Concept Design

Brooklyn waterfront x Columbia University

Designing a real estate development concept for the Brooklyn water front using human-centered methodologies.

The Challenge

How might we reimagine the Brooklyn waterfront to foster a vibrant community for all?

Outcome

A mixed-use development that is dynamic and affordable; from flexible product mix to deal structure, it is designed to suit the diverse needs of the local community while simultaneously attracting talent and visitors

Our team advanced to the final round, but the competition canceled due to COVID-19

Role

Requirement alignment & concept development workshops, stakeholder & user research, proto-personas

Team: Mar Ogando López (research), Juan Ortiz Monasterio O'Dogherty (finance & architectural renderings), John Grubb (finance)

Time Frame

10 days

Context

The current state of the project's plot is outdated and occupied by a government service. The immediate area is depleted and industrial. There is an abundance of luxury residential buildings full of affluent occupants in the wider neighborhood

My team and I worked on a proposal of what we thought would be the best use of the plot for The Case Competition. We pitched to city officials, and industry experts from various universities, including Columbia, MIT, Cambridge, and HKUST

Process
Alignment & Prioritization

As we received 50 pages of city requirements and market information, the first task was to parse and prioritize the information. I lead a workshop to get our team on the same page of what we know and how important we think a piece of information may be

Main Findings:

The development is located in an affluent, gentrified area, but needed to serve the lower income communities that were there before
Whatever came next would need to complement existing waterfront developments as part of the larger regeneration project. Nearby was the new Domino Park
There is a strong sense of identity the community already has. We would need to think about cultural context as well as the physical context

Stakeholder Mapping

Mapping helped overcome the challenge of serving a variety of users of different socioeconomic backgrounds and functions. We were not able to travel to the area to get a better understanding of the area and stakeholders, so creating a way to prioritize where we should focus our proto-personas was useful

User Needs

After mapping the stakeholders, it was easy to see who the main users and their common needs would be

We wanted to hone in on the user jounrey upon initial sign up.

Put in focus group screenshot somewhere to show you talked to people first hand.

Common user needs:

Placemaking: All users wanted a place where they can spend time; whether it be leisure, retail or food and beverage
Flexible space: From work, retail, to event space, everyone needed a space, but no one wanted the commitment
Convenience: As trends for eco-friendly alternatives to commuting rise, residents are looking to be closer to their work spaces. In addition, the public transport combined with parking/car access in the area is sub-par

We used these common needs as the foundation of our concept. We then triangulated the market data, given requirements, and a financial model to validate a product mix

We wanted to hone in on the user jounrey upon initial sign up.

Put in focus group screenshot somewhere to show you talked to people first hand.

Outcome

A co-op where community members could buy into the development to get a return in time in the space or money. The space is flexible, dynamic, and inclusive in that anyone can buy in to use the space