Living in the Shade

• July 23–November 12, 2025

• Special Exhibits Gallery, 2nd Floor

• Free

Living in the Shade explores the role of open space—large lawns and tenant gardens, paved paths and play spaces, shady seating areas and public art—in creating more livable, healthy, and thriving communities.

The exhibit highlights the significant role of open space in the daily lives of millions of public housing residents who have called New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) developments home. It explores different facets of this unique environment through large-scale architectural models, archival and contemporary photographs, renderings and site plans, and community testimonials and photographs. It assesses the successes and failures of NYCHA’s landscaping efforts over a 90-year period, telling the story of how open spaces were first designed for public housing residents in the 1930s and how they have been reimagined over the years to meet changing community needs.

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About

Living in the Shade was curated by Prof. Matthias Altwicker, AIA LEED AP, New York Institute of Technology, and Prof. Nicholas Dagen Bloom, Ph.D., Hunter College. It was previously exhibited in New York City at the FX Collaborative Gallery and LaGuardia Community College.

The exhibition was developed in collaboration with Ariel Lorenzi, Studio A+H, Suzana Rios Sanchez & Fairy Anilkumar Patel, Nadia Bryson & Steven Diaz, NYIT, Brian Polgar and the NYIT FabLab and Artem Pankin, Hunter College. 

The National Public Housing Museum presentation was curated by Alex Orfirer Maher and Lisa Yun Lee, in collaboration with HOUR Studio and Michael Savona. 

Support

Living in the Shade was made possible by the Public Housing Community Fund, and sponsored by the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives at LaGuardia Community College; the New York Institute of Technology School of Architecture and Design; Hunter Urban Policy & Planning (UPP), a department within the School of Arts and Sciences at Hunter College; and Studio A+H.

Major funding for the exhibition’s presentation at the National Public Housing Museum was provided by the Driehaus Foundation, the Public Housing Community Fund, and Grain Collective.

Generous contributions were provided by Charlie and Sean Conroy Barlow, Deborah Bennett, Jean Butzen and Jim Strickler, Michele Dremmer, Sunny and Paul Fischer, Michael and Karen Gurgone, Brad Hunt, Zenobia Johnson-Black, Marisa Novara and Ted Christians, Michael and Laura Rogers, and Cecile Shea.