Typecast
A long-term Architectural League study into architectural typologies that begins with a close look at five towers-in-the-park.
Typecast
A long-term investigation into architectural typologies that have come to be seen as outdated, stagnant, or obsolete.
Typecast is an examination of building types that, like certain actors, have become calcified in the public imagination, relegated to a circumscribed vision of their form and role. Through articles, photography, mapping, and other media, the project seeks a more nuanced understanding of our existing cityscapes and how certain typologies can better serve evolving patterns of need and use. Underlying the project is a desire to understand how cultural messages promote or poison the reception of built form.
The first series (2013–14) focused on the much-maligned towers-in-the-park. The second series, on row houses (2016–17), looked at the social and spatial realities of the city’s dominant but overlooked housing form.
Typecast is supported, in part, by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.
Towers-in-the-Park
A long look into five high-rise housing complexes and how buildings often pigeonholed as urban leftovers from bygone eras are actually assets hidden in plain sight.
Row House
A hard look at the row house—New York’s indisputably prominent, disputably outmoded residential form—and how it might nurture contemporary ways of living.
Explore
A home of one’s own: Micro-lofts for single adults and small families
The micro-loft typology is designed to provide affordable housing for a growing and changing population in New York City.
Mexico’s Traditional Housing Is Disappearing—and with It, a Way of Life
Mariana Ordóñez Grajales and Onnis Luque are fighting to preserve their country's vernacular architecture.
Notes on New York’s housing history
Historian Deborah S. Gardner offered thoughts on housing in New York City as part of the Architectural League's 1987 Vacant Lots project.