What a resourceful site visit yesterday! Cyriaca Decaille, the property manager of the Farragut Housing complex was generous enough to take time out of her busy schedule to show us around the complex as well as answer any questions we had.

A couple interesting questions/discoveries that sprung up included:

• Is Section 8 accepted in the apartment application process?
• What do the residents think of the gentrification happening in the surrounding streets/neighborhood?
• What is Cryriaca’s view on utilizing all the empty land to build new infrastructure on the current Farragut Housing property? Would it be a positive or negative turnout?
• What is the Farragut Housing property cut off?
• What are some of the special programs offered to residents?
• Who funds these programs?
• What is the turnout for these events? Are they usually a big hit?
• How is the crime on the property?
• Resident watch program – 4/10 of the buildings are participating
• Any construction companies doing work on the property is required to hire some of the residents for the job (this requirement is fantastic!) 

Professor Leonard brought up a crucial question which we were not able to get an answer to –

“What happens to the rooms that are no longer usable because of deterioration?”

“On an average, how long does it take for maintenance to recover these rooms?” 

Inside the lobby of the management office, I noticed plenty of flyers offering services and help for the residents, children and adults alike. Specifically for youth (since that is my focus), just this past weekend, there was a Halloween festival in Fort Greene Park which offered hay rides, face painting, games, and more. Hanging on the walls are multiple black and white posters showcasing the El Museo Del Barrio, New York City’s only Latino museum, located on 1230 5th avenue.These are only some of the examples of the efforts taken to create a better environment and living space for the Farragut residents. The process and changes are rather delayed, however, measures such as the resident watch program and the construction hiring requirement, it is this sense of community they are trying to build in the property that can impact the quality of life positively.

Monday’s class visit to the 4th year architecture studio was insightful and impactful It was a great to have the two classes come together to share different projects within a similar topic. I would love to have more opportunities for co-learning environments like this.

A couple interesting pointers:

Professor Duddy pointed out a brilliant idea for additional future collaborations between the two sets of students. What if all the research the students from the ‘Learning places’ course collected of the history to the demographic to the real estate factors of the Farragut Housing from this semester with is shared with next semester’s architecture students who will work on creating a master plan for the area around Farragut Housing, wouldn’t the exchange of information there be extremely helpful in adding to the architecture students’ designs.

Another interesting finding were the solar sun path diagrams one group included in their master plan. They included the Sun’s path it travels from East to West throughout the day and how that factors into where specific buildings are positioned and the type of design to the type of material used for the design. This ties back to what we learned about in our site-visit: sun patterns was one of the reasons behind the architects’ intent when designing the Farragut Housing complex’s star-like shape.

What is most rewarding about interactive learning is regardless of what disciplinary study anyone may be in- how similar or different, we can all take away something new each time when information and ideas are shared. I have definitely gained new perspectives since day one and now I am starting to “see” what seems as everyday objects in an more analytical manner.