CONGRESS FOR THE

NEW URBANISM

CNU CHARTER AWARDS 2013Public Housing in New York City

• NYCHA-thelargestpublichousingauthority.• Owns&manages181000housingunits.• Owns1500acresofproperty.• Evergrowingneedforaffordablehousing.• Nomorevacantlandavailable.• Aging&deterioratingbuildingsstock.• Drasticallyreducedfederalfunding.

1,000,000ProjectedpopulationgrowthinNewYorkCityby2030.

143,000 Peopleonwaitlistforpublichousingtoday.

77,000,000 sqft Unuseddevelopmentrights

Public housing in New York City that provides affordable housing to 8% of the city

population must be preserved but not in its present form. It must be transformed into

compact, diverse, self-sufficient communities which shall be socially, economically and

environmentally sustainable.

Thesissite

From ‘the projects’ to a sustainable community: Re-envisioning public housing in Manhattan

CONGRESS FOR THE

NEW URBANISM

BEFORE REDEVELOPMENT

CONGRESS FOR THE

NEW URBANISM

AFTER REDEVELOPMENT

CONGRESS FOR THE

NEW URBANISM

Conventional Public Housing Redevelopment

WholesaleDemolition

De-concentration

Displacement

Gentrification

Thesis Design Approach

Preservation

Augmentation

Socialintegration

Zero displacement

Augmentation of public and affordable housing while preserving the existing

high rise public housing stock and the tenants.

ALTERNATIVE DESIGN APPROACH

CONGRESS FOR THE

NEW URBANISM

CNU CHARTER AWARDS 2013

1874

1924Lower East-side Manhattan:

Transformation from the fine grain urban fabric to

‘Towers-in-the-park’ superblocks.

Sitearea-78Ac

HousingUnits-6120

Grossdensity-78.46Du/ac

Population-17,026

MedianHouseholdincome-$17,828

Unemployment-25%

Disability-36%

SingleMothers-44%

Seniors-15%

CONGRESS FOR THE

NEW URBANISM

EXISTING SITE CONDITION : 1939 - Present

N0 500’ 1000’

CONGRESS FOR THE

NEW URBANISM

EXISTING SITE CONDITION

Riis Houses

Area-17.67acres

Population-5259

1768Du

Built-1949

Wald Houses

Area-17.33acres

Population-5220

1861Du

Built-1949

Baruch Houses

Area-30.0acres

Population-6547

2491Du

Built-1959

Open space REAL ! !

Restricted-72.13%

Open Space - 81.67 % IMPLIED ! !

Accessible-9.54%

Openspace

Parking-11.20%

CONGRESS FOR THE

NEW URBANISM

Introduce a transit corridor

PhaseI-BRT.

PhaseII-Streetcar/LRT.

Dedicatedbikelanes.

ConnectionwithexistingFerryroute.

Midtown

Dow

ntow

n

Re-instate the street grid

Integrationwithadjacentneighborhoods.

Accessibilityandviewcorridorstowaterfront.

Opportunityfordevelopment.

Capthefreeway,createawaterfrontboulevard.

Accessibility Connectivity Density and Diversity Green Infrastructure

Infill along new streets

MixofLand-use.

Diversityinhousingtypes.

Activestreetfrontage.

Improvedsenseofsafety.

Anewskylinealongtheeastside.

Integrate with the ecosystem

High-performancelandscape.

Protectionagainststormsurge.

Urbanfarming.

DESIGN STRATEGIES

1 2 4 3

Synthesis of three main factors - city’s needs, tenants needs and development potential of the

land - generate a fourfold strategy that revolves around density. This is not just a densification

exercise but an opportunity to take a holistic approach that address these needs and care for

the environment.

CONGRESS FOR THE

NEW URBANISM

Tompkins Park

E 7th Street

E 2nd Street

E Houston street

Delancey street

Aven

ue C

Aven

ue B

Aven

ue D

Aven

ue D

E 9th Street

E 8th Street

WaterfrontPlaza&FerryLanding

Urbanfarms

Farmers’market

NewWaterfrontBoulevard

PartiallycoveredFDRdrive

Greenfinger

Marina

Greenfingerconnection

Bio-swale

Publicschool

Publicschool

Publicschool

E 10th Street

Before After % Change

Housing units 6120 9321 152.30%

Open space 79.22 % 48.98% 61.82%

Ground coverage 18.33% 37.63% 205%

Gross density 78 119 152.56%

FAR 1.91 3.08 161.0%

URBAN DESIGN FRAMEWORK PLAN

Proposed land-use Residential-8,906,032sqft(89.01%)

Retail/commercial-583,072(5.82%)

Institutional-517,236sqft(5.17%)

Existing figure-groundGroundcoverage-18.33%

Proposed figure-groundGroundcoverage-37.63%

N0 250’ 500’

Existingbuildings NewInfill

CONGRESS FOR THE

NEW URBANISM

CC

DD

Publicschool

Ferrylanding

Waterfrontplaza

Greenhouseurbanfarms

Farmers’markets

A A BB

INFILL SCENARIOS - RIIS AND BARUCH HOUSES

NewStreets.Subdivisionofsuperblocks.SelectiveDemolition.Rezoning-R7-2toR9.CommercialOverlay.

NewStreets.Subdivisionofsuperblocks.SelectiveDemolition.Rezoning-R7-2toR9.CommercialOverlay.

Breaking down the superblocks and re-organizing the vast undefined open spaces into better

managed and better programmed meaningful public spaces, create a thriving public realm.

ExistingsuperblockExistingsuperblock

Transformed,integrated,multiplesmallblocks.

Transformed,integrated,multiplesmallblocks.

Enlargementofexistingbuildings.Parcelization.

Enlargementofexistingbuildings.Parcelization.

CONGRESS FOR THE

NEW URBANISM

Bar

uch

Dri

ve

Stanton Street

Tran

sit c

orri

dor

on A

venu

e D

E Houston Street

Existingbuildingenlarged

Retail&Commercial

PedestrianpathwaysandEmergencyaccess

Live/Workunits

Playarea

Playarea

Toundergroundparking

Bio-swale

Commonforum

CommunityFacility

ChildHealthcare

Multi-purposeLawn

Multi-familyRowhouses

Firstfloorunitswithgroundaccess

Existingbuildings

Infilldevelopment

REPRESENTATIVE BLOCK DESIGN

NEW STREETSCAPE

Newlyformedsmallblockscanbetransformedintoperimeter

blocksbyenlargingtheexistingbuildingsandcreatinginfill

alongthenewstreets.Theopenspacethatiscontainedwithin

hasnowaclearhierarchyofuseandaccess.

InfillalongEastHoustonStreet

N0 60’ 120’

CONGRESS FOR THE

NEW URBANISM

New streets and land subdivision

Infillalongnewstreets.Betteraccessibility.Walkability.Manageableblocksizes.Block-wisedevelopment.

Present development possibilities and Redevelopment Tools

Zoningregulationsareoneofthemajorimpedimentsinredevelopmentofthese

properties.Tomakeredevelopmentofthesepropertiespossible,feasibleandfullyin

compliancewithzoningregulations,asetredevelopmenttoolshavebeendevised.

Thesetoolsareacombinationofstrategiesthatincludemodificationsinsome

regulations,changeinlotconditions,specialpermitsbyBoardofStandardsand

Appeals,specialpermitsbyCityPlanningCommissionandalsosomedesigndecisions.

Rezoning from R7-2 to R9

Rezoningof20%ofland.HigherFAR(7.52),optimumuseofland.High-risedevelopmentalongthewaterfront.Inclusionaryhousing.

1 2

Parcelization of new blocks

Flexibilityindevelopment.Diversityindesignandform.Minimum60’separationnotrequired.Continuousstreetwallandactivefrontage.Noparkingrequirementforsmalldevelopment.

4

Selective demolition

Ofawkwardlyplacedbuildings.Oflowrisebuildingsoccupyingmorelandatprimelocations.

5

Enlargement of existing buildings

Createactivestreetfrontage.Commercialdevelopmentatstreetlevel.Retrofitofexistingportion.

Commercial overlay - C2-5

ContinuationofoverlayfromtheEastVillage.Morecommercialfacilities.Morerevenueandemploymentopportunities.Smallofficesforbusinessservices.

6

3

COMPLYING WITH THE ZONING REGULATIONS HOUSING TYPOLOGIES

Type 1 - Multi-family Rowhouses

Type 2 - Small Apartment Block - First Houses Model Type 3 - Apartment Block - with doubly loaded corridor

• N-Sorientationofdualaspectunits.

• E-Worientationofdoublyloaded,singleaspectunits.

• Nobackandfronttobuildings,accessfromboththesides.

• MaximizedSouthexposurewithshadingdevices.

• NounitsshouldfaceonlyNorth.

• Mixofhousingtypesinoneblock.

• SolarandWindEnergy.

• GreenRoofs.

Type 4 - Tower-on-a-base - Vancouver Model

Though the existing built form is miserable, design of individual housing units is of high

quality. The new housing typologies maintain the high design standards but also provide

compact building forms.

CONGRESS FOR THE

NEW URBANISM

Publichousingsingles-1836

Publichousingfamilies-4284

Existing housing distribution

Proposed housing distribution

Social infrastructure

Seniorhousing-160

Affordablemix-income-800

Newpublichousing-1120

Marketratehousing-1120

Infilldevelopment

New additional housing units - 3201

Communityfacilities

Allotmentfarming

Verticalcirculation

Publicspaces

CONGRESS FOR THE

NEW URBANISM

HOUSING DISTRIBUTION AND SOCIAL INTEGRATION

There can be many ways of bringing about social integration. This is one such attempt to mix

various income groups while maximizing cross-class interaction and minimizing conflict.

NewWaterfrontBoulevard

WaterfrontPlaza

FDRDrive NewFerryLanding

AvenueD NewStreet NewStreet

CONGRESS FOR THE

NEW URBANISM

Bio-swale

Retentionpond

Overflowtostormwaterdrain

ENVIRONMENTAL INFRASTRUCTURE

Berm profile on hurricane evacuation map

New Waterfront Boulevard and a Berm

Landfilltomatchnewstreetlevel

Bermtoprotectfromstormsurge

Newwaterfrontboulevard

Greenfingercross-over

Green fingers

Linkingtransitcorridorandferrylanding.

Rainwaterretentionandinfiltration.

Preservationofexistingtreecover.

Criticalpublicspace.

Ecologicalandrecreationalfunctions.

Downtown

Union Square Park

City Hall

East Village

New Ferry Landing Av

enue

D

China Town

Connecting under-served Lower East-side:

TheproposedtransitcorridorwillpassthroughEastVillage,LowerEast-sideandchinatown,andconnecttwo

importanturbancenters-UnionSquareParkandtheCityHall.Itwillalsobeintegratedwiththeexistingferry

servicealongtheEastRiver.

TRANSIT CORRIDOR

CONGRESS FOR THE

NEW URBANISM

CNU CHARTER AWARDS 2013

A new skyline and a new face to the city: Turning the backyard of the city into a cultural forecourt.

CONGRESS FOR THE

NEW URBANISM