Peter de Lande Long

Regenerative Residences: Shrinking Stress Levels in the Sky

Issues of overcrowding and overstimulation plague urban environments, which exacerbate social isolation and, in turn, heighten city dwellers’ levels of stress and anxiety. How can architecture mediate stimuli to be positively conducive to mood, behavior, and overall health? Given that social isolation is an intrinsically spatial issue that design can address, this thesis proposes a small- scale community living model with the intent of improving mental health and clarity for a user group of young, mentally-vulnerable professionals in New York City. Currently an empty shell, 16 East 16th Street becomes the architectural framework for addressing these issues.

Moving away from squeezing as many units as possible into a building, this thesis sets out to create a de-densified residential program detached from the streetside facade. Through the subtraction from potential private interior space, vertical voids allow direct sunlight from above to flow into pockets of nature that provide platforms for residents to decompress and fend off overstimulation from the concrete jungle. The intervention stays within the site’s existing envelope to prevent negatively affecting adjacent buildings and to encourage the application of its design strategies to other urban sites.