Van Alen Introduces 2nd Cohort Of DESIGN SPRINTS 8-Week Community-Led Design Program

Van Alen Institute has announced the new cohort for Design Sprints, an eight-week community-led co-design program that pairs community-based organizations in NYC and design professionals.

The Fall 2024 collaborations include 34th Ave Open Streets Coalition with WXY, Gotham Park with Pentagram, James Baldwin Outdoor Learning Center with BD FELIZ, Red Hook Farms with Studio Loutsis, and Street Vendor Project with ThoughtMatter. Working across New York City, each community organization has a unique approach to using public spaces to create more interconnected neighborhoods. In collaboration with their design partners, they'll develop visual identities, wayfinding systems, and advocacy campaigns that support their missions.

Design Sprints follows the lead of people already working towards equity and justice in their neighborhoods. Community partners have identified an immediate, pressing challenge facing their area, and Van Alen has shaped multidisciplinary design teams uniquely suited to those challenges. Van Alen facilitates these collaborations through end-to-end project management and provides each team with $5000 in seed funding to implement their plans. Each challenge also feeds into neighborhood-scale efforts led by community partners, and work completed through Design Sprints supports their long-term goals.

Design Sprints builds on Neighborhoods Now, a collaboration with the Urban Design Forum that forged interdisciplinary partnerships to support local organizations leading their communities' recovery from COVID-19. Past Design Sprints community partners include 82nd Street Partnership + Librería Barco de Papel, Equality for Flatbush, FABnyc, Loisaida Center, Think!Chinatown. Many of these organizations participated in Neighborhoods Now and continue to work with their design partner and Van Alen Institute.

Participants | Projects

34TH AVE OPEN STREETS COALITION + WXY

Operating along Queens' 34th Avenue between 69th St and Junction Blvd, 34th Street Open Streets Coalition facilitates an outdoor community center and micro mobility corridor along 26 blocks in Jackson Heights. Together with WXY Architecture + Urban Design, they'll create design interventions that further activate the open street, including gateways at the main entrances and mile-markers for joggers and pedestrians.

Team Members
Jim Burke, Co-Founder, 34th Avenue Open Street Coalition
Rob Daurio, Senior Associate, WXY
Annie Peyton, Associate, WXY
Clinton Van Arnam, Creative Director, WXY
Claire Weisz, Principal-in-Charge, WXY

GOTHAM PARK  + PENTAGRAM AND SHAWN SCOTT

Gotham Park is the nonprofit grassroots organization reopening, revitalizing, and reactivating the forgotten spaces under the Manhattan side of the iconic Brooklyn Bridge. Together with Pentagram and Shawn Scott, they'll create a comprehensive rebrand of the organization to be applied to its digital presence and merchandise. Pentagram will also conduct preliminary work on a new wayfinding system for the park.

Team Members
Megan Brosterman, Chief Operating Officer, Gotham Park
Rosa Chang, Co-Founder & President, Gotham Park
Shigeto Akiyama, Associate, Pentagram
Sewon Bae, Project Manager, Pentagram
Luke Hayman, Partner, Pentagram
Anna LaGrone, Photo Editor, Pentagram
Shawn Scott, emerging designer

James Baldwin OUTDOOR LEARNING CENTER + BD FELIZ

James Baldwin Outdoor Learning Center‘s mission is to strive for inquiry and project-based solutions at the juncture of food, environmental justice, and social justice. Together with BD FELIZ, they'll build upon their existing branding and website to better reflect the organization's rich history and advance its programs, such as its market, garden, and edible forest.

Team Members
Sung Kim, Assistant to the Director, James Baldwin Outdoor Learning Center
Linda Pollak, Board Member, James Baldwin Outdoor Learning Center; and Principal, Marpillero Pollak Architects
Ray Pultinas, Director, James Baldwin Outdoor Learning Center
BD Feliz, Principal, BD FELIZ

RED HOOK FARMS + STUDIO LOUTSIS

Red Hook Farms is a youth-centered urban agriculture and food justice program operating one of Brooklyn's largest farms. Together with Studio Loutsis, they'll design a comprehensive wayfinding and signage system for their two farms, allowing local residents and volunteers alike to more easily engage with and navigate the farms.

Team Members
Brendan Parker, Associate Director, Red Hook Farms
Taylor Loutsis, Founding Partner and Creative Director, Studio Loutsis

STREET VENDOR PROJECT + THOUGHTMATTER

Street Vendor Project (SVP) at the Urban Justice Center is a membership-based organization of over 2,900 members who are working together to create a vendors' movement for permanent change. Together with ThoughtMatter, they'll develop their design identity and drive public awareness of their mission, visions, and goals. Starting with a unified brand toolkit for the organization, they will apply the branding across a set of strategic communication touchpoints that uplift street vendors in New York City.

Team Members
Mohamed Attia, Managing Director, Street Vendor Project
Carina Kaufman-Gutierrez, Deputy Director, Street Vendor Project
Mari Andreatta, Business Development Lead, ThoughtMatter
D'Angelo Heyward, Designer, ThoughtMatter
Jessie McGuire, Managing Partner, ThoughtMatter
Diana Ross-Gotta, Account Director, ThoughtMatter
Dylan Stiga, Senior Strategist, ThoughtMatter

About Van Alen Institute

Van Alen Institute helps create equitable cities through community-led inclusive design. In an equitable city, communities are engaged in the conception and creation of their built environment, regardless of income or personal circumstances. Community-driven decision-making builds resilience, social infrastructure, and ultimately, more just cities. For 130 years, our purposeful community engagement, convening capacity, and global network have produced profound transformations in the public realm of New York City and beyond. With an interdisciplinary approach to design, the Van Alen team has backgrounds in architecture, arts and culture, community organizing, preservation, and public policy. See all work at  vanalen.org.

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