wHY Architecture

On last Wednesday evening, we hosted the latest installment of our New York salon series by welcoming our special guests Sarah Watson, the Deputy Director of New York’s Citizens Housing & Planning Council  (CHPC), along with Abby Hamlin, the President of Hamlin Ventures LLC a real estate development company and creative studio.

Aside from serving as the Deputy Director of the CHPC, Sarah Watson is the author and manager of CHPC’s Making Room project, an initiative, that brings together cutting-edge housing policy and demographic research with pragmatic policy recommendations that would help to develop some brand new, legal and safe housing options for 21st century New York City. One of its main goals is to add choices to the housing market and promote three different types of housing:

-micro studios

-legal shared housing

-accessory housing units for extended family

Over the last three years, the CHPC has been dedicated to exploring new housing ideas so that New York City can “Make Room” for its whole population.

The CHPC developed a unique data model to examine how New Yorkers are being accommodated in housing today. The unexpected finding was a predominance of non-traditional households struggling to fit themselves into a housing stock designed and built for traditional households. New trends in immigration, demographics, technology, and the economy are reshaping how people live. Almost half of New York adults are now single, creating a need for new types of living arrangements. Only 17% of our housing is occupied by a nuclear family (two parents and children under age 25) as 33% of New York City’s population is single.

Nevertheless, New York City housing regulations continue to encourage homes and apartments designed for nuclear families; single family units with mostly two and three bedrooms. With unmet demand for more diverse housing choices growing, especially for the millions of single adults, the Making Room project revealed that more and more people are turning to the improvised housing market, often living in illegal and dangerous situations.

Making Room has been the incentive to an array of publications, initiatives, and events, such as “One size Fits Some”, a symposium at the Japan Society, in addition to the adAPT competition.

Abby’s Hamlin Ventures, was a competitor in the adAPT competition. She teamed up with Forsyth Street Advisors LLC, Rogers Marvel Architects, and Future Expansion Architects to produce Tendem, an 80-unit building, that strives to provide more amenities for residents than a traditional building. Units, that are from 265 to 300 sf, are intertwined with community spaces, such as meeting spaces, a music practice room and art studio, a dining room, lounge, roof garden, yoga studio, bicycle parking and laundry.

Check out our featured salon menu items, cocktails and recipes below:

Shrimp Pomelo Summer Rolls

20 Rice Wrappers

1 lb shrimp, peeled, deveined, split in half

1 large pomelo, peeled and split into small chunks

½ cup coconut milk

2 cup shallots, finely minced

2 tbsp garlic, finely minced

2 tbsp chili flakes, crushed and seeds removed

¾ cup unsweetened coconut flakes

½ cup peanuts, crushed

2 tbsp lime juice

2 tbsp fish sauce

2 cup Cilantro

Sauce: Sautee shallots, garlic and chili flakes until they begin to brown.

Add coconut milk, stir and remove from heat.

Toast coconut flakes until slightly brown

Poach shrimp in simmering water until cooked through and allow to cool.

Dip rice wrapper in hot water until soft.

Place sauce, coconut flakes, peanuts, shrimp, pinch of lime juice and fish sauce, cilantro, and pomelo in wrapper and roll.

Serve with additional fish sauce, lime juice, and coconut flakes.

Cocktail: wHY not (#3)

2 oz Bourbon*

1 oz Cynar

½ oz Lemon

½ oz Simple syrup

Shake well!

Served in Highball glass and topped with club soda and rosemary sprig garnish

* A sweet bourbon like a Maker’s Mark would be best

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