Hartford, Conn.-based JCJ Architecture traces its roots to 1936, when the U.S. was just coming out of an economic depression and its unemployment rate was still 14%. In 2021, with the country trying to recover economically from the impact of the coronavirus, and with questions about social inequity entering the public debate as rarely before, JCJ has focused its design work on projects and clients that are committed to social responsibility and advocacy, particularly for underserved or marginalized communities.
The firm that is 100% owned by its 120-plus employees, JCJ has a “long history” of designing buildings for people in need, says Peter Bachmann, a Principal. Over the years, that work has included senior living, public schools, and working with Native American tribes. More recently, a “natural progression” for the firm, says Bachmann, has been to seek design work that benefits immigrants and people with disabilities.
PROJECTS THAT WILL LEND HELP TO MARGINALIZED
Bachmann points to three projects in various stages of development that he says illustrate his firm’s commitment:
A rendering of the Freedom Village that would provide housing for the physically disabled adults.
• JCJ has been working with Barrier Free Living, which provides emergency shelter for victims of domestic violence, to design a “Freedom Village” on the Lower East Side of Manhattan that will provide temporary and supportive housing for adults with significant physical disabilities. The construction documents have been completed for this project, whose construction could get started this summer, Bachmann says.
Ohio intends to roll out 10 Adult Advocacy Centers for which JCJ designed the prototype.
• The construction documents are also ready for a prototype facility JCJ designed for Adult Advocacy Centers, a disability victim services agency. The resulting building would be the first of its kind to serve adult crime victims with disabilities. The prototype—part of a 10-center rollout in Ohio that’s been on hold because of the COVID 19 outbreak—is composed of five pods, each strategically designed to support different categories of disability: hearing and visual impairments, mental illness, physical mobility, and clients in crisis or with intensive medical needs.
Bachmann spoke of “trauma-informed design” that, in the prototype, accounts for residents’ psychological sensitivity to light, sound, and movement. For example, the single-story building’s windows are above eye level so that residents aren’t startled by people they might see on the street. The design also avoids skylights so that birds flying overhead don’t alarm fragile residents.
The Center for Community & Entrepreneurship will include a first-floor incubation space.
• The Asian Americans for Equality has enlisted JCJ to design its Center for Community & Entrepreneurship, a 65,000-sf, four-story building in Flushing, Queens, the New York borough with the city’s largest Asian population. The Center’s first floor will include incubator space for startup businesses and a mini food hall. The upper three floors will provide casual and formal meeting and training rooms. The goal of this building—whose construction docs are completed—is to provide spaces that support individual interaction, community events, retail and office opportunities, and a social services hub.
LOCAL SUPPORT, IN DIFFERENT WAYS
Bachmann says that community involvement has been central to the success of these projects. “We can never presume to know the skin that someone is living in,” he explains. “We don’t just come in and tell clients what to do. We support social change by giving different populations a voice in the design of facilities. We listen and try to ask the right questions.”
JCJ is involved in its communities in other ways, too. It is a supporter of the ACE Mentor program, which educates high school students about AEC careers. Each of the firm’s offices also makes cash donations local charities.
On a personal level, Bachmann says he’s gained “a better understanding” about how design can impact people in need from his 31-year-old daughter Maya, who is intellectually disabled.
Related Stories
| Jun 18, 2014
Arup uses 3D printing to fabricate one-of-a-kind structural steel components
The firm's research shows that 3D printing has the potential to reduce costs, cut waste, and slash the carbon footprint of the construction sector.
| Jun 16, 2014
6 U.S. cities at the forefront of innovation districts
A new Brookings Institution study records the emergence of “competitive places that are also cool spaces.”
| Jun 13, 2014
First look: BIG's spiraling museum for watchmaker Audemars Piguet
The glass-and-steel pavilion's spiral structure acts as a storytelling device for the company's history.
| Jun 12, 2014
Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects' design selected for new UCSC facility
The planned site is a natural landscape among redwood trees with views over Monterey Bay, a site that the architects have called “one of the most beautiful they have ever worked on.”
| Jun 12, 2014
Austrian university develops 'inflatable' concrete dome method
Constructing a concrete dome is a costly process, but this may change soon. A team from the Vienna University of Technology has developed a method that allows concrete domes to form with the use of air and steel cables instead of expensive, timber supporting structures.
| Jun 11, 2014
David Adjaye’s housing project in Sugar Hill nears completion
A new development in New York's historic Sugar Hill district nears completion, designed to be an icon for the neighborhood's rich history.
| Jun 9, 2014
Green Building Initiative launches Green Globes for Sustainable Interiors program
The new program focuses exclusively on the sustainable design and construction of interior spaces in nonresidential buildings and can be pursued by both building owners and individual lessees of commercial spaces.
| Jun 4, 2014
Want to design a Guggenheim? Foundation launches open competition for proposed Helsinki museum
This is the first time the Guggenheim Foundation has sought a design through an open competition. Anonymous submissions for stage one of the competition are due September 10, 2014.
| Jun 4, 2014
Construction team named for Atlanta Braves ballpark
A joint venture between Barton Malow, Brasfield & Gorrie, Mortenson Construction, and New South Construction will build the Atlanta Braves ballpark, which is scheduled to open in early 2017. Check out the latest renderings of the plan.
| May 30, 2014
Riding high: L.A., Chicago working on their version of the High Line elevated park
Cities around the U.S. are taking notice of New York's highly popular High Line elevated park system. Both Chicago and Los Angeles are currently working on High Line-like projects.
