Hip-Hop Housing

Driving restoration through community engagement

Architecture

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Housing

ROLE

Architectural Designer

TIMELINE

7 weeks

TEAM

Individual Work

TECH STACK

Rhino, Grasshopper, Illustrator, Photoshop, V-Ray

CONTEXT

The construction of the Interstate 81 through Syracuse reshaped the city’s urban fabric, displacing thousands of Black residents

It severed long-established neighborhoods and reinforced patterns of racial and economic segregation. As the city advances plans for the removal and redevelopment of the I-81 corridor, questions of housing, community restoration, equity, and cultural continuity have become central to Syracuse’s future.

GOALS

Investigate the historical, social, political, and spatial impacts of I-81 on Syracuse’s communities, with particular attention to displacement, segregation, and neighborhood transformation;
Analyze existing housing conditions, demographic trends, and community needs to inform a residential strategy that responds to social, economic, and cultural challenges;
Design a multi-family housing proposal that integrates private dwelling units with shared spaces, community amenities, and public-facing programs.

OUTCOMES

Conducted research on I-81's impact on Syracuse's historic 15th Ward.
Designed a multi-family housing project, with a focus on creating a 'shared front porch' for African American communities.
Integrated portions of the interstate into urban design for community spaces.

CONCEPT

The construction of I-81 shattered the lives of thousands of Black families, uprooting generations of stories, dreams, and livelihoods. Yet, beneath the concrete, each individual, each home, each neighborhood clung to its unique identity, shaped both by the presence of the highway as a scar of the past and by the strength of its people, who resisted and rebuilt their lives with dignity and hope.

Hip-Hop Housing seeks to honor that resilience by shifting the paradigm of housing from the monotonous developments so often imposed on marginalized communities toward a place of vibrancy, culture, and unyielding transformation — a physical manifestation of the idea of hip-hop architecture.

The project is characterized by fragments — moments of material and space that recall a distant memory. Framed by the salvaged I-beams of the dismantled highway, the space behind the facade of each volume becomes a canvas for expression.

Flexible spaces offer residents the chance to shape public areas to their own desires, weaving together a tapestry of stories and identities.

BUILDING DRAWINGS

UNIT SCALE

The units are laid out on a simple mass-timber grid, with scales of units ranging from apartments for individuals to larger families. Each unit opens directly into the shared corridor, fostering an intimate connection between neighboring households.

The building intends to house three main constituent groups, with the intent of focusing on those affected by the highway's desecration of the 15th Ward:

working couples early in their careers;
households of 4-5 people;
grassroots activists and entrepreneurs who are looking to make a positive impact on the community.

Together, these three groups of people will come together to create a neighborhood that is constantly evolving to meet the changing conditions of the city.

BUILDING SCALE

Building Floor Plans

A depiction of the layered public/private gradient in each hallway. The spaces at the back are bedrooms and unit balconies, and as one moves forward, the spaces gradually become more public: the kitchen and dining room, the front entrance, the hallway, and the multiple typologies of space in the corridor, shared by all residents.

Building Sections

URBAN SCALE

At an urban scale, the project aims to project the flexible, transformative spaces designed by the residents towards the city, drawing pedestrians and other local residents into the project. A fragment of the highway in front of the site will be transformed into a linear urban park, minimizing demolition effort and radically revitalizing the urban fabric.

PERPSECTIVES

A collective sampling of programs, identities, and cultures

A simply defined public space for residents and community to gather

A community hub for creativity and advocacy

View from the dining room into the rest of the unit

A reimagined strip of the highway as an urban park

Private spaces reserved for the residents

Hip-Hop Housing is more than just housing — it’s a memorial and a provocation.

Despite its radical ideas, it does not impose on the residents. Rather, it invites them to question the ways in which a discriminatory history has impacted the neighborhood while allowing them to reclaim the space as their own. Through this act of reclamation, the neighborhood takes back not just land but its soul, renewing a community once torn apart by the very structure that now empowers its rejuvenation.