This project is being made possible with the generous support of the James Marston Fitch Charitable Foundation, and the New York State Council on the Arts.
No one wants an empty building shell in their neighborhood. These blighted structures – lacking floor plates and roofs – are generally seen as nuisances , eyesores and beyond salvageable and therefore should be demolished. It is often hard to see the social, economic, and environmental benefits of preserving these structures (most of which are historic buildings).
Newburgh, New York is only four square miles but has over 600 vacant buildings (10% of its buildings stock). Like Poughkeepsie, Kingston, and other New York State post-industrial cities, the concentration of these buildings overlaps with the city’s lowest income level and highest crime rate. Building Shells: Building Community offers a novel preservation approach to the persistent problem: How do you break the downward cycle of vacancies? And, what do we do with the hundreds of building shells that already exist in these cites?
Using Newburgh as a case study, Building Shells: Building Community proposes an alternative to demolition. Inspired by the accessible spirit of tactical urbanism, the project creates a toolkit that provides communities with design solutions and technical resources to help them reactivate building shells with interim uses and programs. The toolkit also provides innovative approaches to how residents and municipalities can work together to stop buildings from becoming shells.
The project is spear-headed by Naomi Hersson-Ringskog and Liz McEnaney. Check out the Fullerton Center’s website for more details.
TELL ME MORE is a podcast for kids and adults. Join us as we time travel through Dubai with an 8 year old, to uncover what the city looked like in the beginning, told by the people who made and experienced it. Co-hosted by Spatika and Liz McEnaney. Produced by Amaeya Media.
Click here for latest episodes.
Young by modern standards, the UAE is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its founding in December 2021, and Dubai is a dynamic emirate that constantly blends past, present and future in surprising ways. Dubai continues to attract a global audience in awe of its supersized ambitions and achievements. At the same time, it is filled with places and people that connect us to its past, and that is a remarkable achievement for an emirate whose population has grown exponentially from 0.1m to 3.3m since 1971.
Fifty years represents an entire working lifetime for those who have contributed to Dubai’s transformation into a modern-yet-deeply-rooted megapolis. Many of the people who architected and designed the city are still living in Dubai today. They remember when Sheikh Rashid Tower (Dubai World Trade Center) was the tallest landmark announcing the arrival to the city to its visitors, when Al Ghurair Centre was the only destination for shopping, when barjeels and water towers punctuated the skyline, and when pearl divers still went out to sea.
Urban Design Initiative
Design For Six Feet is a women-led urban design collaborative that believes in co-creation, knowledge sharing, and activism.
What started as a crowd-sourced initiative on Instagram to share ideas about how to rethink urban life in response to COVID-19, has grown into a collaborative of urban designers, architects, landscape architects, planners, and preservationists working on projects where people can literally vote with their feet. We have partnered with cities -- big and small -- to experiment with new ways we can alter public space for the benefit of all, and, in doing so, pave the way for long-term change, new spaces and new spatial practices.
We value going back and forth between the “just do it” mode of immediate action and the comprehensively developed vision for a better future -- the six feet mock-up and the 6,000 feet neighborhood. But, it is especially the “just do it” attitude, driven by crisis, that has shown all of us that we can change.
We see our work as open-source design: We want to share our ideas and we welcome everyone to reuse or adapt our resources to help their own communities. We continue to seek new design collaborators, community partnerships and projects. Tell us who, what, where, when, or how you would like to DESIGN FOR.
Images: Paint & Play installation by Brandon Codrington; Hudson Shared Summer Streets rendering; NEWBURGH: DESIGN FOR PLAY "makerBoards” designed by downupNY; NEWBURGH: DESIGN FOR PLAY “Imagination Pavilion” designed by Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects.
Executive Director, Board Member
“With a good imagination—and sea legs to navigate the gaping holes in the wooden decks—it is possible to picture cruising along the Hudson River aboard the S.S. Columbia, taking a twirl in the ballroom or sipping a brew in its beer garden.” (Wall Street Journal, Feb 4, 2016)
Restoring the 1902-built National Historic Landmark steamboat SS Columbia to revive the tradition of steam travel on the Hudson River and to reconnect New York City to the Hudson Valley cities and towns. To date, the project has raised $4.6 million for capital projects and operations, including stabilizing the hull and towing the boat from Detroit to Toledo to Buffalo, where it is now undergoing further work. The SS Columbia Project also partners with cities on dock-building campaigns in the Hudson Valley.
Click here for a walk through of Columbia shot in 2017 by Derrick Belcham.
Photo credits: Columbia arriving in Buffalo, Gene Witkowski; Columbia in shipyard, SS Columbia Project.
Documentary Film Producer
Hudson Valley, New York State
2010 - 2013
We did whatever it took to document the Hudson Valley in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. The Hudson Valley experienced a renaissance of sorts, but not everyone benefited from it. Hudson Rising — a documentary film commissioned by OurHudson — tells the stories of citizens who were addressing pressing issues about the region’s open space and farmlands, economic vitality, urban infrastructure, and quality of life.
Hudson Rising profiles entrepreneurs and recent immigrants starting new businesses on abandoned Main Streets, scientists and artists bringing new life to empty factory buildings and kids building community gardens in decaying neighborhoods. The documentary also tells the stories of farmers reinventing farming and activists working to protect the landscape and make it accessible, including the fight to save the world-famous Shawangunks Ridge, the effort to convert an abandoned railway bridge into an aerial park, and the initiatives to restore sturgeon, shad and even a steamship to the Hudson River.
The documentary was screened at venues throughout the Valley in the Spring and Summer of 2013 as part of OurHudson’s campaign to engage the Valley’s citizens in a conversation about what it will take to make the Hudson Valley great again.
Producer and Director
Hudson Valley
2010-2013
Special Assistant to Commissioner of New York State’s Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial Celebration
Hudson Valley
2008-2010
OurHudson was a coalition of non-profit organizations, government agencies, and citizen activists focused on the future of the Hudson Valley.
OurHudson convened whistle-stop tours aboard historic barges (Pennsylvania Railroad Barge #399 and Lehigh Valley Railroad Barge #79) stopping at Hudson River Valley cities and towns. Community workshops were held to ask hard questions about work, infrastructure, environmental vulnerability and opportunity and more, and a Task Force of experts was assembled to write recommendations. Later, a traveling exhibition was launched and the public was invited to tour the barge exhibition to see how citizens of the Hudson Valley envisioned restoring economic vitality to their riverfront towns, while improving the health of the river and protecting our valley’s world-renowned scenic beauty.
OurHudson also organized river-long flotillas; developed a prototype for town docks in the Hudson River; and launched Heritage Weekend, a weekend of open houses at museums and historic sites in the Hudson Valley.
Click here to see a short video about OurHudson.
Guest Curator
Museum of the City of New York
New York, New York
2011-2013
On view from September 13, 2012 - January 21, 2013
From Farm to City: Staten Island 1661-2012 looked at the individuals, communities, institutions, and city agencies that shaped Staten Island’s development over a 350 year period. Through compelling case studies, the exhibition examined not only the emergence of Richmond County as its own place, but also the Island as a landscape that shaped and was shaped by the larger historical forces of New York City.
Strategically located at the entry to the world’s greatest harbor, Staten Island has served as a breadbasket for New York City; a pleasure ground of estates and sporting grounds, including cricket, tennis, and foxhunting; a refuge for the needy at charitable institutions such as Sailors’ Snug Harbor; a center for early industrial activity at Linoleumville and Factoryville; an international port with ship-building facilities; and a place people call home, from early suburbs to public housing developments. From Farm to City tells these stories through a series of case studies highlighted by historic maps, photographs, and original objects, as well as contemporary photographs by Jeff Liao.
As a companion to the Museum of the City New York's 2012 exhibition, From Farm to City: Staten Island 1661-2012, the Museum has created a new website Mapping Staten Island to explore the landscape of Staten Island through a curated collection of historic maps and images. The site guides visitors through a chronological sequence of historical milestones that showcase a unique set of richly detailed maps and atlases drawn from an array of cartographic archives. Visitors will be able to compare maps from different periods of time, as well as unrealized plans for the Island, exploring the development of the Island over time, as well as roads not taken.
Images: Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao for From Farm to City: Staten Island 1661-2012.
Research and writing
Maputo, Mozambique
Maputo Modern: The Changing Identities of an African City is the story of a place, the people who shaped it, and the forces of history that built a city and then froze it in time. Through previously unpublished photos, architectural drawings, and maps, this guidebook provides a never before seen view of the evolution of a country and its complex peoples through the city they left behind.
With Art Deco theaters, mid-century modern hotels, climate-sensitive schools, modernist housing blocks, and Rationalist civic buildings, Maputo, Mozambique is one of the most important collections of African modern architecture and is almost completely unknown outside the Portuguese-speaking world.
Maputo Modern looks at the city’s establishment, early planning, colonial development, independence followed by civil war, and eventual stabilization. The city’s identity has changed through these many periods and historical ruptures, creating a dynamic and evolving urban condition. The book focuses on a few key architects who helped the city mature before independence, and asks what the future of the city could look like.
Initial research was made possible by a grant from the Graham Foundation. Liz and Alan most recently presented their research at the 2017 Docomomo Conference in Phoenix, Arizona.
Photo credits: Iwan Baan for Maputo Modern.
Visit us at MaputoModern.org
Follow us on Twitter @maputomodern
Research and Multimedia Project
Brooklyn, New York
2010-2012
Launched with Dana Karwas, BLDG BLOK was an initiative that brought together historians, digital media artists, and programmers to experiment, invent and create new ways to present history.
Key programs included The Historian vs. The Programmer, an event featuring historian Francis Morrone and live coding programmers responding to his narrative.
BLDG BLOK was housed at the NYU-Poly Incubator in DUMBO, which was formed in partnership with NYCEDC.
Site Interpretation & Educational Outreach
Amritsar, India
2012
Working in partnership with Cultural Resource Conservation Initiative (CRCI), Liz prepared an educational outreach & interpretation plan for Gobindgarh Fort that was submitted to the client, Punjab Government, Department of Tourism, as part of a larger comprehensive conservation management plan. Her plan included recommendations for the installation of descriptive and story board signage, the development of a guide training program, and the program of several museums and interpretation centers at the fort.
Located outside the walled city of Amritsar, Gobindgarh Fort protected the Golden Temple situated at its heart of the sacred Sikh city. The fort was original built by chieftans of the Bhangi misl. In 1802 Maharaja Ranjit Singh established his authority in Amritsar by peacefully taking control of the fort from the misl chiefs and naming it after the tenth Sikh Guru, Gobind Singh. Ranjit Singh’s takeover of Amritsar, which followed his takeover of Lahore three years earlier, established him as leader of the newly consolidated Punjab. His administration and military included persons of Hindu, Sikh, Muslim and Christian faiths – a composition that suggests Ranjit Singh’s pursuit of the ideals of freedom and religious tolerance, which still define Punjab today.
Ranjit Singh believed that whoever controlled Gobindgarh, controlled the larger kingdom. Because of this, he spent a large sum of money to strengthen the fort. Its system of fortification adapted elements of European fort design, particularly the French tradition, likely influenced by two former French officers of Napoleon who joined Ranjit Singh’s military forces. The fort then held the repository of Ranjit Singh’s toshakhana, the royal treasury, and was said to house the Koh-i-Noor diamond.
Following the Anglo Sikh wars in 1846, the fort was taken over by the Bengal Army of the East India Company government, and continued to by under military occupation in independent India, until its handover to Punjab Government in 2006.
Photo credits: Wikimedia Commons (top); Amritsar Tourism (bottom).
Site Interpretation & Educational Outreach
Punjab, India
2012
Working with Cultural Resource Conservation Initiative (CRCI), Liz prepared an interpretive framework for the Grand Trunk Road & Imperial Highway that addressed the unique cultural dynamism found along the route and that engaged the local community and educational institutions. Liz proposed interpretive signage along the route that addressed the following five major themes: travelers; cultural heritage; agriculture; religion; and military history. The also plan included detailed recommendations for three key sites: Serai Amanat Khan, Sultanpur Lodhi, and Aam Khas Bagh.
Images: Wikimedia Commons.
Site Interpretation & Educational Outreach
Ellora, India
Spring 2009
As site interpretation & educational outreach consultant, Liz drafted a plan that communicates the values and multiple layers of significance of the Ellora Caves to a range of audiences and is guided by the principles outlined in the ICOMOS Charter for the Interpretation and Presentation of Cultural Heritage Sites. Her final recommendations were incorporated into the comprehensive conservation management plan for the Ellora Caves prepared by Cultural Resource Conservation Initiatve for its client, the Archaeological Survey of India.
The Ellora Caves, located in the rocky, hilly regions of the Deccan plateau, date between the fifth and thirteenth centuries AD and comprise temples belonging to the Brahmanical, Buddhist and Jaina religions. These cave temples were primarily monsoon retreats, vasa for the Buddhist and the Jaina monks. During the monsoons, when it was difficult or the monks to wander across the country, spreading their teachings and collecting alms, they would take shelter in these caves, meditate and discuss important religious ideas. The architectural splendor of these cave temples show that they were heavily patronized by the rulers, merchants and mercantile guilds, who were probably the followers of Buddhism.
Images: Wikimedia Commons.
Site Interpretation & Educational Outreach
Delhi, India
2007
In the spring of 2007, Liz worked with Cultural Resource Conservation Initiative, a Delhi-based architectural conservation firm, to prepare a conservation management plan for the Red Fort in Delhi, India. As site interpretation and educational outreach consultant she met with conservation architects, landscape architects, art historians, urban planners and designers as she drafted an interpretation strategy that communicated the multi-layered history of the site to visitors. Her final recommendations, which included walking tours, audio guides, site maps, and building signage, were submitted to the client, the Archaeological Survey of India.
Built as a palace fort by the Emperor Shahjahan in the 17th century, the Red Fort today tells the story of Indian history from the Mughal period to Colonial times to the struggle for independence. This history can be read in the existing built fabric – a unique assemblage of imperial structures, pavilions, gateways, service areas, and bazaars all planned around courtyards and gardens, presenting a richly women urban fabric.
Site Interpretation & Educational Outreach
Ilha de Moçambique, Mozambique
2007
Liz conducted a site visit to Lar Feminino on behalf of the World Monuments Fund to evaluate the proposed project and make funding recommendations. Lar Feminino is a 17th century building that has served as a residence of the Governor and lately a dormitory for girls. It is located on Ilha de Moçambique, a World Heritage Site. The building is under ownership of the Municipality of Ilha.
Ilha de Moçambique, a small, fortified island located off the coast of northern Moçambique, was historically a major center of trade, occupied by Arab merchants from the 10th to 15th centuries, and later by the Portuguese. The architectural influence is that of southern Portugal, although there are Arab and Indian elements.
