Dezeen School Shows: a design for co-housing informed by the works of Frank Lloyd Wright is among the architecture projects from The City College of New York.

Also featured is an accessory dwelling unit constructed using glulam and a project exploring the wider impact of landscape architecture.

The City College of New York

Institution: The City College of New York
School: Spitzer School of Architecture
Courses: Bachelor of Architecture, Master of Architecture and Master of Landscape Architecture programmes, post-professional Master of Urban Planning (Urban Design) and Master of Science in Architecture programmes and (pre-professional) Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies and the Built Environment programme
Tutors: Jeremy Edmiston, Wyatt Kuebler, Juan Guzman Palacios, Yadiel Rivera Diaz, Bradley Horn, Jane Kim, John Kirsimagi, Julio Salcedo-Fernandez, Deniz Onder, Sasha Topolnytska, Christian Volkmann, Steve Preston, Suzan Wines, Gordon Gebert, Frank Melendez and Mariami Maghlakelidze

School statement:

"The Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at the City College of New York is the flagship public school of architecture in New York City.

"The Spitzer School is committed to social and sustainable concerns in design and practice, as well as providing access to the finest education in the art, history and technology of architecture, landscape architecture and urban design to the broadest and most diverse student population.

"Spitzer continually evolves to include more of the culture and history of our student body – this diversity refocuses and tests tradition, emboldening new directions in design education and the design fields."

Group project: The Continuum 

"The studio's task was to investigate the viability of constructing a full-sized model to be used in the school as a place to promote student social activity.

"Documenting existing examples of students at play came first, piecing together fragments of stories and memories, left behind in the corridors, stairways, studios and canteen.

"Committing the body posture and ad hoc arrangements of the players to geometries, the students deployed these 'constructions' across the school.

"Student conversations were now imagined as physical encounters, disrupting the communal and public spaces of the building.

"The form and arrangement of these disruptions followed conversation, so a construction method was adopted to accommodate the play. Material thicknesses and connections were 'tuned' to the nuances of the imagined social futures."

Students: Alejandro Estevez, Jumana Dhanerawala, Reuben Muana, Junior Cruz Flores, Sherzod Davronov, Elizabeth Gomes, Miles Gordy, Jose Hoyos Villa, Miriam Perel, Thomas Smyth, Sanjida Sultana and Amjad Uddin
Course: Bachelor of Architecture; Advanced Studio: MACH SPĀβ
Tutors: Jeremy Edmiston and Wyatt Kuebler

Meatpacking District and Copenhagen by Natalia Tanko and Josh Smith

"Students selected two precedent projects – in New York City and abroad – to analyse how landscape architecture addresses ecology, community and form.

"Through drawings, diagrams and short narratives, they unpacked design intent, site context, material systems and public use.

"The goal was to move beyond visual description toward understanding process and performance: how landscape operates as infrastructure, habitat and civic space.

"Students then synthesised their findings into a single interpretive graphic and brief presentation, connecting lessons from the precedent to their own developing design approach."

Students: Natalia Tanko and Josh Smith
Course: Master of Landscape Architecture; Landscape Architecture Studio II: Park Streets
Tutors: Juan Guzman Palacios and Yadiel Rivera Diaz

Oculus by Etty Jajati and Gianna Antenucci

"This project looks to Portland's promotion of ADUs within the city in an effort to sidestep the bureaucratic red tape surrounding the construction of new housing and tactically take advantage of existing homes and lots to multiply available housing resources.

"Rooted in Portland's cold climate, this compact ADU serves as a flexible space that is adaptable, affordable and accessible for a wide range of lifestyles, ages and people.

"Our ADU is defined by walls that thicken and thin; these walls enable the formation of our dramatic, angled windows that speak to intentional, curated views within the surrounding site.

"Walls are further activated as thickness becomes utility, with carved recesses for seating, lighting and exhibiting integrated into the ADU's framework that maximises space both physically and experientially.

"An exaggerated roof directs light into the space for natural daylighting and frames perspectives of the site for upper loft areas.

"An emphasis on sustainability led to the decision to employ high-quality, resilient materials throughout the project, ensuring this house stands far beyond the average life expectancy."

Students: Etty Jajati and Gianna Antenucci
Course: Bachelor of Architecture; Core Studio 6: Designing an ADU in Portland, Maine
Tutor: Bradley Horn

Mining Houston's Disparities: Circularity and Contestedness in Visionary Futures by Lamees Nassarn and Oranette Johnson

"The project explores how circularity and contestedness can inform equitable and adaptive urban design within the Ion District adjacent to Rice University.

"As part of the Urban Design Lab, and in collaboration with the Campus Planner at Rice University and the University of Houston (for the parallel Baytown site), this particular research reimagines the Ion innovation campus and its surrounding neighbourhoods as a testing ground for reciprocity between communities, ecologies and systems.

"Through a trans-scalar approach linking university development, community agreements, mobility networks and social infrastructures, the project envisions new typologies that transform resource flows into mechanisms for circular, just urban futures."

Students: Lamees Nassarn and Oranette Johnson
Course: Master of Urban Design; Urban Design LAB: Mining Houston's Disparities
Tutors: Julio Salcedo-Fernandez and Deniz Onder

Power of the Plan by Enara Jayaweera

"Working through the organisational logic of residential precedents, the plan was collaged through cutting and grafting.

"The process investigated embedded spatial narratives and either amplified or subverted social, hierarchical and programmatic relationships – producing a reimagined domestic layout that challenges conventional ways of living and occupying space."

Student: Enara Jayaweera
Course: Bachelor of Architecture; Core Studio: Power of the Plan
Tutors: Sasha Topolnytska and Bradley Horn (coordinator)

Group project: Green Wall – Building with Concrete Block 

"This design-build project features a configuration designed to foster relaxation and a deep connection with nature.

"A sequence of three platforms, gradually rising in height, creates communicative spaces with an open, fluid layout that balances privacy and natural light.

"Integrated planters and quoins support climbing vegetation at the intersections of the platforms, allowing plants to intertwine with the structure.

"The bases are constructed from durable concrete blocks, while the upper layers employ smaller concrete bricks for visual contrast.

"The modular system enabled construction to proceed in four streamlined phases to ensure timely completion.

"The project was completed over two days with support from the Concrete Masonry Check-Off Program ('The Beauty of Block'), the Associated Brick Mason Contractors of Greater New York, and the Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local 1 New York and Long Island and Labor Management Committee.

"It is currently on display on the CCNY campus, south of the Spitzer School of Architecture."

Students: Allyson Cromwell, Fernanda Cadenillas, Nicholas Archacki, Fion Li, Sidney Mauricio, Juan Giraldo and Matthew Le Rouzic
Course: Bachelor of Architecture; Advanced Studio Design-Build: Artefactory Lab
Tutors: Christian Volkmann and Steve Preston

Bachelor of Architecture; Core Studio 6: Designing an ADU in Portland, Maine by Gaël Mervin-Leroy and Kimora Dolland

"Situated on the northeast edge of the site in Portland, Maine, this ADU is oriented to maximise solar exposure and passive heat gain through the long winter season while creating two distinct shared and private yard spaces.

"A four-foot glulam structural module serves as a spatial organisational logic in the interior while providing a scalar reference for the architectural and site design outside.

"The simple shape of the structural system and quintessential gable roof both become a tribute to Maine's vernacular barn architecture and enable the ADU to exist integrated with its context."

Students: Gaël Mervin-Leroy and Kimora Dolland
Course: Bachelor of Architecture; Core Studio
Tutor: Suzan Wines

Water-Harvesting Architecture: Scaling Clay's Hydric Properties by Grace Rabou and Dayanara Rodriguez

"This studio, titled Robotic Ecologies, focuses on bioreceptive and ecological design strategies using 3D-printed clay to advance sustainable architecture and climate-responsive systems in hot, dry climates.

"The work seeks to expand upon current clay 3D-printing research and discover novel potentials for clay and ancient building material.

"The project Waffle Wall investigates cultural memory and incorporates indigenous knowledge of dry farming techniques to promote biodiversity.

"The project Water-Harvesting Architecture examines the porosity of clay and ceramic materials as a means of supporting rainwater collection and retaining moisture, to enhance passive cooling and promote vegetative growth."

Students: Grace Rabou and Dayanara Rodriguez
Course: Master of Architecture; Architecture Studio IV: Robotic Ecologies
Tutors: Frank Melendez and Mariami Maghlakelidze

Studio Hexagon by Rachel Schneider

"Expanding on an existing artist residency program at the Art Omi sculpture park in Ghent, NY, this design for co-housing both fosters community and provides private spaces to develop an individualised studio practice.

"Using a Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired triangular grid, the project was developed from the module of the room outward to dictate the building shape.

"To improve natural light and ventilation, clerestory windows wrap around the entire building.

"Custom benches recall the form of the rooms and exist at the intersection of sculpture and furniture, encouraging the short-stay residents to socialise and collaborate in and outdoors."

Student: Rachel Schneider
Course: Master of Architecture; Foundation Studio 1: Ways of Dwelling
Tutors: Jane Kim and John Kirsimagi

Partnership content

This school show is a partnership between Dezeen and City College of New York. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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