MFA Interior Design Studio 3 with NYC Dept of Health: Empowering Healthy Futures (Fall 2016)

This studio is a charge by the City of New York’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and supported by the Healthy Materials Lab at Parsons. New York City has a population in excess of 8.5 million and a poverty rate of 21% - in a country where zip code is a better predictor of health than genetic code. This studio examines the creation of environments for the most vulnerable members of our communities, infants and their teenage mothers.

The students are developing the design of one of eleven new Neighborhood Health Action Centers across the five boroughs. The site is located in Brownsville New York which is the seventh poorest district in the city. These centers are part of an initiative by the City of New York to increase health directed, community-based programs in neighborhoods with disproportionate chronic disease and premature death. As stated by Dr. Mary Bassett, Commissioner, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene:

“Poor health outcomes tend to cluster in places that people of color call home and where many residents live in poverty”.

One of the primary health areas of concern in Brownsville is its high rates of infant mortality, ranking fourth in NYC the studio is focusing specifically on the teen mother population.

This studio will study the health of a community and of a specific group of its residents. We will study what constitutes health for a young mother, her baby and the services they rely on to survive. We will also concern ourselves with the impact of the materials that surround us on all our futures, the life cycle of materials and the impact of our exposure to unwanted toxics at all levels from manufacturing to use. As interior designers we must ask how can our practice be instrumental in empowering people to have better lives, breaking cycles that their families have been part of for generations?

Cultivating Wonder

Monica Kumar, Somasree Chandra and William Fryer

As part of the community we exist to heal the invisible wounds of past trauma and reduce the dose of ongoing adversity. We cultivate safe spaces that help us remember, understand, and reconnect. Reconnect to the self as victor, not victim, and reconnect to the resilience of the community at large.

The building in its current condition is a barrier to health care for the residents of Brownsville. It towers over the otherwise residential and park-lined street as a symbol of bureaucracy and power. A patient can’t be treated if she is not willing to walk through the door. The introduction of plant life brings the building into harmony with its environment and offers a place of peace and safety that is always present and always visible to the neighborhood. At night, a warm glow emanates from the canopy, providing much-needed light on a poorly lit street and continuing its role as a beacon of safety.

Inheritance

Samantha Bennett and Melissa McGraw

This project examined the creation of environments for the most vulnerable members of our communities, infants and their teenage mothers. Our intention is seemingly simple, to understand how material choices can contribute to the creation of healthier environments.

Many of the building products commonly used in construction, especially affordably priced construction, contain chemicals that are linked to sickness and disease in humans. Exposure to these products can be through ingestion, inhalation, and absorption through the skin. The goal of this design is to remove the harmful chemicals found within the building and replace them with healthier materials.

By providing access to natural light, introducing texture for visitors to interact with, and including interior details that bring people joy, this environment seeks to provide a happy and uplifting experience. The materials selected in this design are less toxic product alternatives, chosen with the intention of creating a healthier environment for all users of the space.

Wayfinding Wellness

Chengcheng Shi, Fiona Gibson and Giorgia Farabegoli

New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has struggled (by its own admission) to successfully connect with some of the region’s more vulnerable communities. In light of this, how can government agency succeed in supporting those of the greatest need, while being mindful of the fact that such presence is not always trusted?

In order for the DOHMH to find success in their endeavours to mitigate health concerns – particularly with regard to teenage pregnancy and staggering infant mortality rates – the primary objective must be that of re-establishing a dynamic of trust and refuge between city agency and the residents they aim to support.

By creating an environment which all age groups across a neighborhood learn to associate positively with communal support and refuge, the youngest members of Brownsville can grow up knowing their local Health Action Center is a place for guidance and care.

As that child becomes a teenager – and at greater risk of unintentional pregnancy and drug use due to increased stress associated with the emotional turbulence that adolescence brings – the Health Action Center would have become a learned place of refuge in which to seek help, guidance and medical treatment.

Brownsville Health Hub

Sarah Burns, Katrin Renner and Joel Rice

This is a design proposal. It a representation of how a community can take public health concerns into its own hands.

We propose that by giving community service back to the community through a building and through expression, a more balanced healthcare system can evolve.

It would take a much larger document than this to convey the entire scope of the current state of community health and well-being in Brownsville but, with the many voices that have contributed thus far, a design proposition has emerged.

It begins with the family.

Assignment 1.0 - Bonding Mother and Baby

Research pregnancy, attachment, and bonding

Design proposal for a dedicated nursing (lactation) space

Assignment 2.0 - Concept Proposal - Women’s Health Suite

Research site, mapping exercises, persona investigations, materials analysis, and palette, lighting research

Individual concept proposal for Neighborhood health action center, Women’s Health Suite

Assignment 3.0 - Design Proposal - Women’s Health Suite

Full-scale detail with safe affordable materials, Collaborative design proposals (4) for Women’s Health Suites, presentation for stakeholders

• Express ideas clearly in oral presentations and critiques
• Communicate 3-dimensional space and form
• Render 2-dimensional drawings that successfully communicate design intent
• Present color, materials, and material attributes in an evocative manner
• Prepare drawings, schedules, and specifications as an integrated system of contract documents

A. Learning Objective/Outcomes

• Demonstrate competent schematic design, concept development and problem-solving skills including space planning
• Demonstrate programming skills, including problem identification, identification of client and use needs and information gathering research and analysis
• Demonstrate principles of lighting design
• Demonstrate competent design development skills in selecting interior finishes, decorative elements, art, accessories and materials; detailed and developed layout of furniture, fixtures, and equipment; space plans, elevations, sketches, and study models selection and application of luminaires and lighting sources
• Demonstrate design development skills in designing custom interior elements, wayfinding methods, and graphic identification
• Demonstrate understanding of the impact of fire and life safety principles on space planning
• Understand appropriate application of codes, regulations, barrier-free design and ergonomics
• Understand that design solutions affect and are impacted by construction, mechanical, electrical, performance, acoustic, lighting, environmental systems and furniture
• Understand the needs of a client and or the public as a means to design
• Understanding of material and its impact on interior space, human perception and experience, human health, and the environment
• Demonstrate ability to intervene with existing context

B. Program Goals

• Constant interrogation, provoking and exploring ideas around design as a social practice, a force for change, a means of environmental stewardship, and a tool for shaping experiences
• Develop preliminary design concepts that are engaging, educational, and motivational.
• Providing sample healthier interior product specifications.

C. Studio Goals

• Creation of multiple design proposals described through typical drawing sets, models of various scales and material palettes
• Creation of unique neighborhood analysis & cultural maps
• Development of collaborative work culture
• Presentations to stakeholders

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