“Growing Up” : AIA NY Big Ideas for Tiny Lots - Competition Entry
To design housing today is, as always, to design the basis for community. It is from this starting point that we designed ‘Growing Up’ to address two urgent concerns facing the city: the need for high-quality, affordable housing and the need for expanded access to early childhood care. We believe these two political goals must be manifest as architecture. In other words: housing and child care are architectural problems.
Our project centers both in an attempt to create a replicable design solution for multiple sites across NYC. ‘Growing Up’ contains: one studio unit; two two-bedroom units; one three-bedroom penthouse; and a ground floor duplex unit that combines a two bedroom apartment with a nursery. We envision the ideal tenant for the ground floor duplex as having a home based daycare that could help serve the childcare needs of the neighborhood.
We designed this project from the street inward, as evidenced by the generous patio and overflowing stoop, as well as the through-lot, planted walkway to the rear garden. When designing the units we considered family functionality first. Open living space, simple built in dining tables, and functional kitchens join together with bedrooms configured for families. We hope to create a small neighborhood within a building.
Our design respects the accumulated vernacular that currently exists in Harlem, while taking a contemporary approach to finishes and form. We incorporate a classic front stoop alongside an open patio, which leads one to the rear garden at-grade. In the backyard, an organic playspace is constructed with stepped elements that reference the stoop out front. The garden is a relaxing place for the residents to gather to enjoy the outdoor space that living in a multifamily town house community can provide.
