LaGuardia Community College Hosts ‘Living In The Shade: NYCHA Open Space Past, Present, And Future’
The exhibition draws from the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives’ NYCHA Collection and will be on display from March 25 to May 23 in LaGuardia’s Shenker Hall
LONG ISLAND CITY, NY (March 11, 2025) — LaGuardia Community College/CUNY is proud to host an exhibition highlighting the vital role of open space in the daily lives of millions of public housing residents who have called New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) developments home for more than 90 years. Living in the Shade: NYCHA Open Space Past, Present, and Future will be on display in the lobby of Shenker Hall (the M-Building) at 31-10 Thomson Avenue in Long Island City, Queens from March 25 to May 23. It is open to members of the public during college hours. In general, the college is accessible to the public Monday – Friday 7:00 AM – 10:30 PM, and Saturday 7:00 AM – 7:00 PM. All campus visitors should expect to sign in and show identification upon entry.
“We are thrilled to host the Living in the Shade exhibition on our campus and are proud of the role of the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives in its creation. We welcome the community to visit and learn about the inception of NYCHA. It’s a great opportunity to explore the history of the nation’s largest public housing development, right here in Long Island City,” said Kenneth Adams, President of LaGuardia Community College
Living in the Shade features historical photos of NYCHA community spaces from the NYCHA Collection at the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives, as well as contemporary photos taken by LaGuardia Photography students under the direction of Professor Maureen Drennan and Dr. Stephen Petrus, historian and director of Public History Programs for the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives. The traveling exhibition is co-curated by Matthias Altwicker, Professor of Architecture at the New York Institute of Technology, and Nicholas Dagen Bloom, Professor of Urban Policy and Planning at Hunter College.
“Since its inception in 1934, NYCHA has distinguished itself from other American housing authorities by prioritizing landscape design, management, and public programs. NYCHA created verdant superblocks offering natural beauty and abundant areas for play, community life, and relaxation,” said Soraya Ciego-Lemur, Deputy Director of the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives, which preserves the social and political history of New York City.
“The exhibition traces the evolution from the high-quality designs of the 1930s to the standardized, postwar superblock strategies. It also examines how initial efforts to integrate nature into living environments evolved to meet residents’ changing needs, particularly as active recreation became a priority in the 1950s and beyond,” added Ms. Ciego-Lemur.
Exhibition visitors will have the opportunity to trace the rise of NYCHA’s unique environment through large-scale annotated models of NYCHA developments, archival and contemporary photographs, renderings and site plans, and community testimonials.
Living in the Shade assesses the successes and failures of NYCHA’s landscaping efforts, acknowledging that while many designs initially fell short, a renaissance in NYCHA spaces is underway. A new generation of residents, administrators, and designers has rediscovered NYCHA open spaces as sites for comprehensive renovation, city parks, modern playgrounds, murals and public art, resilience strategies, farming, and more.
Living in the Shade is sponsored by the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives at LaGuardia Community College, the New York Institute of Technology School of Architecture and Design, the Public Housing Community Fund, and Hunter Urban Policy & Planning (UPP), a department within the School of Arts and Sciences at Hunter College.
“Living in the Shade is a testament to the historical and present importance of developing innovative open space in NYCHA communities,” said Alex Zablocki, Executive Director of Public Housing Community Fund. “As an organization that champions meaningful, resident-driven design in NYCHA’s spaces, we are proud to sponsor Living in the Shade together with our partners at the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives at LaGuardia Community College, the New York Institute of Technology School of Architecture and Design and Hunter Urban Policy & Planning.”
The traveling exhibit was initially hosted by Brooklyn’s FXCollaborative Gallery.
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The LaGuardia and Wagner Archives at LaGuardia Community College/CUNY chronicles the past 150 years of New York City history, with a growing focus on Queens and the outer boroughs. Housing more than two million documents, and with 100,000 photographs digitized and accessible on its website, the Archives serves students, scholars, journalists, policy makers, and exhibition planners. Collections include the records of the New York City Council and the New York City Housing Authority; explorations into Queens local history and LGBTQ activism in Queens; as well as selected documents from the administrations of Mayors Fiorello H. LaGuardia, William O’Dwyer, Robert F. Wagner, John V. Lindsay, Abraham D. Beame, Edward I. Koch, David Dinkins, and Rudolph Giuliani.
LaGuardia Community College (LAGCC), a Hispanic-Serving Institution, located in Long Island City, Queens offers more than 50 associate degrees and academic certificates, and more than 65 continuing education programs to prepare New Yorkers for transfer to senior colleges and rewarding jobs and careers. An institution of the City University of New York (CUNY), the College reflects the legacy of our namesake, Fiorello H. LaGuardia, the former NYC mayor beloved for his advocacy of the underserved. Since 1971, LaGuardia’s academic programs and support services have advanced the socioeconomic mobility of students from Queens, NYC and beyond.
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