New Housing New York Legacy Project

The New Housing New York (NHNY) Legacy Project grew out of the 2004 NHNY Design Ideas Competition. Building on the enthusiasm generated through the competition, the Legacy Project encourages new forms of affordable housing design for a site in the Bronxchester Urban Renewal Area (URA) in the South Bronx.

The NHNY Legacy Project seeks to set a new standard for affordable housing design and development in New York City and beyond. The partnership of The AIA New York Chapter and New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development has lead to both an innovative process and innovative solutions creating the sustainable affordable housing of the highest design quality.

Back Story

The New Housing New York (NHNY) Legacy Project seeks to set a new standard for affordable housing design and development in New York City and beyond. The project emerges from a collaboration of experts in residential architecture, finance, building codes, and development; leaders in these fields have come together to challenge their peers to change the way affordable housing is procured, designed and built.

The Legacy Project grew out of the 2004 NHNY Design Ideas Competition, jointly sponsored by the New York City Council, The New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, and the City University of New York. The competition encouraged the national design community to propose new and innovative approaches to affordable housing design in New York City, while addressing statutory limitations, including current zoning and building code regulations. Building on the enthusiasm generated through the competitio n NHNY Ideas Competition a group of interested parties formed the pro bono NHNY Steering Committee and initiated the Legacy Project. The AIA New York Chapter in partnership with the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) joined to carry  the project forward with HPD donating the site in the Bronxchester Urban Renewal Area (URA) in the South Bronx  

The NHNY project will be a built housing prototype and addresses issues of affordability, sustainability, transferability, and viability. At approximately 60,000 square feet, the NHNY site offers the opportunity to develop creative responses to each of these issues. Lowering lifetime building costs will be a priority for this project. The site which is triangular in shape, next to abandoned rail tracks, and a brownfield, highlights the challenge faced in NYC since most vacant sites in the city come with significant constraints. Future developments at all scales can learn from the innovative steps made in NHNY.”

NHNY's selection process was designed to encourage innovation in the formation of design and development teams. We hope that elements of the two-step RFP method will influence the way future housing projects are awarded in New York .

The NHNY project site was awarded to an architect-developer team, based on a two-step process: an RFQ followed by an RFP. One interdisciplinary jury judged both steps of the competition. This new procurement process offers the potential to change how HPD and others select development teams. With the two-step procedure, NHNY allowed many teams to submit qualifications without having to spend the time and money to develop a site-specific design and financial proposal. A short list of five finalist teams were invited to progress to step two, the RFP. The winning team was selected based on a clear set of criteria applied to its schematic design and financial proposal. This process set up a transparent system of selection. It also meant that only teams with a realistic chance of being selected had to make the tremendous effort, in both time and expense, to develop a complete proposal.

Jury

David Burney, FAIA, Commissioner, NYC Department of Design and Construction

Adolfo Carrión, Jr., Bronx Borough President

Randolph R. Croxton, FAIA, Principal, Croxton Collaborative Architects

Shaun Donovan, Commissioner, NYC Housing Preservation & Development

M. David Lee, FAIA, Adjunct Professor of Urban Design, Harvard School of Design

Setha Low, Professor of Environmental Psychology and Anthropology, CCNY

Ron Moelis, Principal, L & M Equity Participants

Enrique Norten, Hon. FAIA, Principal, TEN Arquitectos

Lawrence Scarpa, AIA, Principal, Pugh + Scarpa Architecture

Mark Willis, Executive Vice President, JPMorgan Chase

Workshops and Community Presentations

The NHNY Legacy Committee will host a series of public events to give interested parties the opportunity to review and comment on the project. These events are also envisioned as occasions to spark city-wide discussions regarding opportunities to improve quality while lowering long-term operating costs. The workshops and presentations allows the community to be pro-active in contributing to the vision and plan for this project, which will result in a design that reflects the shared goals and aspirations of the community as a whole. The series will deal with perceptions and realities regarding project costs, scheduling and approvals related to the public financing side of the project's ledger.

Conclusion

The partnership of NHNY, The AIA New York Chapter and New York City 's Department of Housing Preservation and Development has lead to both an innovative process and innovative solutions creating the sustainable affordable housing of the highest design quality.

The ideas derived by the five finalist teams will be shared and sourced in an exhibition and publication documenting the process and the proposals. Information can also be found at the following web site: http://www.aiany.org/NHNY/

Winning Team:

Phipps Rose Dattner Grimshaw
Developers: The Phipps Houses Group and The Jonathan Rose Companies
Architects: Dattner Architects and Grimshaw

Honorable Mention

seg, Full Spectrum Hamlin Behnisch studioMDA
Developers: seg, Full Spectrum and Hamlin Ventures
Architects: Behnisch Architekten and studioMDA

Other Finalist

BRP Bluestone Rorgers 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 and Kiss + Cathcart

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