Core principle: The design must honor the legacy of Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz by creating a place that is historically grounded, civically open, spiritually resonant, and architecturally contemporary—while respecting the iconic Audubon Ballroom façade.

1. Establish the Design Intent

The Shabazz Center is not just a building—it is a memorial, educational institution, and community anchor.

Intent anchors:

• Memory — preserve and elevate the Audubon Ballroom as a living artifact
• Education — create spaces for learning, dialogue, and cultural programming
• Community — provide a welcoming civic plaza and public interface
• Justice — embody transparency, dignity, and empowerment through design

These anchors shape every spatial, material, and experiential decision.

2. Define the Urban Role

The Center sits at a powerful intersection of Broadway, 165th Street, and Washington Heights’ vertical urban fabric.

Urban strategy:

• Strengthen the Broadway frontage as a civic threshold
• Use the plaza to create a pause in the dense urban flow
• Maintain clear visibility of the historic façade
• Use massing to mitigate wind tunnels and noise from Broadway

This positions the Center as a landmark of cultural memory and public life.

3. Preserve and Elevate the Historic Façade

The Audubon Ballroom façade is the emotional and historical anchor.

Architectural moves:

• Keep the façade unobstructed from Broadway
• Use lighting, ground plane alignment, and framing elements to emphasize it
• Create a processional axis leading directly to the façade
• Use materials that contrast subtly with the historic brick to highlight its presence

This ensures the façade remains the protagonist of the site.

4. Shape the Memorial Plaza as a Threshold

The plaza is the transition from the city’s energy to the Center’s reflective interior.

Plaza strategy:

• Carve a south-facing opening for winter sun
• Use canopies, trees, and low walls to create microclimates
• Establish a memorial axis aligned to the façade
• Create quiet pockets for reflection and storytelling
• Maintain porosity along Broadway to invite the community in

This creates a plaza that is both civic and sacred.

5. Develop a Climate-Responsive Massing Strategy

Use Forma to shape a building that responds to sun, wind, noise, and visibility.

Massing priorities:

• Protect the plaza from wind acceleration
• Maximize daylight in educational spaces
• Avoid overshadowing the historic façade
• Use terraces and clerestories to bring light deep into the building
• Test multiple canopy heights for comfort and visibility

Environmental performance becomes a design driver, not an afterthought.

6. Organize the Interior Program Around Memory + Learning

The interior should support both quiet reflection and active education.

Program strategy:

• Place memorial spaces along the façade axis
• Position exhibition areas adjacent to the plaza for public access
• Locate classrooms and community rooms on upper levels with daylight
• Use vertical circulation to create a narrative journey
• Integrate digital storytelling into transitional spaces

The building becomes a sequence of experiences, not just rooms.

7. Material Strategy: Honoring History, Signaling Future

Materials should bridge past and present.

Palette direction:

• Historic brick preserved and highlighted
• Warm stone or granite for the plaza
• Metal or terracotta fins for contemporary façade elements
• Wood for interior warmth and dignity
• Glass used selectively to express transparency and openness

This creates a respectful yet forward-looking architectural language.

8. Lighting Strategy: Day + Night Identity

Lighting reinforces the memorial atmosphere and urban presence.

Daytime:

• Use overhangs, screens, and deep reveals to shape daylight
• Highlight the façade with soft reflected light

Nighttime:

• Illuminate the façade with warm, low-intensity lighting
• Use path lighting to guide the memorial axis
• Keep the plaza safe without over-lighting reflective zones

Light becomes a storytelling tool.

9. Community Integration Strategy

The Center must feel like it belongs to the neighborhood.

Moves:

• Provide seating, shade, and open space for everyday use
• Host public events in the plaza
• Use transparent ground-floor edges to show activity inside
• Integrate local art and cultural markers

This ensures the Center is not a monument isolated from its community.

10. Digital + BIM Strategy (Forma + Revit)

Use Forma for analysis and massing, Revit for detail and documentation.

Workflow:

• Forma → massing, sun, wind, noise, visibility
• Revit → detailed façade, plaza materials, lighting, interior program
• Update Proposal → send refined geometry back to Forma for validation

This creates a feedback loop between design intent and performance.

What this strategy gives you

• A unified design vision
• A climate‑responsive, community‑centered plaza
• A respectful integration of the historic Audubon Ballroom
• A clear architectural narrative grounded in memory and justice
• A Forma‑to‑Revit workflow that supports iterative refinement