This proposal reimagines Star Island—a six-acre nature preserve in a zone VE floodplain—as a resilient, community-centered housing development for Montauk’s seasonal Latino immigrant workforce. Set against the backdrop of Montauk’s privatized expansion and housing crisis, the design confronts exclusionary land use by integrating dignified, affordable housing with public amenities and economic infrastructure.
The program includes 71 units of workforce housing organized by permanence—studios for seasonal workers, flex two-bedrooms, and family-sized three-bedroom apartments—surrounding shared courtyards, co-working lounges, and communal kitchens. A dry stack boat storage facility and a Colombian-Ecuadorian flower shop create a dual-revenue model, subsidizing housing costs while serving regional needs.
The project utilizes elevated green pathways and sloping timber-clad forms to create a dynamically flowing, natural architecture. A concealed levee system within the dry stack boat storage marina mitigates sea level rise, while elevated public walkways and bay-facing gardens democratize waterfront access. Strategic partnerships with Habitat for Humanity for aid with up front construction costs and Organización Latino Americana of Eastern Long Island for operational support, embed long-term social services, financial, and legal aid directly into the site from conception to end of life.
This hybrid housing-infrastructure-ecology model positions coastal land as both public asset and community anchor, offering a replicable framework for equitable development in flood-prone, exclusionary geographies.
