Via Verde – The Green Way   New York, NY, USA

In 2006, Grimshaw won the first juried design competition for affordable housing in New York City. The brief called for the ability to replicate the design, sustainable practices and ‘healthy living’ principles in the hope that this scheme can be a model for future developments in the city.

 

The scheme is a mixed-use, mixed-income residential development. There are 222 residential units, 71 for sale units for middle-income households and a balance of low- and moderate-income rentals. The building consists of a 20-storey tower, a mid-rise building with duplex apartments and town-houses.

A dynamic garden serves as the organizing element for the community, beginning as a ground level courtyard and then spiraling upwards through a series of programmed, south-facing roof gardens, creating a promenade for residents.

Each apartment has two facades allowing plenty of cross-ventilation and daylight, as well as low VOC finishes, water and energy conserving fixtures. The high performance facade uses a pre-fabricated rain screen with composite wood, cement and metal panels.

The composition of Via Verde seeks to promote both a healthy lifestyle and a vibrant community, promoting wellness and social well-being through increased physical activity, shared common spaces and access to natural light and fresh air.

Sustainability Case Study →

Via Verde reflects a public commitment to create the next generation of social housing and seeks to provide a setting for healthy, sustainable living.

Via Verde is a model for what affordable housing ought to be – a platform for opportunity, a source of stability, a building block with which we forge neighborhoods, put down roots, and build the communities that are the engines of our nation’s economic growth.

Shaun Donovan, United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

Location
New York, NY, USA

Project Type
Residential →

Client
Jonathan Rose Companies / Phipps Houses

Area
290,000 sq ft

Status
Complete

Year
2012

Photography
David Sundberg, Esto

Associate Architect
Dattner Architects