Recipe for a Room: Places of Respite

Recipe for a Room is a model-making contest about building spatial, sculptural, miniature rooms while fostering fun, creativity and professional mentorship. For the 2023 edition, two-person teams, each comprised of a student and architect mentor, will design small-scale places of respite using fabric as the building medium.

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a greater appreciation for what one can accomplish within a place of comfort (e.g. working from home) as well as increased societal awareness of mental health issues. Earlier this year, NYC Mayor Eric Adams announced his new Mental Health Agenda to combat the “second pandemic of mental health needs in the wake of COVID-19."

Recipe for a Room asks student competitors to create a space of respite for one. It is a place to spend one day or one night. Each student will define what their room provides a respite from, and when and how it will be occupied

The competition is hosted by the AIANY Interiors Committee and will benefit the NAMI-NYC, the metro area organization of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the largest grassroots organization for people with mental illness and their families in the US.

Recipe for a Room winners will be determined during a live contest event at 6:00 pm on Wednesday, September 6. Each team will have the opportunity to present their completed room to a live audience. Two winners will be selected during the event: an audience favorite and a judges’ favorite.

Participating Schools:

Columbia University
The Cooper Union
The New School
New York School of Interior Design
Pratt Institute
Syracuse University

Student and Mentor Teams:

Team 1
Vernice Riego, Student, Syracuse University 
Chuck Wolf, AIA, Associate Principal, Ennead Architects

Team 2
Inaya Imran, Student, Pratt Institute
Yunyuan Scott Deng, AIA, Senior Architect and Project Manager, Curtis + Ginsberg Architects

Team 3
Christy Thai, Student, Pratt Institute
Astrid Lipka, AIA, Principal, Rice+Lipka Architects

Team 4
Evelyn Liu, Student, New York School of Interior Design
Samantha Josephat-Medina, RA, NCARB, NOMA, Principal, Studio 397 Architecture

Team 5
Theodore Dokla, Student, Syracuse University
Varun Kohli, FAIA, Director of Sustainability, Corgan

Team 6
Fabiha Anjum, Student, The Cooper Union
Jarrett Pelletier, Associate Partner, Ennead Architects

Team 7
Haochuan (Eric) Feng, Student, Pratt Institute
Eric Gering, AIA, Founder, Eric Gering Architect

Team 8
Shriya Arora, Student, The New School
Brian Messana, AIA, Founder, Messana O’Rorke  

Team 9
Sherry Aine Te, Student, Columbia University
Andrew Bernheimer, FAIA, Founder, Bernheimer Architecture

Team 10
Amora McConnell, Student, Columbia University
Bethany Borel, WELL AP,  Associate Partner, COOKFOX

Jury:

Mark Gardner, AIA, NOMA, Principal, Jaklitsch/Gardner Architects
Latoya Nelson Kamdang, AIA, Director of Operations, Ennead Architects
Radhika Singh, Associate, WXY + architecture + urban design