Bee Breeders have selected the winners of the New York Affordable Housing Challenge, inspired by barriers faced by the global population in our contemporary culture of housing scarcity and economic deprivation. The submissions provide various multifaceted architectural responses to scattered sites of various scales around New York City, “redefining the culture, economy, and experience of urban domesticity by means of space, material, morphology, or structure.”
Below are the winners of the New York Affordable Housing Challenge:
First Prize:
The Table Top / Lap Chi Kwong, Alison von Glinow
A modular aggregation of elements, the winning project uses combined forms of a circle, square and rectangle to create various unit types, through different orientations and combinations. Costs are reduced through the implementation of a precast concrete post and slab system, which also allows for intertwined moments of solid and void, creating public courtyards and circulation routes.
“The success of the first place proposal for the New York Affordable Housing competition lies in its use of a few simple modular elements aggregated to create a heterogeneous whole which serves to generate new modes of interaction between the inhabitants, their neighbors, and the public,” explained the jury.
Second Prize:
Out-Of-Site / Peter Wong, Christopher Jarrett, Nazinin Modaresahmadi, Robert Stubbs
Another modular proposal, this project draws inspiration from Le Corbusier’s model for the Unité d’Habitation, creating massing arrangements through L-shaped units in both plan and section. Specifically adapting to the scale of the different sites, the housing incorporates voided balconies into the neighboring context at Harlem’s smallest site, while the use of greater voids at the UN site maximizes natural lighting and engages the street.
According to the jury, “the selection of three varied New York sites demonstrates how morphologically robust the modular unit is by adapting to sites of different scale, shape, and context.”
Third Prize:
New York Affordable Housing Challenge / Liyang Chen, Yao Zheng
Emphasizing user customizability and preference, the free plan of this column and slab structure relies on movable partitions to create varying degrees of public and private programs within the building. The fabric retractable walls allow flexibility to accommodate a range of user types and family sizes, prioritizing community, while still maintaining individuality amongst the tenants.
“This new model for domesticity is a powerful interrogation of how affordable housing can be achieved by minimizing costly and redundant private spaces in order to utilize shared infrastructures and amenities,” noted the jury. “The proposal creates a generosity of space that is both flexible in its use and its function, creating a home that is no longer a series of bounded rooms with a predefined set of behaviors.”
Rising Star Award (Students Only):
New York ParaSiTe Housing / Antonio González Viegas; Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Sevilla
NYB Green Award:
Forging the Upward Frontier / Ryan Ball
The Honourable Mentions and complete winners’ interviews can be found on the competition website, here.
News via: Bee Breeders.
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