing
physical translation. programming—notably the
Construction Technology expansion of its garden—has
2 looks more closely at mate- also contributed to these efforts.

can actually
rial strategies generated by Smaller projects—such as building
industrial processes—such as furniture including a conference
steel, aluminum, and concrete table for the RoofPod—are testing
fabrication—and utilizes them this ground in tangible ways.

be transmitted
architecturally. Here, too, study Through exposure to specific
models are built, now at an even design-build projects, students
more challenging scale of 3”=1’-0”, cognitively learn to appreciate and
concentrating on how particular adopt particular design strategies.
methods help create perceivable Furthermore, the RoofPod lunch

into material
material experiences and articula- lecture series brings practitioners
tions. to the school who probe the rela-
Construction Technology tionship between technology and
3 investigates environmental architecture, exposing students to

form is
control, response, and manipu- a range of conceptual and intellec-
lation. In this course, students tual investigations.
develop upon knowledge acquired The use of hands-on forms
in earlier courses to use parametric of learning is paramount to

a compelling
tools and to negotiate between the understanding composition and
immaterial and the material. They results. Our goal is to manipulate
generate an adapted design that the common and often profane
responds to measurable impact approach to assemblies, thus
and conceptual ideas related to a developing more meaningful and

aspect of
specific site. Several scales and uncanny architecture. Skills must
design techniques come together. be built that relate to craft and
The SSA’s design-build haptic learning.
efforts support this strategy. So Under these conditions,

architecture.
far, the Solar RoodPod has been materiality can reveal intelligent
at the center of these efforts—a and sensitive knowledge to a
plus-net-energy roof pavilion specific architectural problem.
presented at the Department of The poetic existence of materiality
Energy’s 2011 Solar Decathlon is poised to develop undeniable
on the National Mall in Wash- appeal. Accordingly, technology
ington D.C. The RoofPod is now contributes to the sophisticated
permanently installed on our making of built form.

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CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY CITYWORKS X
CITYWORKS X

In that
respect,
a designer
acts as
an inventor,
a tinkerer,
a bricoleur.

72
Urban Design
City College New York 73
 Urban Design CITYWORKS X

Master of Urban Design

The Master of Urban Design Program is focused and the CUNY Graduate Center The Master of Urban
on creating new, equitable, beautiful, and sustainable Design Program is intimate and intense. Embedded
forms, practices, and technologies for the city and urban in a school in which each program foregrounds the
life. Committed to both experiment and amelioration, importance of cities and their decisive impact on the
the two-semester program focuses each year first on a fate of the earth, we offer a year of stimulation,
New York City site and, after a research visit, on design camaraderie, invention, and adventure to a remarkably
for a city in a demanding environment abroad. diverse and dedicated group of students.
Believing that there is no grand, unified discourse
of the urban, the program offers wide opportunities to
engage the unparalleled resources of the City University
of New York and New York City, providing a rich variety
of critical perspectives on urbanism.
The program is designed to be completed in
two full-time, sequential semesters. At the core of the
curriculum is the design studio taught by the program
director. This intensely engages a sequence of problems
ranging from abstract studies to work on a large New
York City site to a project in an interestingly stressed city
elsewhere, visited during the semester break. Projects
have addressed sites including the Ecuadorian rainforest,
Belfast, Tianjin, Nicosia, Johannesburg, New Orleans,
Hanoi, Wuhan, Bogota, Tijuana, Biloxi, San Jose, Houston,
and Chicago.
The design studio is the spine of the program
and three additional courses are taken each semester.
These include required courses in urban theory and
metabolism plus two electives each term, chosen from
the remarkable and wide-ranging urban offerings and
distinguished faculty at the SSA and City College, the
Urban Affairs and Planning Program at Hunter College,

74 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 75

 Urban Design CITYWORKS X

Creating new,
equitable, beautiful,
and sustainable
forms, practices, and
technologies.

Deniz Celik Raymond Jiminez

Urban Design, Spring 2016 Urban Design, Spring 2016
with Prof. Quilian Riano with Prof. Quilian Riano

76 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 77

 Urban Design CITYWORKS X

Elena Tugusheva Vakhtang Nemsadze

Urban Design, Spring 2017 Urban Design, Spring 2017
with Prof. Michael Sorkin with Prof. Michael Sorkin

78 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 79

 Urban Design CITYWORKS X

Vakhtang Nemsadze Katelyen Meyer

Urban Design, Spring 2017 Urban Design, Spring 2018
with Prof. Michael Sorkin with Prof. Michael Sorkin

80 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 81

 Urban Design CITYWORKS X

Nadia Constantatos Sara Altohamy

Urban Design, Spring 2018 Urban Design, Spring 2018
with Prof. Michael Sorkin with Prof. Michael Sorkin

82 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 83

 Urban Design CITYWORKS X

A rich variety of
critical perspectives
on urbanism.

Marcus Wilford Metrophysics Exhibition at the SSA

Urban Design, Spring 2018 Urban Design, Spring 2018
with Prof. Michael Sorkin Prof. Michael Sorkin

84 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 85

 CITYWORKS X
Urban Design

TYPECASTING?
TEACHING
THE STUDIO
FOR DESIGNING
SUBURBAN
FUTURES
June Williamson,
Associate Professor

86 Spitzer School of Architecture 87

TYPECASTING? CITYWORKS X
Why do I site design studios more dense, although sometimes
in “boring,” suburban places? I’m less. The title ParkingPLUS was
teaching architecture at the SSA, in borrowed from a design challenge
West Harlem, in Manhattan, in New for professional design teams that
York City, the largest, greatest city I organized in 2014, with Kaja Kühl,
in the United States! Why go “out for the Long Island-based Rauch
there”? It may make little sense Foundation. The design challenge
to those looking through a lens of —four teams, four sites—was a
“inside” the city versus “outside.” follow up to the successful Build a
But the positionality of the “out/ Better Burb “Be Bold” open ideas
in” frame in metropolitan space is competition I’d run previously
relative, especially when thinking (and documented in my 2013 book
through race and class, so much Designing Suburban Futures).
so that flummoxed commentators Conceptualizing and organizing a
reacting to the aftermath of the 2014 design competition draws deeply
police shooting of Michael Brown from the same skill set as preparing
in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson the brief and teaching a compelling
described it, illogically, as an “inner studio course.
city suburb.” On the flip side, when For the ParkingPLUS studio
chain stores replace local retailers, at the SSA, students designed
critics are quick to decry the projects for two sites, adjacent to the
“suburbanization” of Manhattan. Baldwin and Valley Stream stations
Maybe I site my studios in on the Long Island Rail Road, each
suburban places in part because, as comprised of acres of greyfields, Map of metropolitan New York sites used for over a decade in
Williamson’s SSA studios and seminars.
a building architect who is a woman i.e. paved surface parking lots. We
(whose mother was a steno-typist, a partnered with the Nassau County
damn fast one whose nimble fingers planning department, selecting sites
I inherited), I’m already “outside” in villages identified in a planning
anyway. study as most receptive to transit-
In the pair of Advanced Studios adjacent development (the term
that I’ve taught, “ParkingPLUS” transit-oriented is too charged for
and “RapidTYPING,” each subtitled Long Island politics—ay, NIMBYs!).
“Studio for Designing Suburban The lines are elevated, which
Futures,” I have applied my research created excellent opportunities to
into the ongoing processes of design through section. But first,
suburban retrofitting in North students needed to understand
America, that is the reinhabitation, parking structure types so that
redevelopment, and regreening of they could be innovative with them.
postwar, auto-oriented development Closing a circle of connections,
types – office parks, shopping malls, we learned from parking structure
big box stores, parking lots – into research produced in a studio at
new built forms and uses, often Northeastern University taught by

88 89
TYPECASTING? CITYWORKS X
Tim Love, who as principal of Utile, Lee, Sam Jacoby, and Jorge Silvetti.
Inc. had been lead designer in one We toured Forest Hills Gardens with
of the ParkingPLUS professional Kate Orff of SCAPE, and received
design teams the year before. pragmatic critiques from Elizabeth
Once the parking structure types Moule, one of the founders of the
were understood, students could Congress for New Urbanism. The
reorganize horizontal car storage readings reinforced for me the idea
into vertical configurations, that typo-morphological thinking
liberating land area for which never disappeared from the practice
they proposed new uses: housing, of architecture but has been
markets, parks, farms, plazas, etc. somewhat repressed. While openly
The second studio, acknowledged in New Urbanist
RapidTYPING, is ongoing as I write circles, albeit undertheorized, the
this essay. The new iteration is workings of typo-morphology
less tethered to the Long Island in contemporary architectural
design competitions, but is rooted practices had become torturously
in the same idea: to understand hidden, perhaps to maximize
generative building types and typo- a posture of distancing from
morphologies—the description Postmodernism in the 1970s and
of urban form based on detailed 1980s.
classifications of buildings and open But to return back to the studio.
spaces, as well as the processes of The students compiled a lexicon of
dynamic change that take place terms, and devised for themselves
over time as the form is inhabited. a typology that they would then RPA advisor and Valley Stream resident David Sabatino leads a
ParkingPLUS studio site tour in Fall 2015.
The aim is to both remake places use to generate model designs of
that are no longer performing well, four mid-scale building types —
by a range of deeply meaningful double dwelling, four-plex, vertical
measures—environmental, social stack, and public hall — as well as
justice, human health, economic— a complete street and square or
and to use architecturally-informed common. These types were explored
investigations to devise and through a “rapid typing” phase in
represent compelling alternatives. which I asked students to design and
To do this I sought to engage, fully represent one new building, or
together with the students, in a re- street, design per week. Only then, at
emergent architectural discourse mid-semester, did I introduce sites:
around generative typology. We three recently decommissioned
read Guilio Carlo Argan’s pivotal Sears store properties in the greater
1963 essay “On the Typology of New York metropolitan area, each
Architecture” as well as writings around 25–30 acres. The final phase
and lectures by Rafael Moneo, is to test the models on one of the
Anne Vernez Moudon, Brenda Case sites by replacing the big boxes and
Scheer, Bernard Leupen, Christopher parking lots with a healthier, multi-

90 91
TYPECASTING? CITYWORKS X

The aim is to both remake

places that a re no longer
performing we ll ... and to use
architectura lly-informed
investigatio ns to devise
and represen t compelling
altern atives.
92 93
TYPECASTING? CITYWORKS X CITYWORKS X

scalar urban infill tissue of buildings, from mail order kit houses shipped
streets, blocks, lots, and open all over the nation up until 1940,
spaces. The results of the studios, to Craftsman tools for the do-it-
I contend, are not boring at all. It’s yourselfer and Kenmore appliances
challenging work to propose good for the homemaker, to the largest
fixes for these mistake-places. skyscraper in Chicago, to anchor
As a coda, I’ll note that tracking department stores in suburban malls
the popular relationship of Sears to and commercial strips from shore to
architecture and building over the shore. There is a rich story there to
course of the twentieth century—the tell. Maybe I will explore it in a future
“American century” —is fascinating, publication.

Sustainability
Section through automated parking tower proposed in
ParkingPLUS scheme by Marija Gjorgjievska, in the Urban
Environment
Advanced Studio 7, Fall 2015

94 City College New York 95

 Sustainability in the Urban Environment CITYWORKS X

Master of Science in Sustainability

in the Urban Environment
The Master of Science in Sustainability in the development near Fond Parisien, Haiti on Lake Azuei,
Urban Environment Program is an innovative, interdisci- a large brackish water body bordering the Dominican
plinary program offered jointly by the Spitzer School of Republic. The program included improvements to water,
Architecture, the Grove School of Engineering, the City sanitation, agriculture, aquaculture, energy production,
College Science Division, and the Colin Powell School employment and promotion of eco-tourism for Fond
for Civic and Global Leadership. It draws upon emerging Parisien. The focus of the project is three-fold:
approaches in the disciplines of architecture, engi- 1) designing for enhanced agricultural and aquaculture
neering, science, and social sciences. It aims to prepare productivity, including worker housing; 2) envisioning
students to devise new generations of buildings, urban an eco-industrial park comprised of complementary
infrastructure, and open spaces while considering rapid commercial and industrial activities that will create local
urbanization, climate change, resource limitations, and employment; 3) creating a master plan for the underde-
potential environmental degradation. veloped national park, Le Parc Naturel, Quisqueya, opti-
Most of the courses in the program are struc- mizing its existing botanical garden and wildlife refuge,
tured around research, typically conducted in inter- and including new eco-tourism facilities. The objective
disciplinary teams. Capstone projects are explicitly of the project is to maximize systems integration and
research-oriented. One image shown here explores an exchanges among all the components of the program.
“infrastructural ecology” or the potential beneficial inter-
actions among existing and proposed new urban infra- Student Credits
structural facilities sited in proximity on Jamaica Bay. The Capstone:
students calculated potential energy, water and waste Kohinoor Begum, Stephanie Ingber, Nanette Navarro,
Alvis Yuen (Spring/Fall 2016)
savings (their recovery and reuse) for exchange among:
first, a DEP wastewater treatment plant; second, an MTA Fond Parisien project, Case Studies in Sustainability
(Spring 2017):
bus depot and repair garage; and third, a proposed DSNY Kathleen Bender, Ting-Han Chung, Evan Craker, Maria
organic waste recovery facility. The study became the De Domenico, John Delgado, Silas Drewchin, Michael
basic program for a subsequent advanced design studio. Duffy, Alan Eisenberg, Abdallah Labib, Jennifer Leone,
Mira Lieman- Sifry, Michael Lugo-pimentel, Jun Nam,
Another project is an 8-week design initiative Solomon Oh, Selma Quddus, Jethro Rebollar, Melissa
undertaken as a case study in sustainability, part of a Santana, Nicole Schmitt, Shika Shah, Cameron Shore,
seminar by that name. In teams, twenty students devel- Elena Tugusheva, Jacline Vargas
oped integrated design concepts for a closed-loop,
“circular economy” for a modest new community, a
96 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 97
 Sustainability in the Urban Environment CITYWORKS X

Devise new
2

generations of
buildings, urban
infrastructure,
and open space.

1 3

1 Kohinoor Begum, Stephanie Ingber, Nanette Navarro, and Alvis Yuen 2 Diagrammatic Relationships 3 Sanitation System
Capstone, Spring/Fall 2016 Case Studies in Sustainability, Spring 2017 Case Studies in Sustainability, Spring 2017
with Prof. Hillary Brown with Prof. Hillary Brown with Prof. Hillary Brown

98 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 99

 Sustainability in the Urban Environment CITYWORKS X

1 3

1 Systems Integration 2 Community Biodigester 3 Upland Agroforestry, Lowland Silvopasture, and Lakou Housing
Case Studies in Sustainability, Spring 2017 Case Studies in Sustainability, Spring 2017 Case Studies in Sustainability, Spring 2017
with Prof. Hillary Brown with Prof. Hillary Brown with Prof. Hillary Brown

100 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 101

 CITYWORKS X

New Lakou Housing

Case Studies in Sustainability, Spring 2017
with Prof. Hillary Brown

Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York

 Sustainability in the Urban Environment CITYWORKS X

1 3

1 Existing Site Conditions 2 Site Master Plan 3 Energy Master Plan, 4 Natural Park Master Plan
Case Studies in Sustainability, Spring 2017 Case Studies in Sustainability, Spring 2017 Case Studies in Sustainability, Spring 2017 Case Studies in Sustainability, Spring 2017
with Prof. Hillary Brown with Prof. Hillary Brown with Prof. Hillary Brown with Prof. Hillary Brown

104 Spitzer School of Architecture City College New York 105

 CITYWORKS X
Sustainability in the Urban Environment

TRANSIENT SPACES
Marina Correia,
Adjunct Assistant Professor;
Loukia Tsafoulia,
Adjunct Assistant Professor; and
Suzan Wines,
Adjunct Associate Professor

106 Spitzer School of Architecture 107

TRANSIENT SPACES CITYWORKS X
At its sharpest, my and imaginative future for
hypothesis is that beneath our rapidly urbanizing planet.
the country specifics of Transient Spaces was established
diverse global crises lie as a forum for faculty, students,
emergent systemic trends and practitioners to explore
shaped by a few very basic the concept of impermanence
dynamics. For that reason, in its various social and formal
empirical research and manifestations. The project
conceptual recoding must aspires to identify radical tools
happen together. and systems for rethinking
disciplinary boundaries and to
—Saskia Sassen, Expulsions: construct ideological positions
Brutality and Complexity in that embrace an ethics of
the Global Economy (2014) economy and precarity as forces
of change and potentiality in the
In a world where economies, making and re-making of civic
ecologies, ideologies, identities, spaces.
and territorial struggles are In the advanced design
no longer defined by borders, studio “Transient Spaces:
we are all potential refugees. Building Shelter in Crisis
Transience has become the Contexts,” taught by Adjunct
predominant mode of existence Assistant Professor Loukia
in many parts of the world. In Tsafoulia, students developed
response, planners and architects strategies for disaster response
are being challenged to create that show economic and
infrastructural systems and new social sustainability through
spatial structures of unparalleled community integration strategies
resilience and elasticity. Transient and a systems approach. It
Re-Action, A socially Reflective Approach,
Spaces is a collaborative provided alternative ways for Prosfygika Alexandras Complex,
curatorial project inspired by the addressing every day, context- by Vionna Wai, Roberto Zhang, Emanuel Gjini,
from Loukia Tsafoulia’s
work of students in Advanced based issues that are less “Transient Spaces: Building Shelter in Crisis Contexts,”
Advanced Studio 8, Spring 2017
Design Studios taught by Loukia dependent on the global relief
Tsafoulia and Suzan Wines at industry.
the SSA in 2017. We believe that How can design disrupt
some recurring spatial and social power structures in relief
implications of the students’ response? Could our methods
work reflect the school’s mission adapt to the ever-increasing
to promote a just, sustainable, need for sheltering amidst

108 109
TRANSIENT SPACES CITYWORKS X
ongoing crisis? How can by employing new data sets,
architects optimize the capacity mapping flexible infrastructures,
of people in acute need of and addressing a persistent lack
protection while ensuring a high of communication that their
degree of livability and a sense research revealed.
of community and equality? To establish bridges
Issues of temporality and space between academic research
adaptation were investigated. and the various professionals
Tactics of appropriation, involved in the humanitarian
severance, fragmentation, and support mechanisms, the studio
cultural identification of urban connected with members
space were examined as forces from the NGO Danish Refugee
and reactions in both physical Council, the Greek Ministry
space and ideological position. of Immigration Policy, and the
The studio researched four UNHCR. This interdisciplinary
distinct sites in Athens, Greece inquiry triggered the Transience
in terms of temporality, ranging Spaces collaborative project,
from hyper-temporal hotspots to as a way to rethink disciplinary
refugee camps as well as outside boundaries and as a forum of
of camp contexts within dense scientific, historical, cultural
urban settings. “Schisto” a former studies, and creative works
military camp on the outskirts that embody ephemerality and
of Athens and “Skaramagkas” nuance.
a former shipyard facility, are Students’ work submitted
newly developed camps the size to the international competition
of small towns hosting people Rethinking The Future
for an indeterminate amount of Sustainability Awards 2017 was
time. In the center of Athens, awarded in the Urban Design
Weaving Communities, Transitioning an existing
refugee camp into an integrated community, Schisto Camp, the studio engaged with the category.
by Juan Vallejo, Emir Abdul-Emir, Daniella Vega-Ortiz, Samantha Ong,
from Loukia Tsafoulia’s “Transient Spaces: Building Shelter in Crisis Contexts,” “Eleonas” Camp, a former In the advanced design
Advanced Studio 8, Spring 2017 industrial neighborhood and studio “The Social Impact
the “Prosfygika Alexandras” Startup Studio: Tools of
complex, built to host the 1922 Transition” taught by Adjunct
Asia Minor disaster refugees. Associate Professor Suzan Wines,
Students identified new students applied their spatial and
languages to bridge across the social planning skills, strategic
various actors, organizations, and thinking, and design acumen to
operational forces on these sites, long-term humanitarian solutions

110 111
TRANSIENT SPACES CITYWORKS X

Stephanie Salazar and the teachXchange team in Suzan Wines’s

“The Social Impact Startup Studio: Tools of Transition”
Advanced Studio 8, Spring 2017

112 113
TRANSIENT SPACES
CITYWORKS X

Acknowledgements
that empower specifically problems that needed solving Graphic Design
because they are nomadic. based on their research, meetings Manuel Miranda Practice
Students designed educational and interviews with consultants,
“tools of transition” to mitigate NGOs, potential customers, and Concept
the stagnation and suffering beneficiaries. The five problems
that accompanies protracted that the students tackled are
Cesare Birignani and Julio Salcedo-Fernandez
displacement by equipping language barriers to education; Managing Editor
people with the capacity to clean air and sanitation in
self-educate. These tools would informal settlements; socio- Sean Weiss
provide knowledge, cultivate emotional development and
useful skills and increase access empowerment through problem
Editorial Assistant
to critical information while solving skills; cyber-bullying; and Mary Gilmartin
empowering and improving the need for a universal platform
the lives of displaced people for the exchange of educational We are grateful for the support of Interim
on a daily basis in anticipation resources among temporary aid Dean Gordon Gebert and Camille Hall, SSA Director
of a productive resettlement. workers in emergency situations.
The goal was to create long- Students submitted their of Administration and Finance. We would like to thank
term solutions to a need that is proposals to the Zahn Innovation Graduate Program Directors Hillary Brown, Denise
often neglected in emergency Center–a startup incubator on Hoffman Brandt, Bradley Horn, and Michael Sorkin for
situations. Unlike shelter, learning CCNY’s campus, for the 2018 providing the visual and textual materials showcasing
is easily transportable and Innovation Challenge and won
ethically undeniable, making three out of four prizes in the the graduate programs. Undergraduate Coordinator
the investment in educational Social Impact category. One team Jeremy Edminston graciously provided the text for the
tools an essential long-term took second place in the final BArch Program. Thanks to Fran Leadon, MUD student
contribution to post-crisis stage of the competition. Sara Althohamy, and BArch Student Solomon Oh for
recovery. Transient Spaces is
The studio operated like organized by Loukia Tsafoulia,
having collected so many of the images included here.
a research and development Marina Correia and Suzan Wines, We appreciate the contributions of faculty members
lab, leveraging teamwork as an with the vital help from SSA Marina Correia, Julio Salcedo-Fernandez, Loukia
intrinsic part of the innovation students, Samantha Ong, Emir Tsafoulia, Christian Volkmann, June Williamson, and
process while tapping into Abdul Emir and Juan Vallejo.
resources and expertise across
Suzan Wines who dedicated so much of their time in
the CCNY campus and our NGO writing the essays. Finally, we thank the students of
consultants. Over the course of the SSA for all of their hard work in creating the stellar
the semester, students identified projects featured in CWX.
a variety of real and critical

ISBN: 978-1-7327395-0-5

114 City College New York 115

Acknowledgements CITYWORKS X

The City University of Shawn Ciro Cuono Marcha Johnson Ivan Rosa June Williamson
New York Administration
Rickenbacker Adjunct Assistant Professor Adjunct Professor Adjunct Associate Professor Associate Professor
Director of The J. Max Bond (former faculty) (former faculty)
James B. Milliken Center, Associate Professor
Michael King Susan Wines
Chancellor Eliana Dotan Adjunct Assistant Professor Jonathan Scelsa Adjunct Associate Professor
Michael Sorkin Adjunct Lecturer
Andrew Lavallee
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Farzam Yazdanseta
The City College of Director of the Graduate (former faculty) (former faculty)
New York City Adjunct Professor Adjunct Assistant Professor
Urban Design Program,
University of New York Distinguished Professor
Howard Duffy Brett Seamans (former faculty)
Administration Adjunct Associate Professor Fran Leadon Adjunct Lecturer
(former faculty) Associate Professor (former faculty) Staff and Advisors
Faculty
Dr. Vincent
Alfred Eatman Philip Lee Catherine Seavitt Hannah Borgeson
Boudreau Danae Alessi Adjunct Associate Professor
President Adjunct Lecturer
Adjunct Professor Nordenson Graduate Student Services
Robin Elmslie Osler Quardean Associate Professor Manager
Dr. Tony Liss Venesa Alicea
Interim Provost Adjunct Professor Lewis-Allen Matthew Seibert Carolina Colon
Adjunct Assistant Adjunct Lecturer Lecturer Office Assistant
The City College of New York
Professor, CCNY SSA Alan Feigenberg (former faculty)
Bernard and Anne Spitzer
Architect Licensing Advisor Professor Fabian Llonch Camille Hall
School of Architecture Jacob Alspector Albert Foyo
Associate Professor Meg Studer Director for Finance and
Lecturer Administration
Leadership
Associate Professor Adjunct Professor Ivan Markov (former faculty)
Aybars Asci Peter Gisolfi
Associate Professor Arnaldo Melendez
Caitlin Swaim Admissions and Academic
Gordon A. Gebert Adjunct Assistant Professor Professor Christian Martos Adjunct Lecturer Advisor
Interim Dean, Professor Adjunct Assistant Professor
Ali Askarinejad Domingo Gonzales (former faculty)
Michael Miller
Julio Salcedo- Director of Fabrication Labs, Adjunct Lecturer Frank Melendez Michael Tantala Director of Operations
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Fernandez Henry Grosman
Assistant Professor Adjunct Professor
Chair, Associate Professor Ahu Aydogan Sara Morales
Adjunct Associate Professor Pablo de Miguel Elisabetta Terragni Admissions and Academic
Assistant Professor
Hillary Brown (former faculty) Adjunct Assistant Professor Associate Professor Advisor
Director of M.S. Program Nandini Bagchee Marta Gutman Pinki Mondal Anthony Titus Taida Sainvil
in Stustainability in the Urban Associate Professor Professor Adjunct Professor Library Coordinator
Environment, Professor Adjunct Lecturer
Cesare Birignani Athanasios Haritos Donald Mongitore Loukia Tsafoulia Nilda Sanchez-
Jeremy Edmiston Assistant Professor Adjunct Associate Professor Adjunct Professor
Coordinator of the Bachelor
(former faculty)
Adjunct Assistant Professor Rodriguez
Architecture Program, Lance Jay Brown Matthias Neumann Division Chief of the
Associate Professor Albert Vecerka
Professor Daniel Hauben Adjunct Leturer Adjunct Associate Professor
Architecture Library, Assistant
Professor
Denise Hoffman M.T. Chang Adjunct Lecturer
Irma L. Ostroff
Brandt Christian Volkmann Nicole Smith
Assistant Professor Ali C. Höcek Adjunct Professor Associate Professor
Director of Graduate Adjunct Associate Professor Assistant to the Chair
Timothy M. Collins Andrea Parker
Landscape Architecture Lee Weintraub Erica Wszolek
Program, Associate Professor Adjunct Assistant Professor Leonard Hopper Adjunct Lecturer Associate Professor
Adjunct Professor Executive Associate to the
Bradley Horn Marina Correia Vyjayanthi Rao Dean
Srdjan
Director of Graduate Adjunct Assistant Professor David Hotson Adjunct Lecturer
Architecture Program, (former faculty) Adjunct Professor Jovanovic Weiss
Associate Professor (former faculty)  Quilian Riano Adjunct Associate Professor
Marie Debije Counts Adjunct Lecturer
Adjunct Assistant Professor Andrea Johnson (former faculty)
Sean Weiss
(former faculty) Adjunct Lecturer Assistant Professor

116 Spitzer School of Architecture

 CIT
SPITZER
SCHOOL of
ARCHI
TECTURE

Y
WO
RKS
X 2014 to 2017