Community first
Public space shaped around local needs, shared resources, and collective life.
Public Market / Civic Space
We Talk Louder
In collaboration with Catherine MorenoAcademic design · Pratt InstituteArchitectural Design
An adaptable market and community hub at Sarah D. Roosevelt Park. Operable stalls allow the street edge to shift between commerce and assembly, while a community wing supports organizing, education, and cultural programming.
Project concept — markets as a source of activism
Markets as a source of activism
The Hearth proposes a shared public space for the Lower East Side and Chinatown: a place to exchange food, ideas, and experiences. Circular gathering spaces and operable markets connect everyday commerce with cultural expression and civic participation.
Food & culture
Vendors, dining, and classrooms bring exchange and cultural expression together.
Open to all
A welcoming place for families, seniors, students, and workers.
Unity & resistance
A design ambition to support community resilience in the face of gentrification.
The marketplace as public ground
The project’s historical research connects marketplaces, gathering, and collective action.
Scroll within the timeline to explore the research.
A changing street edge
Deployable stalls allow the market edge to change configuration. The movement study and assembly drawings show how the fixed canopy relates to movable market elements.
04 / SECTIONS
East & west sections
Light, air & water
The studies explore solar exposure and building-service strategies, including green roofs, rainwater and greywater storage, operable windows, louvers, and photovoltaics. These are academic design studies, not verified performance or compliance results.
Three hearths, one civic landscape
Community classrooms and shared resources, interior market halls and dining, and a transit-facing entrance organize the site. Curving market edges connect these anchors with open gathering spaces.