Project Details
Construction Type:
Area:
0 SF
Year:
2017
The need for affordable housing within the five boroughs of NYC has reached a critical point, as real estate values and cost of living has outpaced the availability of necessary housing stock. In trying to resolve this important challenge, we looked to find strategic locations where development is needed and the opportunity to address this need is congruent with other public necessities.
There has been much discussion regarding the dire need to improve the public’s connection to LaGuardia Airport. In upper Astoria, we propose considering this infrastructure proposal as an opportunity to supplement the affordable housing stock. The extension of the MTA’s ‘N’ line just north of its current terminal, will allow for an efficient hub to exist and positively affect its immediate context. The replacement of a limited quantity of low density residences, in lieu of this important connection, presents to opportunity for an increase in affordable housing.
Through the extension of the existing successful commercial district along 31 Street, the new transportation connection will provide a viable NYCwide benefit. Affordable housing can then enter and be compatible, by increasing scale and effectively provide housing in support of the LAG workforce. The proximity of these housing units to the airport will allow for average New Yorkers to access their work will a short commute. We look to counter the tendency for affordable housing to be proposed at the fringes of transportation or within neighborhoods necessitating lengthy travelling to work.
Ideally, Community facility programs (daycare, non-profit or healthcare) would also contribute to a mixed use proposal within these new building blocks. Commercial activity at grade, meets transportation at an intermediate level, topped by residential massing along the upper portions of the proposal. We identify this Queens location as a prototype, and would promote like interventions for locations in other boroughs such as in the Parkchester, Bronx area or Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood where similar urban conditions exist. A much needed public transportation hub meets affordable housing, transforming the urban fabric of this area, and allowing benefits to cross the socio-economic spectrum of New York.