Institute for Public Architecture

Happy June 🌞✨
Today is the official move-in day for our 2026 Summer Residency at the Block House!
As June kicks off, we want to take a moment to reflect on our 2025 Summer Fellows and the joyful energy that filled the warm months they spent working and living on Governors Island.

These photos were captured by photographer Thalia Bassim who joined the summer fellows on the days of preparation before their final activation last August. From mobile architectures to night-time photography shot by the glow of the moon and citylights, the Summer Fellows had rare overnight access to Governors Island, allowing them to create unique site-specific research and projects. The cohort included Kii Kang (Sound/Digital Art), David Johnson (Photography), Corwin Green (Social Innovation), Sherry Aine Te (Architecture), Chong Gu (Architecture), and Chris Sancomb (Industrial Design/Sculpture).

Alongside the Fellows spot some amazing collaborators- 💫 musician and performer MIZU who rehearses for Kii Kang’s sound walk: Synapic Island, performed later that night on Governors Island, 🔊prolific photographer and DJ, Stefan Ruiz playing a live set in Nolan Park as part of the Radio-In-Residence series hosted by Deli Radio .nyc, and 🌱 artist and filmmaker Zacarías González who led the 2025 TEST KITCHEN experimental residency dinner series.

📍Excited to catch some of this energy this summer?
Join us for our upcoming Summer Open [Block] House dates on:
June 20
July 11
August 8 💥Summer Exhibition💥

📅Want to be a Fellow? Our 2026 Open Call deadline has been extended!
Apply for limited Fall spots until June 15, 2026.

Links in bio for all the things!!
See you on the island ⛴️☀️

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Register for our upcoming Earth Day at the Block House event!

📍Screening in the Studio:
🎥The Story of the BQE Documentary Film (45-minute run time)
🕑12:15pm & 1:15pm

The Story of the BQE, a 45-minute documentary produced by the Institute for Public Architecture (IPA) with NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate, examines the institutional segregation and environmental damage caused by the construction of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Directed by architect Adam Paul Susaneck of Segregation by Design Segregation by Design , the documentary highlights the devastating impact the 35-mile highway had on Brooklyn and Queens, displacing tens of thousands of residents across the two boroughs and dividing communities. A short 4-minute video from IPA’s Modeling Community Visions for a Future Without the BQE workshop with Sunset Park residents will be shown after each screening of the documentary.

📍Fellows Talk in the Library:
🌿With Sine Lindholm, Architect and Educator (IPA Fellow Fall 2025)
🕝2:30pm

Sine Lindholm Sine Lindholm is a Danish architect, educator, consultant, and certified nature therapist, recognized for her distinctive integration of architecture with nature-centered therapy. She joins us on Earth day to discuss Terramation, a regenerative design–build experiment developed during the 11-week 2025 Fall Residency period. Exploring what happens when architecture becomes part of the biological cycle of life and decay, Sine will dive into her research on compost as building material and architecture as a living vessel.

This event is free and open to the public on Governors Island - learn more and register at the link in bio!

Our 2025 Fall Residency Exhibition was recently featured in !

On November 8th, IPA Fall Fellows Sofia Dreyer, Nida Ekenel, Sine Lindholm, Martha Steele, Julia Wilson, and Yitian Yan presented a full-house activation at our historic Block House on , showcasing their research/work over the course of the 11-week residency.

Tap the 🔗 in bio to read more about Fellows’ diverse practices across fields of art, ecology, design, and architecture.

📣 Interested in becoming an IPA Fellow? We are accepting applications for our 2026 Independent Project Residency program! Visit our website to learn more and apply today!

Our Brooklyn-Queens Expressway work, including The Story of the BQE documentary, was highlighted in Winnie Hu’s recent article for

Read the full article at the link in bio!

We are The Dreamers! Our Brooklyn-Queens Expressway work, including The Story of the BQE documentary, was highlighted in Winnie Hu’s recent article for

Read the article at the link in bio!

Thank you for attending our Fall Residency Exhibition: LIVING LABORATORY as we celebrated the culmination of the 2025 Fall Independent Project Residency! Swipe through to see photos from the event.

Last Saturday, IPA Fellows presented a full-house activation at the historic Block House on , sharing their diverse practices across fields of art, ecology, design, and architecture.

Following public viewing hours, the evening unfolded with lively artist talks showcasing the research and explorations undertaken by the Fall cohort during their 11-week residency. Highlights included a live formwork casting reveal by Nida Ekenel; a captivating performance piece by Yitian Yan; a short film screening with Sofia Dreyer; an immersive outdoor sound installation dedicated to the Gowanus Canal by Martha Steele; an illumination on the intersection of plants, weaving, and time by Julia Wilson; and kinetic architectural models by Sine Lindholm exploring compost as a building material.

Visit our website to learn more about the Independent Project Residency program. Interested in becoming a future IPA Fellow? Our 2026 Open Call is live – apply today at the link in bio!

📸:

Thank you to everyone who joined the B.Y.O.W. Water-Testing Workshop led by Fellow Martha Steele () at the Block House.

Over water samples, litmus strips and tea, participants in the B.Y.O.W. Workshop shared stories and insight into their relationships with NYC waterways. Participants added their sample info to a table-top map of NYC, then tested their samples for chlorine content, alkalinity, hardness, pH, and nitrates. Stories of water-collection methods, from crouching in Prospect Park to leaving a jar in the rain on a Bed-Stuy fire escape, led to stories of local water pollution headlines they’d read in the news. The results from the testing were intriguing, including a sealed bottle of water exceeding the advertised pH level listed on its label. Participants were later invited to look at fluorescent-dyed tissue samples under a microscope. After the workshop, leftover samples were dyed with the fluorescent dye, Eosin Y, and inspected with a UV black light under the microscope. A sample from the Gowanus Canal revealed a tiny neon orange speck, likely organic matter. Feedback from a biologist suggests that this is likely a microscopic piece of connective tissue. Connective tissue is significantly denser and has a different pH, resulting in this hyper-absorption of the dye. Steele is now processing the workshop findings into a speculative citizen-science water map.

Visit our Fall Residency Exhibition on November 8th to learn more about Martha’s research at the IPA, and view work by the Fall Fellows who have spent 11 weeks living and producing creative work on Governors Island.

Join us this coming Wednesday for a free public screening of The Story of the BQE documentary and panel discussion!

Featuring opening remarks by Polly Trottenberg, Dean of . The film will be followed by an insightful panel discussion with Ben Furnas, Executive Director of ; Adam Paul Susaneck, Architect, Filmmaker, Founder of ; Dr. Rachel Weinberger, Vice President for Research Strategy & Peter Herman Chair for Transportation at ; Barkha Patel, Director, Jersey City Department of Infrastructure; Maria Fernanda Pulido-Velosa, Coalition Organizer ; and moderated by Tiffany-Ann Taylor, VP for Transportation

🗓️ November 5th | 6-8pm (doors open at 5:30pm)
📍 Rosenthal Pavilion, NYU Kimmel Center
🎟️ RSVP required at the link in bio

The Story of the BQE, a 40-minute documentary produced by the Institute for Public Architecture (IPA) with NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate, examines the institutional segregation and environmental damage caused by the construction of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Directed by architect Adam Paul Susaneck of Segregation by Design, the documentary highlights the devastating impact the 35-mile highway had on Brooklyn and Queens, displacing tens of thousands of residents across the two boroughs and dividing communities.