Housing Works

Professor Alan Bruton

Design Studio 6

Spring 2016

This project was introduced with three major stakeholders in mind: a musician who would fund the construction, a timber company which would supply the materials, and a non-profit called Housing Works. Housing Works is an organization that specializes in caring for HIV positive homeless citizens of New York City. The primary sources of revenue for Housing Works come from their bookstore, thriftshops, and coffee shop.

The goal of this project was to consolidate all of these programs, as well as offices, clinical spaces, and event spaces, into one central Soho location.

My first study model is my interpretation of the song "Music for Pieces of Wood" by Steve Reich. This song consists of five different wooden percussion instruments, two of which create the song's general structure, while the other three come in one beat at a time. I illustrated this by creating a model using lines, planes, and masses.

The geometries and spatial qualities within my study model led me to designing my final building, located on the corner of Houston and Crosby. The unique shape of the site allows for two strong facades and a narrow, vertical space. I organized clinical and office space in the thick corner of the site, while the narrow end is organized into a vertical bookstore with experiential staircases and multiple terraces.