Community & shared living
Casita City
What could shared living grow around? A kitchen, a garden, a community.
The starting point
Begin with everyday life.
Casita City centers the residents of El Barrio, a predominantly Puerto Rican community in East Harlem. Food culture, collaborative households, and space for gathering shape a proposal for communal living and alternative ownership.
Taking shape
A home made for sharing.
The design takes inspiration from the Puerto Rican casita. A Lil Casita and a Big Casita organize the west-facing elevation, while entrances lead to an open-air garden and a freestanding round kitchen workshop at ground level.
The experience
Room to gather, room to play.
Shared cooking, gardens, and a winter garden become part of daily life. The proposal combines ultra-high-performance concrete, light cladding, corrugated polycarbonate, and CLT structural elements to support these different spaces and uses.
Project notes
A collaborative project with Meenu Pillai, developed in Spring 2023 in Marcos Parga’s studio. Site: 1650 Madison Avenue, East Harlem, New York.
Project notes
- Location: 1650 Madison Ave, New York, NY (East Harlem)
- Spring 2023 - Studio Course Prof. Marcos Parga
- Type: Residential
- Focus: Experimental Communal Modular Design & Sustainable Design
- Collaborative project with Meenu Pillai
Tools & methods
- Rhino & V-Ray
- Adobe Suites
- Physical Modeling
- Sustainable Design & Community Research