NYIT architecture students created plans to redesign Willets Point in Queens, N.Y., as part of a plan by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Architecture students and graduates created plans for a redesign of Willets Point in Queens, N.Y., as part of a citywide initiative to redevelop the area as an engine for economic growth for New York City.

The group prepared submissions to address Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Willets Point Redevelopment Plan, which calls for mixed-income housing, a public school, retail and entertainment amenities, a hotel and convention center, office space, parks, and playgrounds. The area currently suffers from petroleum contamination and other environmental issues.

Eleven graduate students from the School of Architecture and Design visited the site during the fall 2011 semester and submitted nine designs in response to the city’s request for proposals from architects and developers throughout New York.

Frank Mruk, associate dean for business and strategic planning at the School of Architecture and Design, said the NYIT graduate studio investigates sites that are hot points for the evolution of New York City. “What happens at the Willets Point site has important ramifications for the future of New York City,” he adds.

George Zeiss (M.Arch. ’11), a graduate of the urban and regional design program, proposed a sustainable community of commercial, residential, business, and convention areas. “This project gave me the opportunity to work on a very real problem in an urban environment,” Zeiss says. “There were so many ideas I had for the project—the hard part was putting them all together in a coherent way.”

The city broke ground on the infrastructure phase of the redevelopment of Willets Point in December 2011. Proposal review from architects and developers is now underway.

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