Master Plan for a Sustainable Kigutu

KIGUTU, BURUNDI

Capturing the romance between East African elemental aesthetics and inventive off-the-grid sustainability, the master plan for this 40 acre rural mountainous Burundian site manifests the villagers’ love for their land. Yet Kigutu is also a community where conversation creates social fabric. These conversations, that are typically informal, in groups and outdoors, are the impetus for the design of a series of bucolic communal places and spaces that encourage dialogue.

YWCA Brooklyn Master Plan

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK

We were asked by the YWCA of Brooklyn to create a Master Plan for the renovation of the lower two floors of their building that would both take care of the functional needs of their community spaces as well as amplify their mission of eliminating racism, empowering women, and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all.

Staten Island Community Charter School

STATEN ISLAND, NEW YORK

After brainstorming with faculty and members of the Board to envision the future of the new Staten Island Community Charter School, we developed a full architectural program of requirements. The program was divided into three lists of “must have,” “would like,” and “if possible” spaces. Incorporating this data, we then created two test-fit options for locating these programmatic needs within a warehouse site at 572 Richmond Terrace, located within the New Brighton area on the Staten Island North Shore. One option consisted of creating a sustainable design that incorporated the school’s needs within the warehouse’s existing limits. The other option looked at the possibility of designing a school at the base of the building and adding on several stories of housing above. Both test fits included developing the existing parking areas into indoor/outdoor auditoriums and sports facilities that can be used by both the school and the adjacent community. Our strategy for this site seamlessly coincides with the emerging Staten Island North Shore 2030 Plan that advocates for the development of neighborhoods located between the Ferry and Snug Harbor Museum into sustainable pedestrian-friendly, human-scale neighborhoods that celebrate their proximity to the waterfront.