A Platform for a New Domesticity

Manhattan, New York City
Fall 2015 / GSD Semester 1.1
Professor Felipe Correa, with Adam Himes
Architecture and Urban Design

Sited adjacent to the East River at the end of the prominent 14th St., A Platform for a New Domesticity introduces a uniquely layered urbanism that mediates between the scale of the residential unit and the totality of the East River. Positioned on top of a convention center, itself hovering over the FDR highway, the residential program hybridizes 3 dominant typologies (the mat, slab, and tower types) in order to stage a new domesticity both relatable to the human body and capable of accommodating much needed density for New York City.

In contrast to contemporary developer driven waterfront developments that de facto privatizes its waterfront (such as the Domino Sugar Factory housing development or the Queen’s West development shown highlighted below), the project provides a publicly visible and inviting waterfront promenade that plugs into to the East River park, reinvigorating an underused public amenity.