11.21  FLOATING GARDENS RECEIVE DESIGN TRUST MINI GRANT
from the Design Trust for Public Space: 
As an organization, our most important asset is our Fellows — past, present, and future! Earlier this year, we put out a separate call to our Fellows alongside our current RFP, The Restorative City, offering mini-grants to past and current fellows to support ongoing work connected to health equity. We are thrilled to share that Five Borough Farm Design Fellows Elliott Maltby and Gita Nandan and Urban Planning Lee Altman were selected as our first mini-grant winners! Click here to learn more about what they're working on and their experience as a Design Trust Fellow. 
10.21 AIA PANEL: DESIGNING URBAN AG PART II: DIGGING IN FARMING INTO THE CITY 
Moderated by thread's Gita Nandan, the panel includes Ray Figueroa Reyes, Executive Director of Friends of Brook Park and the President of New York City Community Garden Coalition, Christine Hutchison Executive Director of Our Core, and Fred Wolf of Nature Based NY.
10.21 TOUR THE FLOATING GARDENS AS PART OF OPEN HOUSE NEW YORK
thread collective, in partnership with RETI Center is participating in the 2021 Open House New York on October 16 + 17. Tours will be and discussion at 1pm and 3pm at the RETI Center BlueCity Barge, 701 Columbia Street.  ohny.org/weekend/gallery/
7.21 GUERILLA SCIENCE: COMMUNICATING CLIMATE SCIENCE THROUGH THE ARTS [CCSA]
Pratt SoA faculty Elliott Maltby, Ariane Harrison, and Inclusive Ecologies fellow Mrin Aggarwal participated in the CCSA workshop on Governors Island  The event brought together more than 30 scientists, artists, and innovative thinkers to develop immersive public experiences, making legible the science integral to three of the SOA’s Climate Provocations Pavilions. BlueBlocks, the Pollinator Pavilion and Field, each conceived of and designed by SOA faculty, served as anchors to introduce audiences to landscape concepts such as habitat creation, biodiversity, and urban ecology. Youth from the Beam Center’s Camp City recently participated in a series of interactive games and creative play events that served as the culmination of the CCSA workshop.
06.21 TEN YEARS OF PRATT'S GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE DESIGN STUDIO/ NEWBURGH 2021
This year was distinguished by a significant departure from the past, moving from NYC to farther up the Hudson to Newburgh, expanding our focus regionally, where our 10 acre site was centered on 3 blocks within the downtown. Working with a diverse stakeholder group, the summer 2021 Sustainable Environmental Systems studio has envisioned how green infrastructure, both stormwater capture and overall ecological performance, can address issues of environmental justice, equity, and participatory planning. Students created a detailed design for the study area in downtown Newburgh, building on an existing network of urban agriculture and environmental education.
10.20 BLUEBLOCKS FLOATING GARDENS RECEIVE TACONIC FELLOWSHIP

In partnership with RETI Center, we are designing and  prototype the BlueCity BlueBlock Gardens, a phytoremediation floating bio-habitat in South Brooklyn, showcasing how resilience education training and innovation dovetail to create net-positive environments. Tying academic design research with student-led product innovation, including fabrication and in-the-field scientific analysis, the project's process demonstrates how real-world issues are addressed through cooperative, academic and local partnerships. The pilot project implementation creates hyper local community benefits and supports environmental justice. Living alongside, and as an extension of, the BlueCity Climate Lab, the project is in partnership with the non-profit RETI Center.

09.20 BLUECITY AY THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

In partnership with Oasis Design Lab, thread presented the RETI Center Blue City Climate Lab, with its innovative technology for amphibious development as a model coastal climate adaptation showcasing options for net-positive environmental systems and RETI Center’s interwoven training and technological programming. The RETI Center's goal is building strength in communities through resiliency focused on economic development framed by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. www.pavingthewaves.org   

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10.20 THREAD'S RENOVATION AND ADDITION OF FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT'S OLFEST HOUSE COMPLETE
08.20 CLIMATE LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNITY PROTECTION ACT
Gita Nandan has been named to the Land Use and Local Government Advisory Panel for the New York State Climate Leadership and Community Protection Climate Action Council. The New York State Climate Action Council is a 22-member committee that will prepare a Scoping Plan to achieve the State’s bold clean energy and climate agenda. The Council will also oversee the establishment of sector-specific advisory panels and working groups and will work in consultation with the Climate Justice Working Group and the Environmental Justice Advisory Group. The advisory panels will provide recommendations to the council on specific topics in its preparation of the scoping plan and interim updates to the scoping plan, and assist in fulfilling the council's ongoing duties.  
08.20 THREAD EXPANDS TO THE HUDSON VALLEY​​​​​​​

We have been working here for several years now, with a growing love for this very beautiful and intriguing region. We are officially opening our doors and settling in to our second home, located in Newburgh. Stop by and say hello at the newly opened ADS Warehouse
105 Ann Street Newburgh NY 12550

 

07.20 NOURISHING NYCHA: GREEEN INFRASTRUCTURE DESIGN BUILD 2020 // PRATT 

Ray Figueroa joined Gita and Elliott this summer for their Green Infrastructure studio, bringing his expertise on community engagement, urban agriculture, and the politics of community gardens to the mix. Students developed detailed designs and policy frameworks for green infrastructure and urban agriculture within New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) campuses. Working with Green City Force, a workforce development NGO who specializes in urban agriculture on NYCHA properties, and Brownsville community groups,  the class envisioned how urban agriculture, and food systems in general, can support food security and multi-faceted programming, and aid in stormwater capture and overall ecological performance.  How can thoughtful, ambitious design and planning transform these spaces into indispensable hubs that integrate social, ecological, and agricultural traditions and innovations? section by Brown Sebright

07.20 ADS WAREHOUSE / thread's new hudson home

Located in the heart of Newburgh’s Downtown East End Historic District, the ADS warehouse is spot where art, design, and spirits intermingle to create community, joy, and inspiration. Gita and Jens fell in love with Newburgh, its diversity, lively atmosphere, beautiful architecture and scenic Hudson waterfront.

07.20 COOL STREETS IN RED HOOK

New York City neighborhoods suffering from the health and economic impacts of COVID-19 now also face a summer  of extreme heat and possible hurricanes.  Communities of color, seniors, and essential workers are disproportionately  impacted by both COVID-19 and heat-related illnesses. In response, Gita is working closely with the team at the Center for Resilient Cities and Landscapes and the Resilient Cities Catalyst, and local community organizations in Red Hook Brooklyn to rethink streetscapes and public spaces to to create a series of CoolCorridors that also incorporate #socialdistantdesign. Through this effort The Resilience Design Corps was created to gather artists, designers, planners, technologists, engineers, graphic designers and others who have skills and are willing to volunteer their time and talent to support community-based projects. The projects will be implemented, with community input throughout the summer months.

06.20 WORKING WITH THE CENTER FOR POPULAR DEMOCRACY

We are thrilled to announce our partnership with The Center for Public Democracy in collaboration with Hester Street Collaborative to realize a triple net positive retreat center that will support their amazing work on the front lines of democracy.

05.20 COOPER HEWITT DESIGN EDUCATION TALK FEATURING GITA NANDAN

Today’s designers-in-training are already being faced with the challenges of tomorrow. Global issues—pandemics, economic slowdown, the climate crisis—demand us to rethink the ways and means of our society, and essential to this shift are the creators of the built environment. How might design educators prepare future architects, designers, and urban planners to challenge our global systems, and rebuild a more sustainable world? Gita was joined by Pratt's School of Architecture Dean Harriet Harriss and WXY's Claire Weisz  - check out the video HERE.

04.20 NEW YORK COTTAGES AND GARDENS FEATURES THE CEDAR HOUSE


From the article: Architecturally, the structure comprises a collection of flat-roofed boxes with 5,500 square feet of living space on two levels and a walkout basement, all sheathed in a handsome combination of stained cedar siding and two shades of cement-board siding— light gray and an alluring shiny black.  Read the full article HERE.​​​​​​​

03.20 DESIGN MILK'S FRIDAY FIVE WITH ELLIOTT MALTBY​​​​​​​


Each week Design Milk invites a designer to choose five things; what those five things are is open to the interpretation of each participant. Elliott's five things are : 1. Urban Wandering 2. Integration of Architecture and Landscape 3. Outdoor Rooms  4. Ecological Experiments 

5. Urban Agriculture  Check out the article with descriptions and more photos HERE.

02.20 OLFELT HOUSE LANDSCAPE​​​​​​​

As the construction on Frank Lloyd Wright's Olfelt House wraps up, our focus shifts to the landscape. The planting design highlights endemic species and four season interest. As Dr. Paul Olfelt, the original owner wrote: We hoped for a refuge from the world for part of our day, a place where we could enjoy nature and the beauty of man’s creativeness in harmony with nature.  For more information about the Olfelt House and our design process behind the restoration and addition you can spend some time HERE.

12.19 THREAD WORKING WITH HOT BREAD KITCHEN


Hot Bread Kitchen, a not for profit that creates economic activity through careers in food. is relocating. Their new facility will be in the Pfizer Building in Brooklyn, home to wide variety of small batch food makers, farmers, and fabricators. thread is designing the space, which will house their main headquarters, bringing together several programs under one roof along with a large test and training kitchen facility. 


10.19 LOFT_21 COMPLETED


A loft in the Flatiron Building is revived: the renovation opened up a warren of small dark rooms to allow for long views and flexible living. With windows on three sides, natural daylight floods the interior along the length of the apartment.  A palate of steel, exposed brick, white oak, and tones of beige create a serene yet joyful home.

09.19 RETI WORKSHOP: DEVELOPING THE BLUE CITY
NEW YORK'S OFF-GRID FLOATING CENTER FOR THE CLIMATE INDUSTRY IN SOUTH RED HOOK
Interested in sustainable, innovative and clean technologies and implementing them in the places that need them the most?
Become part of a pioneering community network of innovators and entrepreneurs who are passionate about driving social, environmental and economic justice for local populations. Join us to find out how you can become part of New York’s most innovative climate-resilient development!
09.19 GITA NANDAN PANELIST: ECOLOGIES OF TRANSITION ROUNDTABLE


The Pioneer Works description: In the low-lying coastal region of New York City, we are never more than a few miles away from the waterfront. Along the edges of Brooklyn’s coastlines, neighborhoods are being rezoned, flooded, and dredged. Red Hook and Gowanus share a water source, a sewershed, and gaps in policy that should protect the land and its inhabitants. Working together as civic, cultural, and ecological bodies who live, work, and play near the Gowanus Canal and on the Red Hook waterfront, can we recreate an integrated neighborhood plan? Can we build resilience in times of sea level rise, erratic precipitation, and overflowing sewer systems? Join us in this roundtable to hear from the Gowanus Canal Conservancy and Resilient Red Hook about current issues and planning in each neighborhood, and to collaborate on identifying advocacy issues that will help shape a Green New Deal that includes us all.

8.19 SCHOOLSHED: GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE SUMMER STUDIO 2019 // PRATT
Urban agriculture aligned with youth education provides a hands-on learning process, integrating curricula such as math, science, art, health, and active design. In addition, school gardens’ pervious areas provide a unique set of co-benefits such as storm-water management, air quality improvement, heat island reduction, among other ecosystem services. Students developed policy and designs for green infrastructure to be implemented on a two public schools located in Brooklyn. Working closely with middle schools and high school teachers, gardeners, principles and students, the class envisioned how these schools can bring multi-faceted programming to rooftops and surface playgrounds to aid in storm-water capture. 
6.19 STOKED SKATING ECOLOGIES


Generated in partnership with Skaters James Manges and Alex Bruno, school principal, Mark Federman, and youth skaters at East Side Community High School. STOKED Skating Ecologies connects the high school skating program, the environmental education program and the East Side Outside community garden through an innovative stormwater management system that directs water from the skatepark into a defunct rain garden across the fence line. Planting and shared storage also allows these two neighboring uses to enliven and support each other.
6.19 THE NATURE OF CITIES SUMMIT


Elliott and fellow UCBerkley MLA graduate Catherine Harris ran a workshop in Paris's Botanical Garden called Exploring urban habitats: more than human and other odd perspectives. We asked participants to adopt an odd perspective (plant, animal, element) and explore scores with us. We understand scores as catalytic instructions that frame a relationship between participants and ecological processes in the urban context through time.

5.19 PARIS INSPIRATION



4.19 RETI CENTER BLUECITY LAB

RETI Center Blue City LAB will be the first off-grid, community-based, floating climate lab in the US. As a model for climate-responsive architectural innovation, it incorporates amphibious science design principles, supports climate adaptation research and will be RETI Center’s home-base. the Blue City LAB provides the framework for and transitions to post-carbon environments.  this  project is in partnership with Zehra Kuz, Oasis Design Lab, and planning partners Space&Matter, and One Architecture.

1.19 HAPPY NEW YEAR from thread collective
11.18 A2RU CONFERENCE   

Elliott presented her experience with art + science collaborations as part of the panel Research Models for Interdisciplinary Arts Engagement in the Environment at the a2ru conference in Athens, Ga. The 2018 theme, Arts Environments: Design, Resilience, and Sustainability, was an invitation to explore the relationship between creativity and diverse cultural locations, by framing discussions about design, resilience, and sustainability in context of interdisciplinary artistic and environmental practice.  Other participants on the panel were Jeff Carney, Michael Marshall, and Bill Gilbert.  painting by artist and plenary speaker Rebecca Rutstein
11.18 RETI CENTER BLUE CITIES CONGRESS

thread is working with the RETI Center and a consortium of partners, to help envision a future of adaptation for living along our coast-lines. We participated in a two-day exhibit and congress to explore these issues in more depth, and bring the local Red Hook community into the conversation.  This project is about possibilities, and about creating a plan. Water will become an increasingly determinate factor in the future: too much of it, too little of it; where it is, where it isn’t. This self-sustaining, floating industrial development will be off grid, built in the community, by the community, and our international team of collaborators. The project, which will be hosted on the water of the GBX Grain Terminal and be inaugurated with a Lab that will serve as the home of RETI Center, is intended as a model for other vulnerable communities, across the country and beyond. Blue City encourages us to move toward the rising oceans, but with a different approach, a different understanding, and hopefully a different outcome.
The project is in collaboration with Oasis Design Lab, One Architecture, Space & Matter, GBX
11.18 ASIA PACIFIC DESIGN AWARDS 

Gita Nandan was honored to join the jury of The APDC Interior Design Excellence Awards in Shanghai, China this fall. THE competition invites architects, and interior designers, to submit conceptual, in-progress or completed work for consideration. A wide range of projects showcased contemporary work throughout the Asia Pacific region.
11.18 Frank Lloyd Wright / Olfelt House

thread is thrilled to be working on Frank Lloyd Wright's Olfelt house in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We are huge fans of FLW, and hope to do his vision with this house great justice and care in restoring and bringing it back to life for the next generation. Check out our instagram @thread_design to watch designs unfold, and site visit details as the residence goes under construction this fall.
5.18 MAS JANE'S WALK / COLLECT POND

Join Elliott and Clarinda Mac Low of Culture Push as we examine the urban backstage in the context of Collect Pond’s history and NYC’s water infrastructure. Let’s explore together the interconnection of ecological and social histories, changing perspectives and strategies in relation to water, and the urban backstage, where residents can rehearse, rather than perform. It is a provisional place, one for testing ideas, to practice imperfectly.  
3.18 PRATT NETHERLANDS RESILIENCE TOUR

Gita, co-led the Pratt Institute Spring Resilience Study abroad trip with Jaime Stein, Chair of the SES Dept, Nadya Nenadich, chair of the Historic Preservation Department and Theo Prudone. The week long study took students across the Dutch landscape to study the convergence of water management, innovation, history and heritage – where the Dutch are masters. #prattnetherlands2018
3.18 BLUE SCHOOLS DESIGN CHALLENGE

Go With the Flow Gowanus! thread collective worked closely with the Gowanus Canal Conservancy and several local Gowanus middle school and high school teachers to create the Blue School Green Infrastructure Curriculum and Design Challenge, launching this spring. Three classes will pilot the program, with creative and smart young adults coming up with innovative solutions to green their schools. Check out their work on May 19th at the Gowanus Expo.
9.17 FIELD GUIDE TO iLANDing READING 

Join Elliott Maltby, Annie B-Parson, Alexander Borinsky, Daaimah Mubashshir, for a fall backyard reading, featuring authors from 53rd State Press and 3 Hole Press. Dance By Letter, Brief Chronicle, Books 6-8 and A Field Guide To ILANDing: Scores for Researching Urban Ecologies will be available for sale!

8.17 URBAN DESIGN FORUM / GOWANUS FIELD STATION

Gita Nandan, will be joining Andrea Parker, Sharon Davis, Michelle de la Uz, Brad Lander,  to discuss leveraging development in Gowanus to expand the neighborhood’s green infrastructure network and preserve the area’s cultural assets. The Urban Design Forum presents a discussion on the planned remediation of the Gowanus Canal that is driving enormous development in an industrial quarter of the city. thread will discuss the Gowanus Field Station as a tool for citizen science, youth engagement, and interactive knowledge building in urban areas. Thursday August 10th, 6pm at the American Can Factory.
11.17 GREENBUILD 2017

Gita joins other active members of RETI and the RDM Campus – Ben Margolis of SBIDC, Gabrielle Muris of Urban Impact, and Carter Craft of the Dutch Consulate at GreenBuild in Boston, to discuss RETI Center : A Model of Resilient Economic Development. Billions in federal, state and municipal funds are being invested in coastal resiliency efforts, but who benefits most from these investments? The RETI Center proposes plans to ensure that this funding does not overlook socio-economically vulnerable coastal communities, but is instead used to leverage a better economic future for them. Will you be at GreenBuild? Join us for a lively discussion, Wednesday November 8th, 8.30am
5.17 NYU CITY TALK / DESIGNING FOR DIALOGUE

Gita Nandan is presenting the Concrete Waves project, a community based design that connects public space, resiliency, and active, at the NYU Global Studies Program. This is in conversation with Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani is an urbanist, photographer and curator and principal of Buscada, and Damon Rich is a designer and artist and partner with Jae Shin at Hector. Many thanks to Suzanne Maria Menghraj, NYU Clinical Assistant Professor, for assembling such a great group to discuss citizen participation in design.
2.17 WALLING OFF WHAT MATTERS

A dialogue with Gita Nandan, chair of Resilient Red Hook and principal at thread collective, part of the 100 Days of Impact Series
Infrastructure will be at the core of Trump’s economic engine, with the construction of a southern border wall at the center. In this critical junction around climate change action, I will be presenting innovative ideas on how communities can implement local action to tackle flood protection and resiliency to prepare our low-lying communities for the next century. I ask that you join in the conversation to discuss how to grow a city-wide vision. 
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