This project responds to the long-term effects of tax manipulation and land dispossession in the Ashokan Reservoir region by creating a wellness center that functions as a living commons. By focusing on senior citizens, many of whom have been or have family ties impacted by the economic decline following reduced municipal tax contributions, the center addresses the erosion of public services, intergenerational ties, and shared land-based knowledge.
Historically, the City of New York’s ownership of watershed lands led to contested taxation agreements, with local towns receiving diminished revenues despite bearing the burden of infrastructure restrictions and land loss. These imbalances deepened cycles of economic neglect, particularly for aging residents in rural hamlets who lost access to once-common lands, services, and gathering spaces.
The space integrates food, health, and cultural programming rooted in local traditions. Seniors participate in workshops on seed saving, foraging, fermentation, and herbal medicine, while also contributing recipes and oral histories to a communal archive. Shared food rituals—like cider brewing, maple sugaring, and traditional baking—reconnect residents to regional practices once held in common.
Rather than a sterile or extractive model, the design invites co-ownership and sensory engagement through modular environments that stimulate memory, healing, and storytelling. Seasonal menus, immersive soundscapes, and collaborative gardens provide access to collective care and ecological rhythms.
This center reclaims land and culture as public goods, repairing the disconnect left by generations of economic and spatial fragmentation. It creates a community infrastructure rooted in mutual support, generational knowledge, and the restoration of the commons
