New York City has 1,023 acres of vacant land over 1,367 lots, according to LivingLots NYC. To address this, the New York chapter of the AIA and the City's Department of Housing Preservation and Development have teamed up to present the Big Ideas Small Lots NYC design-build competition to utilize New York City's unused infill lots for alternative housing options. The competition is part of Mayor Bill de Blasio's 2017 Housing New York 2.0 plan, through which he pledged to build or preserve,"300,000 affordable homes by 2026," according to the competition website.
Entrants must propose a design for a 17-foot-wide, 100-foot-deep plot located at 113 West 136th Street in Manhattan. Successful Stage One proposals will meet criteria including replicability across differently sized lots, construction feasibility, and qualities that promote "excellence in urban infill design," according to the competition design brief.
In May, Stage One finalists will be assigned sites across the five boroughs varying in sizes from 1,008 square feet to 4,000 square feet and awarded a $3,000 stipend to fund further, more site-specific, development of their proposals. Finalists will also be invited to exhibit their materials at the Center for Architecture in New York and to participate in a panel discussion before submitting their Stage Two proposals. Twenty-three Stage Two winners will then be selected in November.
The nine-person jury is chaired by Hayes Slade, AIA, president of AIA NY and co-founder of New York firm Slade Architecture; and consists of Deboah Berke, FAIA, partner at New York firm Deborah Berke Partners; Claudia Herasme, chief urban designer of the New York City Department of City Planning; Nick Lembo, founder and chairman of Brooklyn-based Monadnock Construction; Ruchika Modi, studio director and associate partner at New York–based Practice for Architecture & Urbanism; Justin Garrett Moore, executive director of the New York City Public Design Commission; AJ Pires, president of Brooklyn-based Alloy Developers; Katherine Swenson, vice president of design and sustainability at Enterprise Community Partners in Boston; and Claire Weisz, FAIA, principal in charge at New York–based WXY Architecture + Urban Design.
Submissions are due by March 24.
