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First phase of mixed-use affordable housing development atop former juvenile detention center site opens in the Bronx

2022-06-22T15:11:00-04:00

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has announced the completion of the first phase of a five-acre redevelopment project called The Peninsula. The project will bring hundreds of affordable homes and community amenities to the former site of the Spofford Juvenile Detention Center in the Bronx’s Hunts Point neighborhood. It is the site where Adams was held at 15 years old.

In 2011 the detention center was closed after 54 years in operation, and was notorious for its poor conditions. Today, the initial $121 million phase of the mixed-use development has been completed, including 183 affordable units for New Yorkers earning between 30 and 80 percent of the area median income, with 18 homes specifically reserved for individuals who previously experienced homelessness. In addition, the building features a range of amenities, including a community room, a children’s playroom, a fitness room, and bike storage space.

The development includes a cultural arts center with a state-of-the-art black ...

NIMBYs go to court over "modern" home; Zaha gets an apology; global warming rages on: News Round-Up for August 25, 2014

2014-09-02T20:07:00-04:00

Friday, August 29:

MIT's MindRider helmet draws mental maps as you bike: The prototype is currently being used to create a mental-map and guidebook for NYC, and an upcoming Kickstarter campaign will attempt to fund the project for commercial sale.
In Beirut, a grassroots push for more grass: Lebanon's fifteen-year civil war made much of Beirut's green space inaccessible or dysfunctional. The Beirut Green Project is trying to bring at least a modicum of green space back to the city's residents.

Thursday, August 28:

Norwegian artists plan to open art academy in North Korea: Nothing's final yet, but the school is committed to its disbelief in sanctions or boycotts on art.
Alvar Aalto gets a close look from Google's Cultural Institute: Google's cameras go inside the famous Finnish architects studio, as well as a selection of his works, for a curated photo-exhibition.

Wednesday, August 27:

China considering drastic ban on coal: Chinese news outlets claim that work is underway to ban coal in Bei...

Hunts Point | Memories of the Future

2014-08-27T14:51:00-04:00

In collaboration with fifteen poets and community activists from StartUp Box South Bronx, I recently created Memories of the Future, a location-based cinema project viewed on mobile phones. The group experimented with spoken word poetry, site specific performance, and on-site spectatorship to reframe the predominant view of Hunts Point and speak about possibilities for its future from a position of power.