Project by Julia Qian and Serena Hsieh
Everyday Museum is a mixed-use affordable housing project in Manhattan’s East Village, a neighborhood shaped by immigrant histories, community gardens, and everyday forms of collective life. Drawing from precedents such as the Tenement Museum and local pocket gardens, the project treats housing not as a neutral container, but as a cultural and social infrastructure.
Rather than freezing the tenements as monuments, we fully preserve their street façades and cut into their interiors, transforming them into shared communal spaces. Inspired by the Victorian dollhouse, these cut sections reveal layers of lived history, transforming architecture itself into a storytelling device.
The new massing continues the historic street rhythm while carving three internal courtyards that bring daylight, ventilation, and gardens deep into the block. Ground-floor programs—laundromat, café, gym, supermarket, and community spaces—extend street life inward, positioning housing as a connector between residents and the broader East Village community.
