This site documents the work of the first year Master of Architecture studio at the School of Constructed Environments at Parsons the New School for Design.
The housing studio is the second in the series of six required design studios in the graduate curriculum at Parsons. In this studio students study various conditions particular to housing, including the part (the unit) the whole (the housing building), public, semi public/semi-private, and private spaces, urban and ecological issues, and precedents of housing schemes.
Issues such as culture, technology, history, theory and applicable zoning regulations receive critical readings in this studio. This is done with an understanding that diagrams, drawings, and models – architectural conventions – are a form of thought and the language with which invention, rigor, and discovery are expressed.
Students in the Spring 14 section are studying the Robert Fulton Houses, a series of 11 buildings in Chelsea, Manhattan, owned by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). The students are tasked with analyzing, assessing, and adpating these buildings to address inefficiencies in planning, systems, and networking.