Brooklyn, NY

When residents are displaced from their communities for extended periods of time after a disaster, the public life and social and economic fabric of the neighborhood fray. The New York City Department of Emergency Management commissioned this study to envision how their modular prototype emergency response dwelling (designed by Garrison Architects) could be deployed within a neighborhood  immediately after an event to sustain community. 

Coastal Red Hook Brooklyn, which flooded severely during Super Storm Sandy, was the case study site. After a needs-benefits analysis of the neighborhood, we developed a catalogue of site and building types that could receive housing in combination with other  programs needed to restore economic and social life.

An exhibit of these projects is permanently on display in the modular emergency prototype at Department of Emergency Management headquarters in Cadman Plaza, Brooklyn.

Project Team:

Gans and Company: Deborah Gans

Garrison Architects: James Garrison

Prepared Ground: David Martinez

Selected Awards and Publications:

“Pop-Up Stay Put: Interim Housing for New York, Boundaries Journal vol. 10, Milan