Brooks examines urban design scale across continents.

When Andy Brooks won the 2004-2007 Fredrick P. Rose fellowship--an initiative designed to embed young designers in communities and promote green building--he was given the ability to apply the lessons he learned in his native Antigua, and studying in South Africa, to the affordable housing market in Harlem.

"To me, green is just sensible. If you look around the world, developing countries have been doing it forever because they had to," Brooks said.

Brooks had grown up with sustainable building, working alongside his uncle, who was a contractor in Antigua, designing buildings out of native woods, rain water catch systems across ventilation systems that blend trade winds coming off the sea. But it wasn't until he left Antigua, then returned after Hurricane Louie hit in 1990--railing 180 mile per hour winds against the sides of houses--that he realized how effective traditional building was.

"You walked out of this nightmare, or this dream, or whatever you want to call it, and realized that all the new houses were blown in while the little huts were still standing. It made me think about how structurally sound those huts are to withstand those high winds," Brooks said.

His education was grounded when studying at City College for his Masters degree in urban design and he was inspired by Professor Michael Sorkin to consider the connection between architecture, sustainability and social justice.

"His teachings helped me to recognize how many resources architecture and urban design take from the earth, to develop a consciousness about design and sustainability, knowing that it is a depleting source and we must find innovative and new ways to reuse materials," Brooks said.

"And also about designing for the community, how everyone deserves not just a shelter, but a well-designed shelter. That's what really heightened my whole idea about what sustainable or good design is."

This awareness was further heightened during a work study trip to South Africa where city college students worked in conjunction with South African students at Rand Afrikaans University in Johannesburg on a mock project redeveloping the SOJO (South of Johannesburg) trail.

While traveling, he glimpsed the dramatic disparities between the planned township in Sueto with its parks and wide streets integrated into the upscale housing and the unplanned township of Alexandria, with pothole plagued roads and dilapidated shacks.

Yet the single road leading in and out of Sueto that was used as a control point, regulating who could come into and leave the township during apartheid really helped him understand what powerful political effects urban planning can have on a population.

"That would be like putting one subway line in the middle of Manhattan," he said. "Seeing that really hit home for me."

Shortly afterwards, he won the fellowship which enabled him to get chest deep in many of the projects the Harlem Congregation for Community Improvement--a nonprofit developer of over 3,000 units of affordable housing in the Bradhurst District--had in the pipeline.

He sat on the design board and later functioned as a construction manager for several of HCCI's projects, which included new housing and the rehabilitation of buildings such as the 94-unit Garden of Eden at West 117th Street, 87 units at the Sutton West 148th Street and Macombs Manor 55 units on West 154th Street.

He advocated for more communal space--enlarged hallways, stoops or gardens--to foster relationships between neighbors, and for the inclusion of dining rooms in apartments to foster relationships between families. The work also helped him to see how sustainable elements he had studied at school, such as green roofs, high efficiency boilers, and community gardens, could be incorporated into affordable housing.

Whenever possible, they worked to reuse material left over for renovation, such as reusing bricks as parts of furniture or as part of a backyard garden.

Though green building has caught on, Brooks is one of a new generation of young architects who sometimes has to work hard for his ideas to be considered by general contractors.

"There is always this feeling you know, 'I have been doing this for years, my dad has been doing this for years,' and any major change that is suggested is going to bring about a certain amount of discomfort," Brooks said.

One of these ideas was the design of a staggered staircase-like ventilation system inside the planks of the walls, creating vents every two to three inches that utilize much less ductwork than a ventilation system that goes straight up the shaft.

Another new trend in green building Brooks has latched onto is "designing for disassembly," which challenges architects to recognize their buildings may be torn down in the future, and to utilize materials that will be easily removed and reused.

"When you design for disassembly, you try and figure out how you can put one or two nails in the hardwood flooring instead of 50; how can we work with the general contractors to figure out how to pull the sheetrock down and take it apart," he said. "This is the ultimate form of green construction.

"Through it we remember as architects to keep our egos in check and accept that this building will probably be reused in the future, to design it so that it comes down easier."

A large scale project in its infancy stages that Brooks hopes will carry him into the future includes the redevelopment of 2,000 s/f in the Bradhurst district which stretches from 113th street to 154th street, being developed by Harlem Community Development Corporation and the HCCI.

The project--which is currently being designed--will incorporate over 30 smaller projects and will help to weave parks and green spaces throughout the streetscape and the rest of the neighborhood.

"If realized, it could help connect Brooks work with a team to help realize the kind of communal space and sustainable architecture he has decided to devote his career in architecture towards building.