UQ Principal Samir S. Shah, Amy Breedlove, and Dr. Jeffrey S. Nesbit were selected as Fellows at the Institute for Public Architecture (IPA) for the Fall 2020 Residency Program: “To BQE or Not to BQE”. One of five teams selected, the BQE / From Hacking to Housing team spent the eight weeks of the residency focused on design research, including analyzing current physical conditions of the study area along the BQE (Brooklyn Queens Expressway) corridor from Red Hook to Cobble Hill including the waterfront area, developing novel prototypes of block types and infrastructure, and evaluating strategies for transforming future zoning laws and housing models.
The fellowship was an opportunity to collaborate with other teams looking at issues of freight, transportation alternatives, new forms of industrial development, and repurposing of roadway infrastructure. It also allowed the firm to allocate some time and resources to delve into the questions we need to be asking about the future of urban development, policy, and stakeholder engagement. Our work during this time was a starting point for deeper investigation which we have continued and plan to take forward into new areas of our practice.
