This project explores a Manhattan block that is mostly occupied by tenement houses and a newer planned affordable housing unit. The block is surrounded by schools and a playground. The empty rooftops of the tenement houses create an opportunity for a green public space. A public maker space and massing for affordable housing are designed.

The project explored the creation of a metal structural system of columns that are capable of being occupied, their framework goes on to become the roof of the structure. The columns let in light into the delicate and airy structure that resembles a scaffolding, a light interconnected system that contrasts with the heavy tenement houses that surround it. Heavy tectonic elements like a gallery stairway, a hanging facade with a ramp are inserted into this scaffolding.

This newer structure fits within a framework of these tenement houses but begins to eat into and grow onto the old tenement houses. This creates a dynamic of heavier more intimate spaces of the tenement houses and a light inner world created by the newer structure. The openness of this building allows for the creation of work more transparently. Openings within the floor plates create the boundaries of programmatic elements, which are connected visually under one roof but not far from reach.