The Point at Socrates Sculpture Park
Queens, New York
The Point aims to unlock a currently restricted section of the Socrates Sculpture Park in Astoria, Queens. This open-air studio, filled with large steel beams and plates, serves both as workspace and materials storage for Mark DiSuvero’s sculptures. DiSuvero, who founded the park in 1986, envisioned it as a community-driven and accessible arts space. Bagchee Architect worked closely with director Katie Dixon to develop a phased plan for unveiling The Point to the public. This approach will allow visitors to engage with the impressive steel sculptures while continuing the park’s commitment to making art accessible to all.
Project Team: Nandini Bagchee and Ngawang Tenzin
UpBeat NYC Music Center
Bronx, New York
2024- Present
The purpose-designed music practice and performance space for Upbeat NYC will be located at street level on the ground floor of the Betances IV housing complex in the South Bronx. The 4000-sf facility will accommodate Upbeat’s expanding music instruction program and provide a venue for smaller community focused cultural events.
The proposed concept design for this new facility includes an inviting lobby and a series of large and medium sized practice rooms that will allow the organization to conduct practice sessions at different scales. The lobby and practice rooms are designed with walls, floors and ceilings that have acoustic properties that both enhance and control sound.
The layout optimizes the use of the in-between spaces to allow for meetings, refreshment and waiting in-between sessions. The use of warm, natural materials and careful lighting is highlighted with the use of vibrant colors. The flexibility of the layout and the accessibility reflects the energy of this multicultural music organization.
Project Team: Nandini Bagchee, Ngawang Tenzin.
HEArts Center
Bronx, New York
2024 – Ongoing
The proposed adaptive reuse of the Lincoln Recovery building integrates historical preservation with modern design interventions. A key element of the project is the preservation of the historic staircase, along with the addition of a discreet egress stair in the sunken yard to minimize visual impact. A new skylight will bring natural light into the space, while a two-story rear extension will feature a metal trellis, overlooking Alexander’s Alley Park—a green space designed to support the building’s mission of healing and wellness.
Project Team: Nandini Bagchee, Olgu Aytac, Ngawang Tenzin.
East New York Food Hub
Brooklyn, New York
2023
The East New York Community Land Trust (ENYCLT), in collaboration with Universe City and East Brooklyn Mutual Aid, is working to secure seven vacant, city-owned lots within the East New York Industrial Business Zone (IBZ). This area, with its complex industrial legacy, faces the threat of rezoning for housing development. Such a shift could spur gentrification, displacing long-term residents and businesses, as has occurred in other former industrial neighborhoods across the city.
Throughout the summer of 2022, a coalition of local community organizers and industrial partners gathered at Universe City’s headquarters in the IBZ to plan for the future of these seven lots. Their vision includes creating a food hub, a green technology job training center, a cannabis lab, and a maker space—all vital components for community empowerment and economic development in East New York.
Bagchee Architects were tasked with designing the food hub on Sackman Street, which will consist of a six-story facility dedicated to food storage and distribution. The design includes a spacious two-story storage area, a basement floor with additional storage, and cold storage/freezer space to preserve perishable goods. The upper floors will serve as community spaces for local nonprofits focused on food education and industry initiatives. To further support the project financially, the proposal also incorporates an event space that can be rented out to generate additional income.
Project Team: Nandini Bagchee, Ngawang Tenzin, Unit 25 Spitzer School of Architecture.
Queensboro People’s Space
Queens, New York.
2022
The Queensboro People’s Space Report seeks to obtain a publicly owned property, the large six story Department of Education Building at the corner of Vernon Boulevard and 44th Drive in Long Island City, Queens. The Building will be converted into a Community Land Trust stewarded by the Western Queens Community Land Trust. The proposed building will house an array of manufacturing, arts, food, and care spaces providing much needed affordable space in Long Island City. With potential tenants like the Street Vendor Project, Indie Collect, Astoria Wood Workers Collective, Hell Gate Farms and many other local businesses combined with spaces for learning like, libraries, classrooms, and a daycare facility. The Queensboro People’s Space seeks to usher in a new economy of cooperation in Long Island City by providing deeply affordable spaces for local businesses and community members.
Project Team: Nandini Bagchee, Ngawang Tenzin.
The design process began with a series of community meetings held via Zoom. The meetings were attended by a diverse range of participants—from artists and makers to food sovereignty organizations and grassroots service providers, making space for everyone’s unique needs and voices. Each participant brought their own specific requirements to the table, and all this input was essential in shaping the design.
Community involvement was at the heart of both the programming and the overall project vision. The Western Queens Community Land Trust (WQCLT) organized several tabling sessions and a community festival to gather direct feedback from local residents. A physical model of the building, created by Bagchee Architects, played a pivotal role in making the design process more accessible. As Memo Salazar, Board Co-Chair of WQCLT, explained, “It’s one thing to show CAD drawings in a PDF, but it’s another to lift up each floor and walk through the building. It’s so tactile. That really helped people at open festivals and local community events understand what could be done.” This hands-on approach proved invaluable in translating abstract plans into a shared vision for the community.
The Laundromat Project
Brooklyn, New York
2021 – 2023
The Laundromat Project (LP) is a non-profit arts organization dedicated in bringing positive change into communities of color by directly investing in multidisciplinary artists of color and community leaders.
In 2020 Bagchee architects in collaboration with the team at the LP began designing a new space for the LP in Bed-Stuy where LP had first started 15 years ago.
The long narrow space is separated into four spaces, the reception; which transforms into a community gathering space for artmaking and workshops, the program space; allowing for public movie screenings and talks with a small kitchenette, the office space, and the backyard for relaxation.
Click here to read The New York Times article: The Laundromat Project
Project Team: Nandini Bagchee, Ngawang Tenzin.
In Land We Trust
2024
“In Land We Trust” is part of a collection of essay titled “Architecture from Public to Commons” put together and edited by Marcelo Lopez Dinardi.
In her essay, Nandini Bagchee reflects on her practice and her work with several community land trusts across New York, exploring the complex and painful history of land. She ties this history to the destruction of native cultures and the exploitation of enslaved Black bodies. Bagchee grapples with this legacy as the foundation for resistance, highlighting how community land trusts serve as a powerful tool for justice, self-determination, and resilience amidst the growing pressures of development. Through this model, she underscores the ongoing fight for community rights and empowerment in the face of encroaching development interests.
“The building has a deep meaning for those who saw the South Bronx destroyed and demolished in the 1980s. Foregrounding the history of the Young Lords and reclaiming this building has therefore become an act of communal healing for many who live in the neighborhood.”
