Public School 64 is a charged site with multiple layers of history while simultaneously being a landmark for the East Village Community. The same shell of a building has seen generations of students graduate through its life as a public school, activists championing their cause through Charas and great artists making their first indelible mark on the city here. The project thus imagines a manifesto for the continued remembrance and collective imagining of its future potential through the lens of each community member built upon the foundations of its layered history. A light touch approach sees modular architectural elements appended to its preserved facade while infusing functional programs relating to the needs of the day such as hydroponics, aquaponics, urban farming - Elements guided by a manifesto that cedes ownership to community members and adapts to their needs as it changes. On the interior a modular system of frames allows for assembly and reassembly of spatial envelopes to create thermal envelopes connected to services on the ceiling for an adaptive and generative creation of a community first future.
