CfDC AWARDED 2ND PLACE by HIP HOP ARCHITECTURE June 2020
COVID-19 has challenged everyone to reimagine how we will use spaces in a post-Covid-19 society. How will movie theaters operate, what about hospitals, universities, and concert halls? Will live sports allow fans in the stands again? Will employees work from home on a permanent basis, if so, what changes are needed to our homes?
These are all valid questions and explorations and coupled with the consistent injustices faced by African Americans, we challenge everyone to think about a new question. How will spaces look in a Just City? A city which has defeated and dismantled racism? What tools will help us get there?
SUBMISSION
Our "imagining better communities" tool is a re-envision of public housing in New York City. For many years, residents of public housing - home to over 650,000 people - have been threatened by an adversarial New York City Housing Authority and poisonous building conditions.
In 2025, residents complete an extraordinary achievement, nothing less than a revolutionary transformation: a new plan for housing and a new institution that extends out and brings New Yorkers into the process of supporting public housing residents to take charge and rebuild their homes and then some.
Inspired by the lyrics of Dave East with Naz and Lupe Fiasco, the lyrics appear in the the lead article (above the fold right column) and the weather (top right corner of page) of the New York Times Early Edition on June 19th 2025 as the paper tells the story. Even the NYT is a changed paper.
NYCHA Dave East featuring Nas (above the fold, right side)
We living life like we stars
Constantly medical come right out them jars
Deserve a medal for surviving these scars
New York City housing authority honor me
Property of the ghetto
Choppers popping
I should receive a medal for surviving
DAYDREAMIN’ Lupe Fiasco (weather, top right corner of page)
Daydream
I fell asleep beneath the flowers
For a couple of hours
On a beautiful day