Project by Diane Choi & James Oberting
Anchored to a District 75 school designed by C. B. J. Snyder, this project extends the legacy of public education into an architecture of care and refuge. The school serves neurodiverse and differently-abled students while acting as the civic core for an adjacent interim housing development for unhoused youth aged fourteen to twenty-one. Treating education and housing as a continuous social infrastructure, the project stabilizes young lives during a critical transition. An expansive circulation spine wrapped in vertical gardens connects shared and private spaces, guiding residents through programs such as a community kitchen, offices for in-house therapy, and a below-grade skate park. By combining reliable adult care with long-term housing, the architecture supports the formation of chosen families and resilient communities. Reimagining interim housing as a pedagogical, lived environment, the project reframes shelter not as a temporary pause, but as a framework for growth, autonomy, and belonging.
