The Stack City Studio is the first of a succession of Newark studios taught by Professor Sollohub. For this studio, the Newark Community Development Corporation (now Invest Newark) facilitated a collaboration with Audible.com to envision new building types for the emerging technology economy in Newark. Sollohub co-taught the studio with Simon McGown, whose New York City firm, Co-Office, designs live, work, and play spaces that respond to emerging needs of contemporary urban development.
Enabled by in-kind support from Audible.com, an Amazon company rapidly expanding in Newark’s downtown, students working either in pairs or own their own to develop programs for different sites within a half mile radius of Audible’s headquarters. The studio holds the distinction of being the first to pioneer virtual reality in an NJIT architecture studio, with students both designing and representing their projects using VR. Throughout the semester, students interacted closely with both Audible’s community outreach and facilities staff to better understand the company’s social impact strategy and its workspace planning strategies, respectively. The studio culminated in a master plan presentation and gallery-style review hosted by the Rutgers University School of Business and attended by over 100 guests, including key stakeholders in downtown Newark’s development.
