Oculus

Oculus magazine, AIA New York’s quarterly print publication, is an important means of asserting the identity and advocacy of architects in New York.
The cover of the Fall 2021 issue of Oculus magazine
Fall 2021: Housing + Health

A Publication of AIA New York, Volume 83, Issue 4.

Cover: Another part of the Vital Brooklyn Initiative, Adjaye Associates and Harlem-based landscape architecture firm Studio Zewde will redesign an underutilized portion of the Kingsboro Psychiatric Center campus in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, as a 900-apartment residential community, anchored by a shopping center and public green space. Image: Courtesy of Adjaye Associates.

Table of Contents
News & Articles
Letter from the President
Coming Together on Housing
by Kenneth A. Lewis, AIA, NCARb
Letter from the Editor
Complex Conversations
by Molly Heintz, editor-in-chief, [email protected]
Beyond the Center
The Mandala Lab
by Jennifer Krichels
At the Center
AIANY Design Awards 2020-21
by the Editors
In Memoriam
Victoria Rospond (1961-2021)
At the Center
Cairo Modern
by Jennifer Krichels
The Maujer Street gallery and Amant offices are enclosed in a single volume of white bricks set in a dog-tooth pattern. Above the masonry section, a band of aluminum louvers diffuses daylight into a 22-foot-tall gallery space.
Street Level
Amant, Brooklyn
by Anne Quito
The Topography of Wellness: How Health and Disease Shaped the American Landscape
In Print
Lit Review: Healthy Housing
by Karen Kubey
Last Word
Welcome Back to the Center!
by Benjamin Prosky, Assoc. AIA
OP-EDS
AIA logo, red and white on black background
Decent, Safe, and Sanitary: Is Housing Health?
In September of last year, in the midst of what appeared to...
by Brian Loughlin, AIA APA
AIA logo, red and white on black background
Minimum Gage: The Problem with Mandatory Inclusionary Housing
New York City has built and preserved 165,590 affordable housing units since...
by Cory Kantin
Features
CetraRuddy and a team including nonprofit housing developer CAMBA Housing Ventures will design a 291-unit affordable housing complex for Central Brooklyn as part of the Vital Brooklyn Initiative to bring $1.4 billion housing and service projects to the neighborhood. Pictured is a work-in-progress rendering. Image: Courtesy of CetraRuddy/CAMBA Housing Ventures.
Introduction
How Do We Define Healthy Housing in NYC?
Launched in 1983, the Nehemiah Program in Brownsville was the largest affordable housing development for first-time homebuyers in New York City. Co-author Alex Gorlin designed housing for the Spring Creek phase of the project in East Brooklyn, which was completed in 2017.
Affordable Housing in New York: A Primer
For almost a century, New York City has tried to address an ongoing crisis of affordable housing. Lessons learned may inform new models with a more viable future.
by Alexander Gorlin, FAIA, and Victoria Newhouse
Designed by McKim, Mead & White as the original home of the New York Life Insurance Company, 108 Leonard’s residential conversion by SLCE includes 167 condominiums and amenity spaces across 420,000 square feet.
Home Sweet Office: Commercial-to-Residential Conversions
Commercial availability may seem like an obvious answer to residential need, but a variety of factors affect the perennial mismatch of supply and demand.
by Bill Millard
At the Crotona Senior Housing residences in the Bronx, designed by Magnusson Architecture and Planning for LGBTQ seniors, finishes include low VOC resilient flooring, an electric stove, and solid surface countertops, all chosen to reduce occupants' exposure to environmental toxins.
Six Ways to Healthier Housing
Materials and systems that promote the health and wellness of residents.
by Magnusson Architecture and Planning
Kingsboro Psychiatric Center Campus with design led by Adjaye Associates and Studio Zewde.
Healthy Homes Grow in Brooklyn
How a suite of RFPs issued at the height of the pandemic may have changed the way we think about housing.
by Brian Loughlin, AIA, APA, and the Editors
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