Delma Palma
courtesy NYCHA Delma Palma

Organization: Architecture and Engineering Services (AES) in the Asset & Capital Management Division of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA)
Title: Deputy director of design
Education: B.Arch., University of Notre Dame
Experience: TECHO, Torti Gallas + Partners

How did you decide to become an architect? My parents are Honduran immigrants who came to the U.S. to find security and social mobility. They were able to accomplish this—largely by benefiting from living in tight-knit, walkable communities that had many affordable housing options. Seeing the benefits that well-designed spaces and access to affordable housing provided my family, I was motivated to see if it was something I could help bring to other people who needed it.

Biggest career leap: Moving from the private sector to the public sector. I was lucky to find the Rose Fellowship to provide a support network for this big transition. We need so many more forward-thinking designers in the public sector and there have to be more entryways into a career that is oftentimes obscure or confusing for folks to navigate. I am a big advocate of universities that offer public service fellowships or pathways specifically to support design talent reaching all levels of government.

Delma Palma served as the primary author and project manager for the Connected Communities Guidebook, a handbook for community engagement and design on NYCHA campuses
courtesy NYCHA Delma Palma served as the primary author and project manager for the Connected Communities Guidebook, a handbook for community engagement and design on NYCHA campuses
A rendering from the guidebook that details strategies, forms, and approaches developed to strengthen NYCHA’s campuses.
courtesy NYCHA A rendering from the guidebook that details strategies, forms, and approaches developed to strengthen NYCHA’s campuses.
courtesy NYCHA
courtesy NYCHA

Organization mission: To provide affordable housing for low- and moderate-income New Yorkers. NYCHA, the largest public housing authority in North America, houses roughly one in 16 New Yorkers across more than 177,569 apartments within 335 housing developments. With a housing stock that spans all five boroughs, NYCHA is a city within a city. AES serves as subject matter experts on design for all capital projects at the agency and sets design standards for sustainable and resilient architectural, landscape, and urban design at NYCHA.

What inspired you to join NYCHA? I was working at a private architecture and planning firm in Washington, D.C., and worked with public housing authorities across the country. I kept wanting to be on the other side of the table to understand how decisions were made that impacted the built environment—particularly in vulnerable communities or communities of historic disinvestment. I then transitioned to the public sector through a fellowship—the Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellowship—that places architects in “ownership” roles of developers or agencies. I then become a permanent employee at NYCHA and a New York City public servant.

courtesy NYCHA
New York’s first Public Housing Fitness Zone at the Carver Houses in East Harlem.
courtesy NYCHA New York’s first Public Housing Fitness Zone at the Carver Houses in East Harlem.
The Jefferson Houses Cloudburst Project design workshop.
courtesy NYCHA The Jefferson Houses Cloudburst Project design workshop.

Which architects and firms have influenced your practice? I have always admired mission-driven practices, particularly ones that branch out from a purely “design” practice—those that use anthropology, research, behavioral science, or participatory research to inform how the best spaces can be funded, designed, built, and maintained. I’m interested in the full life cycle of a place and the people that support that. Some of the private firms I looked to earlier (and today) are MASS Design Group, Gehl, and BlackSpace Urbanist Collective, but I am also influenced by organizations and networks of public interest design that unite practitioners at many scales doing community design across the country.

Biggest challenge facing architects today: Equitable adaptation to climate change.

The NYCHA Open Space Masterplan rendering by the New York–based Nancy Owens Studio.
courtesy NYCHA The NYCHA Open Space Masterplan rendering by the New York–based Nancy Owens Studio.
courtesy NYCHA
Open Space Master Plan Event at AIA NY Center for Architecture presented by Capital Projects
courtesy NYCHA Open Space Master Plan Event at AIA NY Center for Architecture presented by Capital Projects

Most successful collaboration: I am especially proud of two collaborations that I have managed in my time at NYCHA. I worked with the New York City Department of City Planning to produce the Connected Communities Guidebook, urban-design and community-engagement guidelines for public housing. This really strengthened our relationship with the agency and increased NYCHA’s ability to be in discussions about broader planning policy in the city. The other is NYCHA’s Open Space Masterplan—the first master plan of this scale in the history of the authority. We assessed and master-planned over 130 sites with consultants Grain Collective and Nancy Owens Studio, and those plans are now leading to millions of dollars in investment in the public realm at NYCHA.

Most urgent political issue facing architects: Ending single-family zoning.

Most urgent policy issue: The right to housing in America.

In 2021, NYCHA renovated the first of 14 basketball courts across its campuses as part of its Safe Summers NYC initiative. The courts received updates including resurfacing, fresh logos, new lighting, added seating, and more.
courtesy NYCHA In 2021, NYCHA renovated the first of 14 basketball courts across its campuses as part of its Safe Summers NYC initiative. The courts received updates including resurfacing, fresh logos, new lighting, added seating, and more.
courtesy NYCHA
The Marcy Houses basketball court in Brooklyn was one of the 14 revamped courts.
courtesy NYCHA The Marcy Houses basketball court in Brooklyn was one of the 14 revamped courts.


What’s one thing everyone should know about NYCHA? We value process as well product. Although we are extremely proud of the projects we deliver to public housing residents, we are equally invested in ensuring that they are included in the decision-making process for what the world around them looks like. We have embedded it into our standard operating procedures and are always looking to improve ways to be inclusive and transparent in the design process.

One design trend that should be left behind: The idea that one person behind a desk can best understand how to design for a community of users. We are social beings, and we have to go into space and communities to understand how they currently use space and what they need future spaces to provide for them. From there—we’re translating that into a something beautiful and sustainable—but we cannot lose sight of what the outcome is in the first place.

NYCHA Connected Communities Series Internal Conversations Final Round
courtesy NYCHA NYCHA Connected Communities Series Internal Conversations Final Round
courtesy NYCHA
courtesy NYCHA

This article appeared in ARCHITECT's October 2022 issue.

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