View from Via Verde Rooftop - Photo courtesy of Cool Town Studio
Thirty-two teams of architects and building designers competed for a juried design competition sponsored by the New York Legacy project in 2007 to design the new Via Verde residential highrise building. The finished project was unveiled this week, and Via Verde is expected to be a world-class example of affordable, sustainable housing design for urban populations.
The winning design team was comprised 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 and a New York nonprofit that develops low and moderate income housing. Their design is a magnificent combination of the old and the new, highly energy efficient with architectural design with an almost timeless appeal.
On May 3rd, 2010 from this vantage point a beaming Mayor Bloomberg proudly announced a new milestone had been reached. New York City had originally partnered with others t0 build and/or retrofit 65,000 affordable and sustainable housing units in the city. The total has now reached 100,000, and there are plans to design and develop another 65,000 by 2014. NYC’s New Housing Marketplace Plan’s intent is to continue to create and provide affordable housing to those Bloomberg described as ”comprising the backbone of the city”, low to moderate income earners.
Developer Jonathan F. P. Rose’s winning philosophy is evident in this quote from an article about the project in the New York Times:
“There’s a reason why people like to be in parks and gardens and trees. 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 building is a joint venture between Jonathan Rose Companies and Phipps Houses Group and is located at 700 Brook Avenue in the Melrose neighborhood in the Bronx. These are some of the features in Via Verde’s awarding-winning design:
- 18 stories, 221 mixed income co-ops and apartments
- Courtyards and rooftops that accommodate fruit and vegetable gardens
- Rainwater harvesting
- Stunning Manhattan skyline views
- An outdoor amphitheater
- Apartments designed for natural ventilation and breezes
- A fitness center
- Wired Internet access
- Live-work units for people who work at home
- Stoops with photovoltaic canopies
- A Christmas tree farm
Households making no more than 130 percent of the city’s median income ($70,000+/- for a family of four) qualify for the co-ops. Family income for the rental apartments would qualify for varying subsidies based on several ranges between 40 and 80 percent of the median city income. The rent subsidies are financed through state, city and federal programs.
What makes this project so important to New York City’s sustainability efforts is the heavy energy consumption of buildings and anticipated population growth. According to the Department of Transportation, New York City’s population is projected to increase from over 8 million in 2000 to 9.1 million in 2030, an increase of 1.1 million or 13.9 percent. The efforts directed to green New York fulfills a desire to create greater energy independence and energy security for its citizens. An article in the Gotham Gazette said it this way:
“The city is expecting demand for electricity to outpace current capacity by 2012, and a major portion of that demand comes from buildings. New York City buildings emit 79 percent of the global warming gases in the city, which in turn, accounts for 1 percent of emissions nationwide, according to a recent study from the mayor’s office. New York City alone emits as much of these gases as all of Portugal or Ireland.”
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