Peace Pentagon

Peace Pentagon

New York, New York

2010

The Architectural Competition

Located at the intersection of Lafayette Place and Bleecker Street in New York, a modest building houses several peace and social justice organizations. However, the structure is in urgent need of extensive repairs, to the point where its current tenants are considering building a new facility. Our role as architects expanded beyond the feasibility study to foster a broader dialogue within the building community. We aimed to prevent the building’s sale and explore its potential for renewal.

To this end, we organized an architectural competition designed to envision new possibilities for the building—one that would optimize its resources, raise public awareness of the vital work happening inside, and provoke reflection on how architecture can embody activism for peace and justice. With support from a grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the competition attracted over 128 submissions from artists and architects across the globe. An interdisciplinary jury selected a diverse group of projects that addressed the central question: “How can a building mobilize for peace?”

Peace Pentagon

New York, New York

2010

The Architectural Competition

Located at the intersection of Lafayette Place and Bleecker Street in New York, a modest building houses several peace and social justice organizations. However, the structure is in urgent need of extensive repairs, to the point where its current tenants are considering building a new facility. Our role as architects expanded beyond the feasibility study to foster a broader dialogue within the building community. We aimed to prevent the building’s sale and explore its potential for renewal.

To this end, we organized an architectural competition designed to envision new possibilities for the building—one that would optimize its resources, raise public awareness of the vital work happening inside, and provoke reflection on how architecture can embody activism for peace and justice. With support from a grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the competition attracted over 128 submissions from artists and architects across the globe. An interdisciplinary jury selected a diverse group of projects that addressed the central question: “How can a building mobilize for peace?”