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How Majora Carter Plans to Transform a Building of Injustice in New York

United Kingdom Architecture News - Sep 30, 2014 - 10:20   2153 views

How Majora Carter Plans to Transform a Building of Injustice in New York

Maksym Rokhmaniiko’s winning entry in the Spofford Re-Design Competition (Source: Autodesk Sustainability Workshop)

Low-income neighborhoods have historically been burdened with buildings and infrastructure NIMBY’d away from other neighborhoods, but if communities are empowered, they can direct transformation of such architecture.The Spofford Juvenile Center was a particularly painful landmark in the Hunts Point community in the Bronx when it was built in 1957. The notoriously brutal incarceration facility funneled in children from all over New York City.

There were 100 percent negative associations with the place,” says urban revitalization strategist Majora Carter, who grew up down the block. “Parents would lord the Youth House, as we called it, over the kids as a place they would go if they were bad. At the same time, it was understood that it was not a good place for kids.” Her father worked as a janitor in the building in the ‘60s and ‘70s.....Continue Reading

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