Neighborhoods Now

When the COVID crisis hit in 2020, like many of our fellow small firm architects, we turned our attention towards pro bono non profit work. Neighborhood Now was a program organized by the Urban Design League with the Van Alen Institute. We were part of a team assigned to help the Jackson Heights neighborhood to help to improvise physical ramifications of the pandemic. Jackson Heights was known for its local ethnic restaurant all of which shuttered. We worked to help family owned restaurants negotiate the rules of the outdoor dining area, apply for permits, and obtain approvals which allowed many previously closed restaurants to reopen reinvigorating a vital aspect of the neighborhood.