ARCH 432 - FALL 2025
STUDENT
Maddie Tay
PROFESSOR
Nitzan Farfel
Cabrini-Green once provided housing for thousands of Chicago’s low-income residents. Over the years, it became a symbol of public housing failure after years of disinvestment by the Chicago Housing Authority. As the high-rises fell into a state of disrepair, they were demolished and the lots were left empty. The proposed community center occupies one of these empty sites, surrounded by new developments and the remaining historic row houses. Positioned within this layered context, the center integrates old and new through form, materials, and programming. Repair is the ultimate definition of combining old and new—it’s a temportal layering. By prioritizing repair through programming, it honors the neighborhood’s history, rendering acts of making and mending visible as a form of cultural remambrance and resistance to erasure.