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Working Small: Architecture for Public Health and Opportunity

By Hannibal Newsom

"Working Small showcases four small-scale build projects developed over the last two years through my design research at Syracuse Architecture.

Architecture and infrastructure projects that promote public health have the potential to increase access to opportunity and upward mobility in struggling communities by relieving social, financial, health, and other stresses. Each of the projects in this developing Working Small series engages collaboratively with communities directly, or with established local cultural or civic institutions, and aims to positively impact public health through addressing issues of food security and sovereignty, providing social space for community interaction, or providing relief from poor indoor air quality in low-income communities in a food desert.

Working Small also creates room for both social and civic engagement in architecture while creating space for students to get involved in the development of real-world built projects and connect their education to practical experience. In each of these projects the work of graduate and undergraduate students research interns is fundamental in collaborating with clients and community, developing design and construction documents, or fabrication and construction of the work.

Working Small allows for versatility in research, teaching and practice related to built projects, develops connections between the university and its local community, and provides students with valuable, translatable, real-world experience to supplement their academic careers."

Digital rendering of a brick vault pavilion structure in an outdoor grassy area. The open-air space is filled with people of diverse ages and abilities, including individuals in wheelchairs, under a series of intersecting arched brick forms, with trees and blue sky in the background.
Interior of a university design studio displaying architectural posters and scale models. A student crouches in front of small wooden house models, while a large glass wall in the background features printed research boards detailing community-based housing projects.
A group of people posing in front of a newly built outdoor community kitchen structure made of timber with a corrugated metal roof. The group includes adults, children, and pets, standing on a grassy plot surrounded by trees and gardening elements, celebrating the project opening.
A small modern barn-like structure with a blue exterior and gabled roof set within a garden surrounded by wildflowers and greenery. The building features large barn doors and side windows, with another smaller blue building and a white greenhouse structure visible in the background.