Occupy Smith, an Affordable Housing Complex in New York City, NY. Occupy Smith was designed to directly address the housing shortage and drive for sustainable practices in New York City’s center. Its design proposes a multi-functional complex that is self-sustaining – practicing ideas of adaptation, rejuvenation, and user functionality.

The façade is composed of a panel system that conforms to the buildings’ program to facilitate natural lighting, public and private visibility, and airflow. Occupy Smith inhabits a primary crossing in New York City that sits at the intersection of ocean, highway, and lush vegetation. The building’s form equally considers its neighboring environments and finds ways to increase access through openings, ramping, and a multitude of gardens.

In an effort to address current issues of food access, Occupy Smith adapts new processes that place commercial markets at the core. These markets serve as meeting points at ground level that intersect terraces, market spaces, bamboo fabrication workshops, and bamboo treatments spaces – strengthening the idea of rejuvenation.

Occupy Smith proposes a living organization that maximizes floor space by compartmentalizing living quarters to create boxes for living, where all essential programs are consolidated in a functional manner.

Employing ideas of community and collaboration within the realm of Affordable Housing, Occupy Smith residents are immersed in a lifestyle that allows them to be self-sufficient, without sacrificing qualities like gardens, shared spaces, nutrition, and smart design, all which are oftentimes overlooked due to high costs and area constraints. By designing prefab box-like systems for interior programs, a substantial amount of money and time is able to be redirected to preserve and maintain community areas that are essential to the wellbeing of low income residents. Here, residents build healthy habits at home, to better impact their environment elsewhere.