100 Babylon

2026 · Long Island City, NY

Dense social housing answering New York’s need for affordable homes, with density measured in dignity. High Density Social Housing Instructors: Katharina Kral, Tom Carruthers Type: Core Studio Spring 2026 New York is short on housing. The city needs dense, affordable housing, and 100 Babylon meets that need without defaulting to the usual tropes. Density is often seen as a compromise, something to be endured, yet proximity holds the potential to become generosity. The thresholds between dwellings, the landings, courtyards, and rooftops, become spaces of encounter rather than avoidance. Social housing is not only shelter, but a framework for collective life. So, what happens when the spaces between homes are designed as carefully as the homes themselves? When living close becomes living together? Privacy is softened to make room for belonging. Collective space forms between units, making room for chores, play, and work. Private courtyards offer calm within the city, while public-facing courtyards invite the neighborhood in. Density is measured not only in dwellings per hectare, but in the activity a building generates.