“East Village Activist History on Display at Loisaida” Article by Greenwich Village society for Historic Preservation
“Activist Estates: A Radical History of Property in Loisaida…. [is] an examination of participatory practices that illuminate the critical relationship between livable neighborhoods, real estate, architecture and activism…“- Harry Bubbins.
Activist Estates – Opening Reception at The Loisaida Center
An examination of participatory practices in New York City reveals the critical relationship between real estate, architecture and activism. Activist Estates critically re-evaluates the place of counter-institutional practices that shape the landscape of New York City.
Activist Estates – Archtober 2019
Activist Estates: A Radical History of Property in Loisaida is an exploration of buildings and properties in the Lower East Side that are celebrated sites of resistance. This exhibition curated and designed by the Architect Nandini Bagchee in partnership with Loisaida Center visualizes the narratives of a historic space-based activism via drawings, maps, models, photographs, manuals and posters.
Carts Project
Carts Project Lower East Side 2019 The Carts Project celebrates the rich culture of Loisaida a Puerto Rican name for the Lower East Side and invites festival goers to participate by mapping out the past and connecting it to the future, where gardens, affordable housing, storefronts and cultural institutions continue to thrive. The mobile carts […]
Cooperation Jackson
Cooperation Jackson Jackson, Mississippi 2019 Click here to read the full report, “Building a Transition City: The Ewing Street Eco-Village Coop Pilot Project”
HEArts Report
HEArts Report Bronx, New York, 2018 The HEArts Feasibility Report was commissioned by the South Bronx Unite (SBU), a community sponsor of the Mott Haven-Port Morris Community Land Stewards to generate a feasibility study for the adaptive re-use and transformation of the vacant Lincoln Detox Center (currently known as the Lincoln Recovery Center) building into […]
Counter Institution – Activists Estates of the Lower East Side
“For more than a century the Lower East Side has been the intersectional/international urban stage to both the theater of struggle and the urge for self-organizing; the axial hinge where the survival need to counter or disrupt was paired with the anti-cynical creative will to give form.
Counter Institution inclusively reveals the cultures of participation that cyclically pre-figured antidotes to our speculative syndrome of cognitive placeless-ness, and physical dis-placement; it also summons our abilities to still place and project the ghosts of our past to protect the interconnected meanings of the Lower East Side.”
—Libertad O. Guerra, Director, The Loisaida Center, LES
Counter Institution
Year: 2018 Fordham University Press The “counter institution” explored in this book represents both a conceptual and a literal struggle to create a space for civic action in a city that is built upon real estate speculation. Nandini Bagchee reveals the fascinating tension between the impermanence of the insurgent activist practices and the permanent but […]
“Design and Advocacy in The South Bronx” – Urban Omnibus
“South Bronx Unite, is one step closer to converting an abandoned building that 50 years ago served as a detox center into a community centerwith an emphasis on health, education and the arts.”
Article by Eliot Force, Janna McPartland and Hannah Fierick for the Mott Haven Herald on the HEArts Community Center.
Warren Street Townhouse
Warren Street Townhouse Brooklyn, New York 2016 The four story townhouse in a historically landmarked block had some generous woodwork, fireplace and stair details. This four-story townhouse in a historically landmarked block in Cobble Hill was renovated into a single-family home with an independent studio apartment at the basement level. The existing façade of the […]