About the Project
Pitkin Avenue Business Improvement District wanted to breathe new life into Zion Triangle, the geographic center of the BID’s activities. Working closely with designers at Studio Cooke John, the team hosted community engagement workshops to learn what community members wanted to see. Residents shared that they wanted safe, well-lit public spaces which could host neighborhood events and could reflect their strong pride in their community and the depth of culture in Brownsville.
The team landed on bringing a lighting project to Zion Triangle to make the public space feel more welcoming and safe at night and support events in the space. The designers from Studio Cooke John designed pillars to run the length of the park and hold up string lights. Deeply inspired by the community engagement sessions, the pillars have phrases on them that reflect what residents think of their neighborhood: Brownsville is culture. Brownsville is tough. Brownsville is home.
On a clear evening in November, the Pitkin Ave BID welcomed the neighborhood to see the unveiling of the Brownsville Is installation. The community turned out to celebrate, with a local step troop and band, activities and speeches from local community leaders.
The BID also developed a vision plan that captures community priorities and ideas for programming and infrastructural improvements to transform Zion Triangle and other public spaces in the district into destination spaces for Brownsville residents and neighbors.
The BID plans to continue hosting activations and events in their public spaces and celebrate the history, culture and community spirit of the Pitkin Avenue area and Brownsville.
Learn More About the Project
Explore the team’s full report on their process, findings, and vision for what’s next.
Explore the team’s presentation at the Local Center Summit in November 2024.
Team
Pitkin Avenue BID is a nonprofit community development organization that serves businesses and property owners on Pitkin Avenue and creates programming for the entrepreneurs and residents in Brownsville. They work to make Brownsville a better place to live, work, shop and visit.
Tiera Mack
Dasia Jenkins
Studio Cooke John is a multidisciplinary design studio that values placemaking as a way to transform relationships between people and the built environment. They see public space as places to build community and strengthen the bonds with those whose backgrounds might be different to ours.
Nina Cooke John
Deena Darby
Dhruva Lakshminarayanan
Phillips Lytle LLP is providing legal support across the project teams.
Molly Brennan
Shengkai Xu
Jocelyn Ng
Flora Donovan
Images credit: Cameron Blaylock, Nico Shot, and partner organizations
Support
Connected Corridors projects are made possible with support from National Grid’s Project C, NYC Department of Small Business Services, Charles H. Revson Foundation, Deutsche Bank, the NYC Green Fund, administered by City Parks Foundation, and Lily Auchincloss Foundation. The Local Center is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Urban Design Forum programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
To learn more about supporting the Local Center, please contact Katherine Sacco, katherine@urbandesignforum.org and Lauren Nye, lauren.n@anhd.org.