| About |  |
RFP | |
RFP Addenda | |
Events | |
Network | |
Press | |
FAQ's | |
Jury |
People Contact NHNY © 2006 NHNY
website by J.Finley and D.Hillman
Press Official Press Releases Press Coverage Official Press Releases (click here to download the following AIA Press Release in .pdf format)
New Housing New York Legacy Project
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 17, 2007
CITY OF NEW YORK AND AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF
ARCHITECTS ANNOUNCE WINNER OF FIRST JURIED
COMPETITION FOR SUSTAINABLE
AND AFFORDABLE HOUSINGPHIPPS-ROSE-DATTNER-GRIMSHAW SELECTED TO DEVELOP
CITY-OWNED SITE IN SOUTH BRONXNew York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD)
Commissioner Shaun Donovan and Mark Ginsberg, FAIA, 2004 President of
New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIANY), today
announced Phipps-Rose-Dattner-Grimshaw (PRDG) as the winning architect-developer
team of New York City’s first juried design competition for affordable
and sustainable housing. The competition, known as the New Housing New York
(NHNY) Legacy Project, emerged from a collaboration between the NHNY
Steering Committee, HPD, and AIANY, and was sponsored by the New York
State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), the National
Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Enterprise, Citibank, JPMorgan Chase and AIA
150 Blueprint to encourage the integration of sustainability and design excellence
with affordable housing.
Located in the South Bronx, the competition site is a 60,000 square foot vacant
lot that consists of City-owned property and a legally abandoned rail right-of-way.
The City will sell the site to PRDG for a nominal fee in exchange for the design
and construction of a mixed-use development that includes affordable housing
for New Yorkers of low-, middle-, and moderate-incomes. An exhibition of the
five finalists’ proposals will be on view March 22 – June 16, 2007 at the Center
for Architecture. The exhibition will highlight how the project functions as a
replicable model for sustainable affordable housing in New York City and other
urban communities.
Comprised of The Phipps Houses, Dattner Architects, Jonathan Rose
Companies and Grimshaw, the PRDG team presented a proposal, referred to as
“Green Way” or “Via Verde”, that will consist of 202 residential units, in addition
to retail and community spaces, and parking. The proposed development
incorporates a range of residential spaces, varying from apartments in a tower to
duplexes in a mid-rise to townhouses. The development is organized around a
multi-functional garden that begins at street-level as a courtyard and plaza, and
spirals upward through a series of programmed, south-facing roof gardens that
end in a sky terrace. The gardens will be used for fruit and vegetable cultivation,
passive recreation and social gathering, and provide storm water control and
enhanced insulation. Phipps Community Development Corporation (CDC) plans
to expand its green market in East Tremont and community-supported agriculture
collaboration with Just Food and will use Via Verde’s plaza for a neighborhood
green market or organic food co-op.
The PRDG team said, "We are pleased and honored to have been selected by
the New Housing New York jury to work with HPD to help develop a next
generation of housing that is affordable and green. We are inspired by a great
vision to create places that are environmentally and socially responsible, but to
do it within the constraints of affordable housing budgets and important
community input. One of the great pleasures of this competition was combining
so much great thought from knowledgeable individuals, yet coming together as a
team: we became a community so that we could design a community!"
As proposed, the Via Verde will consist of both rental and homeownership units
affordable to households of four earning from $28,360 up to $92,170 or from
$19,840 up to $64,480 for a single household. Approximately two-thirds of the
housing units will be rental and affordable to families of four earning up to
$56,700 or up to $39,700 for a single household. All sixty-three homeownership
units will be affordable to households of four earning up to $92,170 or up to
$64,480 for a single household. The proposal assumes that the rental units will
be funded through a combination of the Housing Development Corporation’s
(HDC) New Housing Opportunity Program and Low Income Housing Tax Credits,
and that the homeownership units will use HDC’s Affordable Co-op Program and
New Market Tax Credits. The Via Verde development is part of Mayor
Bloomberg’s $7.5 billion New Housing Marketplace Plan to build or preserve
165,000 units of affordable housing over ten years, the largest municipal
affordable housing plan in the nation’s history.
“We believe this unprecedented competition will raise the level of design
sustainability and serve as a beacon for affordable housing across the city. Given
the incredible response the competition received, and the innovative proposals
the jury reviewed, the competition presents a real opportunity to change the
future of affordable housing,” said HPD Commissioner Shaun Donovan. “We
hope that PRDG’s proposal will serve as a prototype for future affordable housing
developments built nationally and internationally.”
Joan Blumenfeld, FAIA, IIDA, 2007 President of the AIA New York Chapter said
“New Housing New York is a remarkable collaboration between architects,
government, and the private sector. It is exactly the kind of initiative that
illustrates how we, as design professionals, can have a positive and concrete
impact on the future of our city. Hopefully, the process we have
developed through this project will impact planning and construction
beyond its realization and help us rethink how we can design sustainable
affordable housing throughout New York.”
By incorporating sustainable material choices, efficient mechanical systems and
renewable strategies, Via Verde will aim to achieve gold-level Leadership in
Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), the program developed by the U.S.
Green Building Council that provides a standard of what constitutes a "green
building". Mechanical systems will include enhanced ventilation to apartments
and individual control of heating and cooling. Sun screens will shade the south
and west facades and each unit will include high performance windows. These
energy efficient features will reduce utility bills for tenants, increasing
affordability, and help improve indoor air quality.
“The overall competition and the quality of work that went into these proposals
provides a snapshot of the innovative building construction going on in New York
State,” said NYSERDA President and CEO Peter R. Smith. “Through
NYSERDA’s New York Energy $martSM Multifamily Building Performance
Program, we are encouraging many more developers, architects and others in
the building industry to design and construct their properties to the ENERGY
STAR standards. NYSERDA continually works to illustrate that high-quality,
healthy, and energy efficient housing can also be affordable."
The NHNY competition was first announced at the Center for Architecture in
June 2006. In response, thirty-two architect-development teams submitted
qualifications to the design jury, which consisted of prestigious architects,
housing experts, and community officials, including Enrique Norten, FAIA,
Principal, TEN Arquitectos, David Burney, FAIA, Commissioner New York City
Department of Design and Construction, Bronx Borough President Adolfo
Carrion, Jr., and Shaun Donovan, HPD Commissioner. This past September, the
jury chose five finalists to submit full development proposals. Each of the
finalists received NYSERDA funded stipends to create their proposals. In
addition, Enterprise provided two grants totaling $30,000. Both grants went
toward operational support, which included the launch of the competition’s
website, support of the judging process, and an environmental report. The NEA
is providing an additional $30,000 for the preparation and installation of the
exhibition at the Center for Architecture.
The five finalists chosen by the jury were as follows:
BRP Bluestone Rogers Marvel
Developers: BRP Development Corporation and The Bluestone Organization
Architects: Rogers Marvel
The Legacy Collaborative
Developers: The Dermot Company, Nos Quedamos and Melrose Associates
Architects: Magnusson Architecture and Planning (MAP) and Kiss + Cathcart
(K+C)
Phipps Rose Dattner Grimshaw
Developers: The Phipps Houses Group and The Jonathan Rose Companies
Architects: Dattner Architects and Grimshaw
seg Full Spectrum Hamlin Behnisch studioMDA
Developers: seg, Full Spectrum and Hamlin Ventures
Architects: Behnisch Architekten and studioMDA
WHEDCo Durst Cook+Fox
Developers: Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation
(WHEDCo) and Durst Sunset LLC
Architects: Cook+Fox Architects, LLP
When reviewing the five proposals and selecting the winning team, the judges
considered specific design and development criteria including economic and
long-term environmental sustainability, innovative design quality and replicable
financing that leverages private and public subsidies.
“The impetus for the New Housing New York design competition came out of a
desire to leverage the unique culture of innovation present in New York to
address the issue of affordable housing in a concrete way. The continued
commitment of many volunteers, guided by the conviction that architecture has
both the ability and responsibility to look beyond the expected, has been crucial
in bringing the NHNY Legacy Project to this stage,” said NHNY Steering
Committee Co-Chair Tara Siegel. “The involvement of neighborhood residents in
the South Bronx has helped define the goals for the project, and with their
continued input, we believe that it will be something all New Yorkers can be
proud of. We hope to see aspects of this project replicated both in New York and
across the country as the quality and potential of affordable housing continues to
be addressed in innovative ways.”
“We congratulate the winners and all of the participants in the New Housing New
York Legacy Project, who have proven that affordable housing, innovative design
and sustainability do not have to be mutually exclusive,” said Jim Himes, Director
of Enterprise’s New York office. “Enterprise is pleased to have supported this
project as part of our commitment to making green affordable housing the norm,
a commitment exemplified by our national Green Communities initiative to
finance and build thousands of environmentally friendly homes for low-income
families. We hope that this winning project will inspire others to expand the
boundaries of what is possible in sustainable affordable housing as well.”
Director of Design at the NEA Jeff Speck said "The National Endowment for the
Arts is honored to be supporting this important project, and I am personally
encouraged by the competition's focus on marrying high design to the practical
demands of providing shelter to those who need it most."
###
Department of Housing Preservation and Development
The Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s mission is to promote quality housing and viable neighborhoods for New Yorkers. The department is the nation’s largest municipal housing development agency and is implementing Mayor Bloomberg’s New Housing Marketplace Plan to build and preserve 165,000 units of affordable housing over ten years. The New Housing Marketplace Plan is the largest municipal affordable housing effort in the nation’s history. HPD also encourages the preservation of affordable housing through education, outreach, loan programs and enforcement of housing quality standards.
AIA New York Chapter
The AIA New York Chapter, the oldest chapter of the American Institute of Architects, founded in
New York City in 1857, is dedicated to three goals: public outreach – engaging and interacting
with the public about architecture and the built environment; professional development – helping
architects to be the best at what they do; and design excellence – improving the quality of design
and advocating environmental conservation and sustainability. As part of the Institute’s
celebration of its sesquicentennial projects around the country are being implemented to give
back to the community. The New Housing New York Legacy project is one of these projects.
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)
NYSERDA is a public benefit authority created in 1975 by the New York State Legislature.
NYSERDA administers the New York Energy $martSM program, which is designed to support
certain public benefit programs during the transition to a more competitive electricity market.
Some 2,700 projects in 40 programs are funded by a charge on the electricity transmitted and
distributed by the State's investor-owned utilities. The New York Energy $martSM program
provides energy efficiency services, including those directed at the low-income sector, research
and development, and environmental protection activities.
Enterprise
Enterprise is a leading provider of the development capital and expertise it takes to create
decent, affordable homes and rebuild communities. For more than two decades,
Enterprise has pioneered neighborhood solutions through public-private partnerships with
financial institutions, governments, community organizations and others that share our
vision. Enterprise has raised and invested $7 billion in equity, grants and loans and is
currently investing in communities at a rate of $1 billion a year. Enterprise’s New York
office is the city’s leading nonprofit provider of affordable housing for low-income people.
Since 1987, Enterprise’s New York office has housed over 59,000 men, women, and
children, developed more than 21,000 affordable homes, and committed almost $1.4
billion in equity, grants, and loans to community development projects across the city.
Visit www.enterprisecommunity.org to learn more about Enterprise’s efforts to build
communities and opportunity, and to meet some of the half a million people we have
helped.
NEA
The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the
arts -- both new and established -- bringing the arts to all Americans, and providing leadership in
arts education. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal
government, the Arts Endowment is the nation's largest annual funder of the arts, bringing great
art to all 50 states including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases. For more information,
please visit www.arts.gov.
For more information on the New Housing New York Legacy Project, please visit:
http://www.aiany.org/NHNY
Press contact:
Bruce Ross
Bruce Ross Public Relations
212.768.1155
Amanda Pitman
NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development
212.863.6300
(click here to download the following AIA Press Release in .pdf format)
New Housing New York Legacy Project
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 13, 2006
CITY OF NEW YORK AND AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS CHOOSE FIVE DESIGN-DEVELOPMENT TEAM FINALISTS FOR FIRST JURIED COMPETITION FOR SUSTAINABLE AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING
MIXED-INCOME, MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTH BRONX TO INCLUDE INNOVATIVE GREEN DESIGN
(New York, NY)—September 13, 2006—New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) Commissioner Shaun Donovan and Mark Ginsberg, FAIA, former President of New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIANY), today announced the five architect-developer team finalists in the juried design competition for affordable and sustainable housing in New York City.
The project, known as the New Housing New York (NHNY) Legacy Project, emerges from a collaboration among the NHNY Steering Committee, HPD, the AIANY, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), and Enterprise Community Partners, Inc.
The NHNY Legacy Project encourages innovative design and financing approaches for the development of a mixed-use, mixed-income project, which will include energy-efficient systems as well as integrated design approaches that promote healthy living. The development will be located on a 40,000 square foot site at the southeast corner of East 156th Street and Brook Avenue in the Bronxchester Urban Renewal Area in the South Bronx. The city-owned property is steeply sloped and bounded at one end by an abandoned single-track railroad and retaining wall, making it an exciting design challenge for participants. The site includes approximately 20,000 square feet of air rights located above the privately-owned track.
The finalists chosen by the jury are:
Phipps Rose Dattner Grimshaw (Phipps Houses / Jonathan Rose Companies / Dattner Architects / Grimshaw Architects) Architects: Dattner Architects / Grimshaw Architects
Legacy Collaborative (The Dermot Company /Nos Quedamos/ Melrose Associates) Architects: Magnusson Architecture and Planning (MAP) / Kiss + Cathcart (K+C)
WHEDCo / Durst Sunset LLC Architects: Cook+Fox Architects, LLP
BRP Development Corporation Architects: Rogers Marvel
SEG + BEHNISCH + MDA Architects: Behnisch Architekten / studioMDA
The site is currently valued at more than $4 million and will be sold by the City to the awarded architect-developer team for a nominal fee. In exchange, the winning team will be required to ensure the resulting development includes housing for low and moderate-income families. The selected architect-developer group will be responsible for obtaining permanent financing that is consistent with the proposal. Proposals will be evaluated on the basis of design excellence and efficiency of the financing plan.
The competition was first announced at the Center for Architecture in June 2006. Thirty-two architect-development teams submitted qualifications to the design jury, which consists of prestigious architects, housing experts, community officials, and others including Lawrence Scarpa, AIA, Principal, Pugh + Scarpa Architecture and Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, Jr.
The panel took into consideration specific criteria when reviewing the teams' qualifications, including innovative and sustainable design experience and economic capacity. Stipends for design-development teams are funded by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), which is rare for competitions of this scale.
The five finalists will submit full development proposals to the AIA New York Chapter at the Center for Architecture; from these proposals, the jury will choose one winning team to be announced in January 2007.
"For decades the South Bronx was plagued with abandoned and neglected properties, but today, thanks to investment by the City as well as private and non- profit developers, the community is experiencing a dramatic revival," said Commissioner Shaun Donovan. "The Department of Housing Preservation and Development is committed to further expanding affordable housing opportunities in the South Bronx, and across the city, through Mayor Bloomberg's New Housing Marketplace Plan to build or preserve 165,000 units of affordable housing over ten years. The terrific response by architects and developers to the New Housing/New York competition demonstrates that design excellence, environmental sustainability and affordability can be partnered and made accessible to lower- and middle-class New Yorkers. We hope that these teams will develop an innovative mixed-income housing model for other developers and future generations."
"I was impressed with the innovative design spirit that flowed throughout all of these designs submitted," said jury Chair M. David Lee, FAIA, Adjunct Professor of Urban Design, Harvard School of Design. "It's an exciting time for New York architecture right now, and this unique collaboration between architects and developers proved to us that good design isn't just limited to high-profile institutions or businesses, but is available and even economical for lower-income building throughout the city. I look forward to seeing the final proposals fully fleshed out by these remarkable and talented teams."
"When we decided to host a juried design competition that would require architects and developers to come together to generate the most original ideas, we knew we would get original ideas, but we were thrilled to have such a great response," Mark Ginsberg said. "These five finalist teams represent the freshest and most exciting ideas in the development of an affordable and sustainable project. Design matters at all levels and especially in an affordable housing project like this one. We believe that the architect-developer partnership model will create a new standard in housing in the future that pursues design excellence, including sustainability in a cost efficient fashion."
Department of Housing Preservation and Development
The Department of Housing Preservation and Development's mission is to promote quality housing and viable neighborhoods for New Yorkers. The department is the nation's largest municipal housing development agency and is implementing Mayor Bloomberg's New Housing Marketplace Plan to build and preserve 165,000 units of affordable housing over ten years. The New Housing Marketplace Plan is the largest municipal affordable housing effort in the nation's history. HPD also encourages the preservation of affordable housing through education, outreach, loan programs and enforcement of housing quality standards.About the AIA New York Chapter
The AIA New York Chapter, the oldest chapter of the American Institute of Architects, is dedicated to three goals: public outreach—engaging and interacting with the public about architecture and the built environment; professional development—helping architects to be the best at what they do; and design excellence—improving the quality of design and advocating environmental conservation and sustainability.
(click here to download the following AIA Press Release in .doc format)
New Housing New York Legacy Project
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Release #07-06
June 12, 2006
Contact: Amanda Pitman (212) 863-6166
CITY OF NEW YORK AND AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS LAUNCH FIRST JURIED DESIGN COMPETITION FOR SUSTAINABLE AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Mixed-Income, Mixed-Use Development in South Bronx to Include Innovative Green Design
(New York, NY) – June 12, 2006 – New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) Commissioner Shaun Donovan and Mark Ginsberg, FAIA, former President of New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIANY), today announced the first-ever juried architect-developer design competition for affordable and sustainable housing in New York City. The project, which is known as the New Housing New York (NHNY) Legacy Project competition, emerges from a collaboration between the NHNY Steering Committee, HPD, the AIANY, and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).
The NHNY Legacy Project seeks to encourage new forms of design in developing a mixed-use, mixed-income project on a 40,000 square foot site located at the southeast corner of East 156 th Street and Brook Avenue in the Bronxchester Urban Renewal Area in the South Bronx. The City-owned property is steeply sloped and bounded at one end by an abandoned single-track railroad and retaining wall, making it an exciting design challenge for participants. The site includes approximately 20,000 square feet of air rights located above the privately owned track.
The site is currently valued at more than $4 million and will be sold by the City to the awarded architect-developer team for a nominal fee. In exchange for the fee, the winning team will be required to ensure the resulting development includes housing for low-, middle-, and moderate-income families desiring homeownership in the form of condominium or cooperative apartments, or affordable rental housing. The winning architect-developer team will be responsible for obtaining permanent financing that is consistent with the proposal. While subsidies may be used, proposals will be evaluated based on the efficiency of the financing plan.
The winning team will be selected based on a two-step RFP process judged by a jury consisting of prestigious architects, housing experts, community officials, and others including architect Billie Tsien. Judges will consider specific criteria when reviewing the proposals, including innovative design quality, economic and long-term environmental sustainability, and replicable financing that leverages private and public subsidies, and other important development and design components.
"For decades the South Bronx was plagued with abandoned and neglected properties, but today, thanks to investment by the City as well as private and non-profit developers, the community is experiencing a dramatic revival,” said Commissioner Shaun Donovan. “The Department of Housing Preservation and Development is committed to further expanding the affordable housing opportunities in the South Bronx, and across the city, through Mayor Bloomberg's New Housing Marketplace Plan to build 165,000 units of affordable housing over ten years. The New Housing/New York competition will demonstrate that design excellence and environmental sustainability can easily be integrated into affordable housing development. We hope to encourage and cultivate new design-development teams that will develop an innovative mixed-income housing model for other developers and future generations."
“In the architectural profession, the design competition is utilized to generate the most original ideas,” Mark Ginsberg said. “We’re excited about launching this model with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development in the development of an affordable and sustainable project. Design matters at all levels and especially in an affordable housing project like this one. We’re hopeful that this unique partnership will create a new standard in housing and will attract a large and diverse group of architects and developers. We also hope to establish an important principle – design excellence, including sustainability, need not be cost prohibitive. If handled properly, and competitively, we can create first-class housing cost effectively.”
"New York State is a national leader in energy-efficient, green building design due in large part to the commitment of Governor Pataki," said NYSERDA President and CEO Peter R. Smith. "Through our New York Energy Smart Program, NYSERDA supported the Bronx through new construction projects and energy-efficient improvements in low- and moderate-income buildings. The results of this collaboration will be lower energy bills, as well as providing residents with healthier and safer housing."
The solicitation is organized as a two-step Request for Proposals process: Step 1, where Respondent Teams submit qualifications; and Step 2, where short-listed Finalist Teams from Step 1 submit full development proposals. The short-listed team members will then have three months to prepare their designs. The designs will be reviewed by the jury in January 2007 and available for public review at the Center for Architecture at 536 LaGuardia Place in Greenwich Village. The Request for Proposals issued today for Step 1 is due back on July 24, 2006. Stipends for design-development teams will be funded by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)
Department of Housing Preservation and Development
The Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s mission is to promote quality housing and viable neighborhoods for New Yorkers. The department is the nation’s largest municipal housing development agency and is implementing Mayor Bloomberg’s New Housing Marketplace Plan to build and preserve 165,000 units of affordable housing over ten years. The New Housing Marketplace Plan is the largest municipal affordable housing effort in the nation’s history. HPD also encourages the preservation of affordable housing through education, outreach, loan programs and enforcement of housing quality standards.
About the Center for Architecture
The Center for Architectureis New York City’s premier public space for exhibitions, discussion and professional exchange on architecture and design. With a storefront resource center, multiple galleries, a lecture hall, library and conference rooms, the Center serves as the place where the public and design professionals meet. Established in October 2003 by the American Institute of Architects New York Chapter and its charitable affiliate, the Center for Architecture Foundation, the Center is also home to the New York Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), Illuminating Engineering Society New York Section (IESNY), and the Structural Engineers Association of New York (SEAoNY). The Center for Architecture (536 LaGuardia Place) is open 9 am to 8 pm, Monday - Friday, and 11 am to 5 pm, Saturdays. Admission is free. For information, contact the AIA New York Chapter at 212-683-0023 or info@aiany.org.www.aiany.org.
For more information on the Request for Proposals process, please visit www.aiany.org/NHNY/
Press Coverage 01. 26. 2007 "New Housing New York Winner Imagines a Sustainable South Bronx" - Architectural Record 01. 24. 2007 "Housing Contest Integrates Sustainability and Affordability " - Interior Design 01. 17. 2007 "N.Y. Selects Designers/Developers for the First 'Green' Public Housing Contest" - Multi-Housing news 01. 17. 2007 "Working-Class Housing Complex Will Rise as Part of the
Greenery" - New York Times06. 07. 2006 "NY Programs Blueprint America" - eOCULUS Magazine 06. 11. 2006 "Who Wants to Be a Working-Class Housing Designer?" - New York Times 06. 11. 2006 "A Development Competition Grows in the Bronx" - Gothamist 09. 01. 2006 "Competition for Affordable Housing Design " - New York Construction 09. 20. 2006 "Architects Eager to Turn Eyesore into Environmental Haven " - Real Estate Weekly New Housing New York Winner Imagines a Sustainable South Bronx by David Sokol, Architectural Record January 26, 2007 An oddly shaped, 60,000-square-foot empty lot in the South Bronx, New York, recently attracted a shortlist of some renowned names in architecture and green building: Grimshaw Architects, Behnisch Architekten, Cook + Fox, Rogers Marvel, Kiss + Cathcart. And when a 202-apartment complex is completed on the site, the project—named Via Verde—may just set a new standard for affordable housing.
This humble spot at Brook Avenue and 156th Street was the subject of New Housing New York, the city’s first juried design competition for affordable and sustainable housing and a component of Mayor Bloomberg’s wide-reaching New Housing Marketplace Plan to build and preserve 165,000 units of affordable housing over 10 years. The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Urban Development (HPD), which is spearheading the Marketplace Plan, and the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects were among the collaborators who helped realize the competition. On January 17 they announced that Grimshaw, whose team includes Dattner Architects and developers Phipps Houses Group and The Jonathan Rose Companies, would develop the site.
The winning proposal sets a high standard for sustainable, imaginatively designed working-class housing. In addition to 202 residential units, the Via Verde complex will feature retail shops, community space, and parking spread throughout an 18-story tower, a mid-rise building, and townhouses. The buildings will be linked by street-level gardens devoted to fruit and vegetable farming and passive recreation, as well as by a series of south-facing terrace gardens that are terraced into the volumes. The greenery culminates in a series of green roofs that enhance insulation, help harvest rainwater, and reduce heat transfer—and helping the design earn a LEED Gold rating.
Via Verde will include 63 co-op units; the remainder will be rental. Household incomes will be capped at 130 percent of the median income for New York City, and one block of rental apartments is designated for households earning less than 40 percent of that figure. The city will turn the site over to the development team for $1 and groundbreaking is set for mid-2008.
(for original publication see Architectural Record Online )
Housing Contest Integrates Sustainability and Affordability by , Interior Design January 24, 2007
This past June, the New Housing New York Legacy Project made a call for entries for its first juried design competition for affordable and sustainable housing. Created in joint collaboration between the NHNY Steering Committee, the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), AIA New York chapter, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, and Enterprise Community Partners, the contest was developed to encourage the integration of sustainability and design excellence with affordable housing.
Earlier this month, a winner was chosen from among the 32 architect-development teams that made submissions. The winner, PRDG—comprised of the Phipps Houses, Dattner Architects, and Jonathan Rose Companies, and Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners —presented a proposal called Via Verde, which will consist of 202 mixed-income residential units, retail and community spaces, and parking. The development, which is aiming for LEED Gold status, is cleverly organized around a multi-functional garden that begins as a street-level courtyard and plaza then spirals upwards as a series roof gardens before culminating in a sky terrace. Enhanced ventilation, individual control of heating and cooling, and sun screens are just some of the energy-efficient features that will help to reduce utility bills and improve indoor air quality.
“We became a community so that we could design a community,” explains PRDG, which also notes that it considered the environmental, social, affordable, and community aspects of the project with equal weight.
Located in the South Bronx, the competition site is a 60,000-square-foot vacant lot valued at $4 million, which will be sold by the City to PRDG for a nominal fee in exchange for the design and construction of the mixed-use development. The development is part of Mayor Bloomberg's $7.5 billion New Housing Marketplace Plan to build or preserve 165,000 units of affordable housing over ten years—the largest such municipal plan in the nation's history, according to the AIANY.
“This unprecedented competition will raise the level of design sustainability and serve as a beacon for affordable housing across the city," says Shaun Donovan, HPD Commissioner. "We hope that PRDG's proposal will serve as a prototype for future affordable housing developments built nationally and internationally."
An exhibition of the winning team's proposal will be on view March 22–June 16 at the Center for Architecture in New York.
(for original publication see Interior Design Online)
N.Y. Selects Designers/Developers for the First 'Green' Public Housing Contest by Kelly Sheehan, Multi-Housing News January 17, 2007
New York -- The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIANY) have named architects Richard Dattner and Nicholas Grimshaw, along with developers Jonathan Rose and Phipps Houses, as the winning architect-developer team of the city’s first juried design competition for affordable and sustainable housing. Comprised of The Phipps Houses, Jonathan Rose Companies, Dattner Architects, and Grimshaw Architects, PRDG team will create a “green” mixed-income public housing development in the South Bronx, as initially reported by MHN in October of 2006 when HPD announced the contest finalists.
The project, known as the New Housing New York (NHNY) Legacy Project, has emerged from a collaboration of the NHNY Steering Committee, HPD, the AIANY, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and Enterprise Community Partners Inc. Stipends for design-development teams are funded by NYSERDA. The contest encouraged applicants to develop an innovative design that includes energy-efficient components to promote healthy living. The teams’ proposals were due on Dec. 1, 2006.
The development will be located on a 60,000-sq.-ft., city-owned site on the southeast corner of East 165th Street and Brook Avenue in the Bronxchester Urban Renewal Area. The property, valued at more than $4 million, is steeply sloped and bounded at one end by an abandoned railroad track and retaining wall. The city will sell the site to PRDG for a nominal fee.
Phipps-Rose-Dattner-Grimshaw’s (PRDG) proposal, referred to as “Green Way” or “Via Verde,” consists of 202 residential units, in addition to parking, retail and community space. The plan’s residential component includes apartments, duplexes and townhouses available for rent and ownership.
By incorporating sustainable materials, efficient mechanical systems and renewable strategies, Via Verde will aim to meet the gold-level standards of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). Mechanical systems will include enhanced ventilation to apartments and individual control of heating and cooling systems. Sunscreens will shade the south and west facades of the development, and each unit will include high-performance windows. The team hopes that these green features will improve indoor air quality, reduce energy consumption and lower utility bills for tenants.
The development is organized around gardens that begin at street level as a courtyard and plaza and spiral upward to rooftops, creating sky terraces. The gardens will be used for fruit and vegetable cultivation and social gathering as well as storm water control and enhanced insulation. The team plans to use Via Verde’s plaza for a neighborhood green market or organic food co-op.
PRDG was required to provide a financing plan for the project, Karen Hu, HPD project manager and co-chair of the NHNY Steering Committee, told MHN. The proposal assumes that the rental units will be funded through a combination of the New York City Housing Development Corp.'s (HDC) New Housing Opportunity Program and Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC), and that the homeownership units will use HDC’s Affordable Co-op Program and New Market Tax Credits. The Via Verde development is part of Mayor Bloomberg’s $7.5-billion New Housing Marketplace Plan to build or preserve 165,000 units of affordable housing over 10 years—said to be the largest municipal affordable housing plan in the nation’s history.
Other teams in the running were BRP Development Corp. with Rogers Marvel Architects; Legacy Collaborative with Magnusson Architecture and Planning and Kiss+Cathcart Architects; SEG with Behnisch Architekten and studioMDA; and WHEDCo/Durst Sunset with Cook+Fox Architects. An exhibition of the five finalists’ proposals will be on view March 22 to June 16 at the AIANY’s Center for Architecture in New York. The exhibition will highlight how the project functions as a replicable model for sustainable affordable housing in New York City and other urban communities.(for original publication see Multi-Housing News Online)
Working-Class Housing Complex Will Rise as Part of the
Greeneryby Janny Scott, The New York Times January 17, 2007 The Bloomberg administration, hoping to inspire more imaginative design in working-class housing, intends to turn over one of a dwindling number of large tracts of city-owned land to a development team with an unusual plan — to build a low- and moderate-income housing complex bound together by courtyards and roof gardens that would be used for everything from harvesting rainwater to farming vegetables and fruit.
The proposed project, selected from among five finalists by a jury that included not only architects but a professor of environmental psychology and anthropology, would include an outdoor amphitheater, apartments designed for breezes, a fitness center, wiring for Internet access, “live-work units” for people who work at home, stoops with photovoltaic canopies, even a Christmas tree farm.
The property, in the Melrose section of the South Bronx, was condemned by the city in 1972.
“We started out on this process to try to raise the level of design and the level of sustainability for housing not just on this site but with the hope that this could be really a model,” said Shaun Donovan, commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. “Given the responses we got, I think there’s a real opportunity for this to be a project that changes the future of housing in this country.”
The competition, announced last June and sponsored by the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects and Mr. Donovan’s department, attracted interest from 32 teams of architects and developers from around the world. The Bloomberg administration has vowed to create or preserve 165,000 units of low- and moderate-income housing by 2013.
The winning team, to be announced today, is made up of an international architectural firm, Grimshaw Architects; a New York firm, Dattner Architects; and two developers, the Jonathan Rose Companies and the Phipps Houses Group, a New York nonprofit that develops low- and moderate-income housing. For one dollar, the city plans to give the team an oddly shaped, empty 60,000-square-foot lot at Brook Avenue and East 156th Street in the South Bronx, which it condemned in an urban renewal program in 1972. The property, which includes abandoned railroad tracks and possibly contaminated soil and groundwater, lies northeast of the Hub, the third-largest shopping district in the Bronx.
The 202-apartment complex, called Via Verde, or the Green Way, would include an 18-story tower at the north end, a mid-rise building with duplex apartments, and townhouses to the south. Sixty-three units would be co-op apartments for sale; the rest would be rentals. The garden would begin at ground level, then spiral upward in a series of roof gardens that face south, culminating in what the team calls a sky terrace.
“There’s a reason why people like to be in parks and gardens and trees,” said Jonathan F. P. Rose, president of Jonathan Rose Companies. “We grew out of nature. How can we make this very urban building but also give people a connection with nature?” He said the team decided to “wrap the building with a garden,” beginning with a contemplative space and moving “from very private to increasing levels of communality.”
The so-called green roofs have multiple purposes — social, psychological and environmental. They would enhance insulation, reduce heat absorption and help manage storm water runoff, the developers say. They would help with solar and rainwater harvesting systems. Every apartment would have two facades, allowing cross-ventilation and plenty of light; all mechanical systems would be energy efficient.
Other environmentally sensitive technologies that might be used include geothermal ground loops for heating water in winter and cooling it in summer. To encourage conservation, residents would be given control of their own energy consumption. There would be low-flow, water-conserving plumbing fixtures and rooms for recycling and bicycle storage.
“The premise is simple — to create affordable, humane housing,” said Vincent Chang, a principal at Grimshaw, which was founded in the United Kingdom and has offices in Europe, New York and Australia. “What’s unique is we genuinely sought to make a connection to nature accessible, to bring that level of community into the overall design.”
The co-ops would be for households making no more than 130 percent of the median income for the city, or roughly $70,000 for a family of four. The rest of the apartments would be rentals for households making less than 40 percent, between 40 and 60 percent, and between 60 and 80 percent of the median income. The low and moderate rents are to be made possible with the help of city, federal and state subsidies. Construction is expected to begin in mid-2008.
Joan Blumenfeld, president of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects, said it remains to be seen whether the project and the process that produced it would serve as a model. But, she said, “I think it also will start a thought process about looking at different ways of trying to finance and procure these projects in general and trying to introduce design as more of a requirement upfront.”
(for original publication see NYTimes.com)
NY Programs Blueprint America eOCULUS June 07, 2006 As part of the AIA's "Blueprint for America: A Gift to the Nation" agenda, AIA New York Chapter has received a $10,000 grant in support of New Housing New York (NHNY) Legacy Project, a program that stresses innovation, affordability, and sustainability in providing new housing prototypes for New York City. The Public Information Exchange (PIE) was also designated as an AIA150 program.
The NHNY Legacy Project is a collaboration among the NHNY Steering Committee, AIANY, the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). In a two-stage design competition, the HPD has designated a vacant 40,000 square-foot site in the South Bronx as the future location for the NHNY mixed-income housing development.
Blueprint for America is the primary program of AIA150, a year-long observance in 2007 that will mark the 150th anniversary of the founding of the AIA. "We applaud AIA New York Chapter for seizing this opportunity to demonstrate how good design makes a difference," said national AIA President Kate Schwennsen, FAIA. The Blueprint program was created to offer citizens in communities across America an opportunity to celebrate their heritage, address emerging architectural challenges and trends, and find their voices to help make their vision real for beautiful, safe, and livable communities.
(for original publication see EOculus)
Who Wants to Be a Working-Class Housing Designer? by Janny Scott, The New York Times June 11, 2006 In an effort to bring better design to working-class housing, the Bloomberg administration and an architects' group are to announce today a competition to pick an architect and a developer to build an apartment complex on vacant city-owned land in the South Bronx.
Sponsored by the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the competition is said to be the first of its kind in the city. It is intended to produce a building that is innovative in its design, environmentally friendly, financially viable and replicable by others.
The criteria to be used by the jury of architects, developers and city officials that will select the winning plan will put a premium on design quality, affordability and factors like energy efficiency and the use of renewable resources. Then the city will give the winning team the site, a 40,000-square-foot former railyard, for about a dollar a lot for the two lots involved.
"We want to create an exemplary model that could not just put in place the best standards of design being used elsewhere but could actually create new standards for design going forward," said Shaun Donovan, commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, who was himself trained as an architect.
The city condemned the site, at Brook Avenue and East 156th Street, in an urban renewal program in 1972. It is among the last remaining large tracts of vacant city-owned land.
An abandoned rail line runs through it; the soil and groundwater may be contaminated. It is northeast of the Hub, the third largest shopping district in the Bronx and a neighborhood that is reviving after decades in decline.
The building is to include as many as 150 apartments on the upper floors with commercial and community facilities at ground level. The aim is to produce apartments for people with a range of incomes, from low-income units to those at market rate. The architect-developer teams are encouraged to propose a mix of public subsidy programs and private financing.
Karen Kubey, another architect and co-chairwoman of the steering committee of New Housing New York, the group that organized the competition, said, "We're saying that good design shouldn't be just for rich people but for everyone. What can we do to make design affordable and sustainable?"
Architects said proposals could include design elements like open staircases that encourage residents to climb rather than ride elevators; "green" features like photovoltaic electrical generation and bamboo floors instead of hardwood, and the use of paints and carpeting that do not contribute to indoor air pollution.
As for the price, Mr. Donovan said good design "doesn't necessarily mean higher costs."
Mark Ginsberg, an architect on the steering committee, said that even if a building ended up costing a little more than it would have otherwise, its "lifetime energy cost" — the cost to operate the building — might be less.
Juried design competitions are not uncommon for museums and other cultural institutions; and architects like Le Corbusier informed early visions of public housing. But the practice of hiring visionary designers for low-income housing, architects say, fell out of favor in the United States as public housing projects came to be seen as a failure.
In 2004, the New York City Council, the local American Institute of Architects chapter and the City University of New York sponsored a competition to elicit ideas for quality low- and moderate-income housing. That competition produced ideas but no buildings. The new competition is intended to produce a building that might serve as a prototype.
The initiative comes at a time when the city is facing a shortage of low- and moderate-income housing. The population is growing, land is scarce and real estate values remain high. As a result, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has vowed to create or preserve 165,000 low- and moderate-income units by 2013.
"A design competition is often a question of picking the best and the brightest, not just the low bidder," said Fredric Bell, executive director of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects and a former official in the city's Department of Design and Construction. "The mechanisms by which architects are selected by competition can generate some very exciting ideas."
The competition will include two parts. First, teams of architects, developers and contractors will submit their qualifications. Then the 10-member jury will chose half a dozen teams, each of which will receive a stipend to help cover the cost of preparing a full proposal. The jury is to select the winner this fall.
Correction: June 12, 2006 Because of an editing error, an article yesterday about a competition to design a working-class apartment development in the South Bronx incorrectly stated the date the competition would be announced. It is today, not yesterday.
(for original publication visit NYTimes.com)
A Development Competition Grows in the Bronx by Garth Johnston, Gothamist June 11, 2006
As World Cup fever slowly infects its way across the five boroughs (we can't be the only ones who've found ourselves standing for hours in bodegas staring at soccer matches when we've already bought the beer we came for) the city has announced its own new competition, and we're pretty pumped for it, too! Using one of the few remaining large vacant properties in the city's portfolio, the Bloomberg administration and an architects' group are announcing today "a competition to pick an architect and a developer to build an apartment complex on vacant city-owned land in the South Bronx." (specifically on Brook Avenue and East 156th)
The criteria to be used by the jury of architects, developers and city officials that will select the winning plan will put a premium on design quality, affordability and factors like energy efficiency and the use of renewable resources. Then the city will give the winning team the site, a 40,000-square-foot former railyard, for about a dollar a lot for the two lots involved.
"We want to create an exemplary model that could not just put in place the best standards of design being used elsewhere but could actually create new standards for design going forward," said Shaun Donovan, commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, who was himself trained as an architect.
We think this is a great idea and wish the competition the best. The city has only a few of these vacant properties left and is in an excellent and rare position to think about and influence the future of affordable housing. As architect Karen Kubey put it to the Gray Lady "We're saying that good design shouldn't be just for rich people but for everyone. What can we do to make design affordable and sustainable?"
(for original publication visit gothamist.com)
Competition for Affordable Housing Design New York Construction Magazine September 2006, Design News A juried competition to design an affordable housing complex is under way in New York's South Bronx neighborhood. Dubbed New Houisng New York, the competition is sponsored by the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development in conjuction with the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
The winning architect-developer team will design the Legacy Project, a 150-unit, mixed-use, mixed-income building on a 40,000-sq.-ft. vacant city-owned lot at East 156th Street and Brooke Avenue. The developer of the $4 million site, which be sold to the winning team for $1, will be able to apply 20,000 sq. ft. of air rights from an adjacent privately-owned lot.
The site presents several design challenges because it is steeply sloped and borders a retaining wall and abandoned rail line in the Bronxchester Urban Renewal Area.
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority is also part of the team overseeing the competition, which will give preference to projects minimizing energy consumption, using environmentally sound materials, and incorporating "healthy living" amenities such as excercise rooms and outdoor space.
The jury of architects, city officials, community representatives, and developers will select the winning team in January. The team will be able to apply a $145,000 New York State Department of Environmental Conservation environmental remediation grant toward the site's redevelopment. Construction is slated to begin in 2008.
Architects Eager to Turn Eyesore into Environmental Haven Real Estate Weekly, Danielle Wolffe September 20, 2006 Some architects might find designing a housing project on a steeply sloped, brownfield site bordered by a single-track railroad and a retaining wall in the South Bronx a nightmarish prospect.
But for the five architectural teams selected as finalists September 13 in the New Housing New York Legacy Project, the 40,000 s/f trapezoidal space on 156th street provides them with an exhilarating vantage point.
"I think the competition's theme of marrying high design with affordable housing is going to challenge designers to help raise the bar and produce some buildable dreams for affordable housing in New York," said Jonathan Jova Marvel, partner in the firm Rogers Marvel Architects, and one of the finalists in the competition. The types of dreams realized through the development are as limitless as the imaginations of the architects. The project's organizers - which include the American Institute of Architects, New York Chapter, the New York City Department of Housing and Preservation and Development and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority - have set basic guidelines that only push traditional ways of thinking about affordable housing. The mixed-use building ultimately awarded to the winning team should include multiple apartments for different income levels, and retail and community space on the ground floor. Submissions tailored to the mixed income residents that integrate high-end designs into their blueprints receive higher ratings from the competitions judges.
"Everyone would like a beautiful place to live in. We think it should be a viable possibility for residents of affordable housing as well as luxury housing and we hope our designers will be encouraged to take up the challenge of making beautiful designs economically obtainable," said Holly Leicht, director of operations of the NYHPD.
Designs - which may include 20,000 s/f of air rights - must be LEED certifiable and those that incorporate more green elements, such as bamboo floors, rainwater tubs, and green roofs, will be more highly regarded by judges.
The site - which is currently valued at $4 million - was a former rail yard condemned by the city in 1972, and is one of the last large vacant spaces left in the South Bronx. The competition gives residents plenty of leverage to voice their opinions. Green elements they want included in the property include a store that provides healthy food not easily attainable in the neighborhood, and materials that support better air quality to fight high rates of asthma and other health problems residents face.
"The idea behind green buildings is to tread lightly on the earth and have as limited an impact on the environment as possible," said mark Ginsburg, former president of the AIANY and partner at Curtis and Ginsberg Architects, LLP. "Most of us try to do that on every project we design, but it's nice to have a project where we can really push the envelope with green building and learn what works and what doesn't."
The winner should be announced around January 12, 2007, while construction is not expected to begin until Spring 2008. But seeds planted by the contest are expected to come to fruition through the process of the contest itself.
"My overall hope for this project is that the affordable housing industry is motivated by the ideas that are going to be contributed by the talented architects and developers that are going to be pouring their energies into this project over the next couple of months," said Jonathan Jovel marvel, partner in the firm Rogers and Marvels Architects and another of the finalists in the competition.
Ginsberg hopes that the project - which is included among the AIANY's "Blueprint for America, A Gift to the Nation," celebration across the country for 2007 which will commemorate the 150th anniversary of the AIA - will help pave the way for others in neighborhoods beyond 156th street.
"This is called the Legacy Project and, from the city's perspective, the legacy element is as important as what comes from this individual building," Leicht said. "In the process of this competition, the design teams will have learned how to do this and will carry that knowledge to future projects. At the same time, we will have a model to use to gain leverage in encouraging architects and developers how to incorporate high design and sustainability into their projects."
