REOCCUPATION: PROTOTYPE

REOCCUPATION: Prototype is an extension of the larger REOCCUPATION project, which investigated how vacant spaces in Jackson Heights, Queens, could be reclaimed as community assets rather than left subject solely to speculative real estate forces. Centered around the 82nd Street stop on the 7 train, the original project proposed a participatory digital platform that allowed residents to virtually occupy underused storefronts and public-facing vacancies through Augmented Reality (AR) on site and Virtual Reality (VR) remotely. By enabling users to imagine, test, and collectively evaluate new programs for vacant spaces, the project framed vacancy as an opportunity for community authorship, neighborhood identity, and more democratic access to the city.

This coffee shop renovation develops that same argument at the scale of an interior architectural proposal. Conceived as a complementary project to the original research, it demonstrates how the broader REOCCUPATION framework can be translated into a physical, everyday setting that supports neighborhood life. Rather than erasing the existing space, the design preserves the original structure and circulation, along with the existing ceiling, columns, and brick wall finishes, maintaining the architectural memory of the site while adapting it for renewed public use.

The intervention introduces a warm material palette of wood and stone, newly designed seating, a custom coffee preparation and retail area, and carefully considered lighting to create an inviting neighborhood atmosphere. The resulting space is intended not only for coffee service, but also for reading, informal gathering, working, and lingering. In this way, the project positions the coffee shop as a small but tangible model of community-centered reoccupation: a formerly underused interior transformed into a socially active and welcoming environment.

Together, the original REOCCUPATION proposal and this interior prototype form a consistent narrative. The first establishes a digital and civic framework for democratizing vacancy through public participation, while the second explores how that framework can materialize architecturally through adaptive reuse, spatial warmth, and everyday occupation. Situated in Jackson Heights, both projects argue that vacancy can become a platform for community life when design shifts agency back to the neighborhood.