Project Details
- Project Name
- Creston Avenue Residence
- Architect
- Magnusson Architecture & Planning PC
- Client/Owner
- Creston Avenue Residence L.P.
- Project Types
- Multifamily
- Project Scope
- New Construction
- Size
- 66 sq. feet
- Year Completed
- 2015
- Shared by
-
Project Manager & Designer,BKSK Archietcts
- Consultants
-
Structural Engineer: Dominick R. Pilla Associates PC,Civil Engineer: Dominick R. Pilla Associates PC,Electrical Engineer: Johnson & Urban, LLC,null: Johnson & Urban, LLC,Plumbing Engineer: Johnson & Urban, LLC,Landscape Architect: Terrain-NYC,General Contractor: Sisca NE,Building Enclosure/Artwork: Ballington,Building Enclosure/Artwork: Steven Winter Associates
- Certifications & Designations
- LEED Platinum
- Project Status
- Built
- Cost
- $14,370,000
- Style
- Modern
2015 Builders Choice/Custom Home Design Awards
Merit, Affordable Housing
The 10-story Creston Avenue Residence reinterprets the typical Bronx, N.Y., apartment building to provide 66 studio, one- and two-bedroom affordable and supportive living units. Nearly twice as tall as its decades-older neighbors, the architects at New York–based Magnusson Architecture and Planning mitigated the building's mass with façade setbacks and a combination of gray masonry and metal panels in lieu of traditional brick, but the building still sits comfortably within its well-established context.
On the west-facing front façade, metal sunscreens with horizontal slots form shadows that mimic the varied patterns of fire escapes on older buildings throughout the neighborhood. A change in elevation on the site allows basement amenities, including laundry and community rooms, to face a landscaped rear yard that features a children's play space and vegetable garden.
The structure was designed to achieve LEED Platinum certification, and residents can monitor the energy production from the rooftop photovoltaic system. The building is the first to be funded by the New York State Medicaid Redesign Team Housing Capital Program, an initiative that sees housing as an essential element of health care. —Edward Keegan
Project Description
From the Firm:
Creston Avenue Residences is a 10-story, 66-unit development with 21 units set aside for chronically homeless adults utilizing Medicaid. It is the first building funded by the New York State Medicaid Redesign Team Housing Capital Program. A model of integrated housing, where living space and support services cohabit, the Creston design minimizes the stigma often attached to supportive and affordable buildings, as well as to their residents. The integration connects socially vulnerable tenants to sources of support manifest in the building’s program and the tenant community. Creston Avenue Residences is LEED Platinum Certified, one of the very few Platinum Supportive Housing buildings in the US. Its green design incorporates innovative methods to maximize natural light, improve air quality and circulation and rely on alternative sources of energy, through a photovoltaic panel system, two green roofs and a rainwater harvesting system for irrigation of the landscaped rear yard. Surrounded by buildings half its size and nearly 80 years older, Creston was designed to complement the neighborhood and create an iconic, inspiring vision for the future. A brick and metal panel façade is punctuated by vertical shade structures, inspired by neighboring fire escapes, and generous windows which facilitate natural daylighting. The recessed entry courtyard acknowledges the typical mid-twentieth century buildings surrounding it; the at-grade residence lobby and VOA-GNY facilities engage the street during the day, and as an illuminate beacon at night promoting safety and security.
