MoMA Exhibition Architecture Now: New York, New Publics

From Left to Right: Quardean Lewis- Allen, Brittany Bellinger, Tei Carpenter, Isaac Scotland and his mother.

[Manhattan, New York] – [March 6, 2023] - On February 14, 2023, Youth Design Center staff and featured participants were invited to the private opening reception of Architecture Now: New York, New Publics at the Museum of Modern Art. Upon entering the exhibition, we walked past the large neon green wall that held the exhibition title towards the right and gasped as we took in the New Public Hydrant display. It not only showcased the incredible model designed by Tei Carpenter and Chris Woebken, but on full view were the full-scale models designed by two YDC participants, Isaac Scotland and Chimere Francis, and footage from the participatory design workshop held in October of all of our youth. When you peer down at the plaque, it has named Youth Design Center as a collaborator. Brownsville has made it into the MoMA.

Friends of the organization, Tei Carpenter, Founder of Agency-Agency, and Chris Woebken, artist and design futures researcher, reached out to Youth Design Center in 2022, looking to host a Design jam as an extension of their work for New Public Hydrant, as it was essential to bring the conversation of environmental design through the lens of hydrant hacks to our youth futurist thinkers and our Brownsville, Brooklyn home base.

New Public Hydrant: Water Access and Play

New Public Hydrant engages with the fire hydrant as a small-scale water infrastructure in New York City to inspire surprising new public interactions surrounding our emergency infrastructure and the city's high-quality drinking water supply.

New York City is one of only five major cities in the country with Water of good enough quality not to require filtration, yet many people still prefer to purchase filtered Water in plastic bottles. Inspired by the NYC Department of Environmental Protection's "Water on the Go" program, where a fire hydrant is hooked up to create a collective drinking fountain, New Public Hydrant proposes a series of design probes into the fire hydrant. These "hydrant hacks" suggests a gateway to reimagine our everyday experience with water infrastructure in the city and create renewed awareness about the city's water quality. The installation includes three "hydrant

hacks": Hydrants for All is a multi-species fountain, Hydrant on Tap is a bottle fill station, and Hydration Space is an immersive microclimate sprinkler.

In October 2022, on a sunny Saturday at the Gregory Jackson Center, 13 participants, including two parents, reimagined how we use Water in our community. The 'Water Is… Design Jam' was hosted by Chris, Tei, and Emmanuel Oni, architect, designer, and former YDC Mentor. The participatory workshop was an extension of the work developed in New Public Hydrant, which explores New York City's water system and the opportunities for design as it relates to Water - as a source for drinking, cooling, and play.

The workshop was envisioned as a participatory design workshop engaging youth to consider possibilities for engagement with Water that they would like to see now and in the future, for example, a pop-up water playground or a drinking fountain for different species. How might designing with Water democratize access to it? How might youth engage with Water and design to think about Water as a collective resource? What does it mean to design with a dynamic element like Water?

Through the workshop in small groups, youth dreamt up various future designs that could enhance their neighborhood and envision potential interactions with Water. The workshop used hands-on sketching, scale modeling, and functional prototyping. Demonstrations of Hydrant on Tap and Hydration Space were a part of the workshop. This part of the workshop was filmed and used in the MoMa exhibition. In addition, the exhibition translates Isaac Scotland and Chimere Francis 'concepts of a speaker boombox and hot water station' into full-scale prototypes.

You can view our 'New York, New Publics' collaboration with Tei Carpenter, Chris Woebken, Emmanuel Oni, and the Youth Design Center at the MoMA, NY, US, from February 19, 2023, to July 29, 2023. Visit

By staff member, Brittany Bellinger