adAPT NYC
New York City Consulting Group LLC Garrison—Architects / Gans Studio September 14, 2012
Design Team Narrative
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APPROACH This project team brings together John Finan and his firm NYC Consulting Group LLC with a proven record of innovative and progressive development with Garrison Architects commitment to sustainability and track record with prefabrication with Gans Studio’s long term research and experimentation with alternative forms of housing. Gans Studio has also recently participated in the Community Housing and Policy Council study Making Room. Our team views the Adapt mico-unit as a valuable contribution to New York housing that will meet the desires and needs of a wide range of New Yorkers - students, young professional, doctors in residency, the elderly, the newly arrived, the extended family member. From similar projects in San Francisco and Brooklyn we are confident that there will be a great demand for the units. Diversity arises naturally from the micro-unit type and the various populations it will serve. This project provides identical 69 micro-unit, without variation in type or size so that the mix of residents is expressed through the variety of life style and experience they bring to the building rather than through spatial financial markers such as size of square footage or penthouse locations. Only the rent per square foot varies. The proposal is for 80 percent market rate and 20 percent affordable units.
CRITICAL ISSUES AND PROBLEM SOLVING TECHNIQUES Issue: This building must balance the development costs, the income produced by a relatively small number of units and constrained commercial opportunity with the desires for affordability, strong and generous ammenity space, and high design quality. Technique: Simplicity and Effi ciency In order to provide the best quality for the unit and its amenity spaces, the volume of the building and unit layout is efficient and simple. Design dollars are
dedicated to features such as the balconies, green screens and a penthouse social space that perform in relation to the user as well as enhance the buildings appearance. Distributed meeting places are created by capturing the space of the hallways for lounges and storage and through a strategic extension of the conditioned spaces with balconies and terraces. Technique: Prefabrication The prefabrication of the units will provide rapid execution, controlled and predictable costs and high construction quality. By utilizing a single, protoypical , “plug and play� module the quality and value benefits of repetition and factory production will be realized. Units are designed for simple field conections and the maximazation of factory completion. These results in a dramatic time savings as units will be built in the factory while the foundations and ground floor construction are being prepared. Critical Issue: The provision of amenity spaces that contain kitchens and laundries will require supervision and maintenance. Technique: Onsite Incentivized supervision The developer intends to create rental incentives so that residents have responsibility for organizing and running the collective amenities. These residents will be carefully vetted and supervised by the building management so that a high standard will be upheld. Critical Issue: Because the units are small, their turn over will most likely be more frequent than in standard apartment buildings and the wear and tear on the building will also be higher than usual. Technique: Unit Prototyping A prototypical unit will The choice of durable and simple finishes and appliances will prolong their lifespan and reduce maintenance issues. Technique: Construction Quality Through factory prefabrication the quality of construction can be monitored and controlled to the highest standard. Technique: Durability The choice of durable and simple finishes and appliances will prolong their lifespan and reduce maintenance issues.
Critical Issue: As the first and model example of Adapt housing, this model must be a model of sustainable design as well as providing humane and livable units. Technique: LEED Platinum The project will include all of the provisions necessary for LEED Platinum certification. Technique: Maximize Energy Conservation A combination of optimal solar exposure, solar control, insulation, efficient HVAC systems and faรงade detail systems will maximize energy conservation. Please see the sustainablity text for more detail. Technique: Maximize Energy Production A combination of rooftop photovoltaics and solar thermal energy production are used to maximize all available solar energy. Primary Design Objectives The primary design objective is to create a new housing typology in which the small size of the individual unit enhances rather than compromises the life style of its occupant. This requires that unit provide for the daily functions of the resident while creating a high quality of architectural space and that the building very high quality amenity spaces of that enhance and extend the funcitoning of the individual unit. A complementary objective is to create a building from small units that as a whole can have a positive architectural character and one that is a positive addition to the New York City Urban fabric. Level of Engagement anticipated by the Applicant The applicant anticipates dedicating a project architect and support team supervised by principals from both Garrison Architect and Gans studio to the project for the duration of the design and construction the project. Calling upon their long- time consulatants, they will create an integrated team to accomplish the environmental and structural engineering of the project.
RATIONAL FOR DESIGN CONCEPT: Building Confi guration and Lot Coverage The building takes advantage of the relatively small size and compactness of the site to create a statement of the collective identity of the building through its simple massing. The small units take on a single larger identity through the singular main volume that is wrapped in a diaphanous layer of balconies and green wall. The required open space is disposed in two parts: as a setback on the north side that responds to adjacent building by creating a yard, and a continuous band on the south side that allows for the overhang of the balconies and green wall. All units face south on to the pedestrian plaza. The building services and circulation are located opposite those units on the northern edge that receives less light and is a lot line condition The entrance to the collective “house� addresses the street on the western side through a front porch that cascades down from the roof terrace. It is a large scale gesture that frames the simple volume and gives the front its identity. Additionally, the building corridors end as a vertical series of smaller “front porches, from which the residents can survey the park city beyond. Height The building fills the envelope allowed by quality housing. The residential units are contained with in the volume defined by zoning before the set back. This creates a clear and equal relation to the pedestrian street for all units. The penthouse area within the setback is given over to public amenities rather than to privileged apartments. Orientation and Relation to Surroundings The ground floor of the building is continually glazed along its southern edge to take advantage of its location along a pedestrian way. The ground floor lounge insures that residents will have direct view and access to that open space. Because the site rises to the west, the roof top and the northern porches will capture views of the parks, pedestrian ways and street life toward second avenue. The one vehicular way passes along the western face of the building Building Confi guration and Circulation The circulation on the residential floors is along a naturally lit single Straight loaded corridor onto which all units open equally that presents a clear and transparent organization. The placement of the stair at the center of is intended to encourage residents to climb to their floor and encounter others on the way up and down. The corridor on each residential floor extends at its western end into a lounge providing a gathering place near the circulation.
Two dedicated social realms bracket the building top and bottom: a roof top that cascades down to a terrace and a ground floor lobby that opens on to an additional basement space. Accessed directly from the circulation core, the roof top is a destination space with a meeting/dining room supported by an extensive kitchen with multiple appliances for multiple cooks; a penthouse laundry, and an outdoor recreation area that connects to the building’s “front porch” balcony one level below. This collective front porch can be reached form the “ships ladder” from the roof terrace or directly by elevator. The lounge adjoining the lobby is an extension of the natural flow of the residents as they enter and leave. It extends to the basement level via stair and light well where a second cooking facility that could conceivably operate as a concession building café provides more group dining possibility. These social spaces are not just lounges but loaded with come domestic services in order to extend the capacity of the individual unit to accommodate a full range of apartment activities from dinner for 8 to super bowl Sunday to a building wide Thanksgiving. The dwelling unit of 250 sf has several major zones of use that purposefully overlap to extend the real and perceived dimension of each one. A layer of storage and mechanical outside of the apartment provides a transitional zone between the corridor and the unit. Within the layer, each resident has a locked storage closet that will help control apartment clutter. Inside the unit, there are thresholds at either end– a balcony on the south side and a closet on the north, that expand the psychological as well as real dimension of space. Beyond the entry threshold is the zone of kitchen and bathroom that opens onto the major living area. The kitchenette extends into the living area through a flip up table. The bathroom extends past its enclosure as a mini-boudoir with a sink and the closet armoire. In the case of a resident with disability, the bathroom can extend the apartment’s entire width by moving the armoire forward. Primary Building Materials The use of material follow the clear logic of the building mass, system of construction and site conditions. The circulation core on the lot line is constructed of concrete masonry units with a ground and polished finish. The south facing walls are of insulated glass panels and doors. The west and east short ends expose the prefabricated module which will be clad in a simple currogated metal. ????? The finishes of the public spaces and apartments are chosen with an eye to the durable and sustainable such as bamboo and cork. Major Architectural Features The major architectural features of the building are at the service of the residents as well as giving the building its identity. They are the balconies and adjacent
green wall that together create a diaphanous veiled volume and the cascading terraces and porches on the front of the building. In particular the trellis frame that extends form the penthouse terrace to the seventh floor front porch creates a large scale identifying framework for the building. Within the building, the social spaces, in particular the roof top penthouse provide an architecturally loaded as well as social amenity. Most importantly, we believe the unit itself has a spatial structure and surfaces that will make the residents deem it architectural.
SUSTAINABILITY Specifi c high performance and sustainable design opportunities Integrated sustainability is central to the design of this building. A combination of conservation and passive and active energy generation are utilized to achieve energy consumption approximately seventy five percent below current standards. The building will be capable of achieving LEED Platinum with the following features: Gravity Ventilation Oversized (8 sf/apartment) passive ventilation shafts that double as utility connection and access points. These shafts continue through the upper roof and into the atmosphere to allow buoyant air, and prevailing breeze generation in addition to supplemental fans. These shafts allow a large quantity of air to pass through the apartment during moderate seasons for maximum comfort without air conditioning. High Effi ciency Heat Pumps Each unit receives an individually controlled variable refrigerant volume heat pump positioned at the exterior wall to address radiant heat loss at glass areas. This is a completely self contained “plug and play system with small condenser units placed within the façade screen. These units achieve approximately forty five percent efficiency gains over the ASHRAE 90.1 standard. Heat energy is paid for by individual tenants to encourage responsible consumption. Solar Heated Water Domestic water is heated by a combination of evacuated tube and thermal collectors positioned at the edge of the photovoltaic canopy. These collectors supply all of the buildings domestic hot water that is stored in tanks in the roof top mechanical room.
Photovoltaic Array The entire roof top is covered by a photo voltaic canopy consisting of 2375 square feet of collector area. This array will generate approximately 16.2 kwh/year/sf or 38,475 kilowatt hours per year. It is expected that apartment heating and cooling will require approximately 3 kwh/sf per year or 51,750 kwh/year. Therefor photovoltaics will generate seventy four percent of the required energy. Green Façade The south façade of the building is designed as a system of three foot deep terraces with integrated planters, stainless steel mesh trellises, and louvers for solar control. This system is designed to eliminate all summer solar gain from the building façade. To the extent that the tall building to the immediate south will allow low angle winter sun will penetrate the apartments to provide passive heating. Insulation A high performance building envelope is utilized including Ventilated (rain-screen) façades, R35 walls/R50 roof insulation, reduced thermal bridging, Heat Mirror glazing with suspended film to achieve a thermal resistance rating of R6. It has both active and passive systems that together insure that is will perform sustainably. The roof top solar array provides…. The south facing balcony and green wall both take advantage of and manage solar gain. Because the western face is subject to eh most light and glare, the balconies rather than units face in that direction. The units will be individually controlled with VVF hvac untis to limit overall building loads. The single loaded corridor allows for the building
ZONING Compliance and Overrides The design anticipates the adoption of C2-5 Zoning and is as of right within that zoning designation as a Quality Housing Building. A building separation easement will be requested along the north property line. The following general zoning paramaters apply: Block No. 933 Lot 10 Community District 6 Bounded by First Avenue, East 28th St, Mount Carmel Pl, and East 27th St. Site Dimensions 45’ x 105’ Site Area 4725 sf Current Zoning District R8 Anticipated Zoning District C2-5
QUALITY HOUSING ANALYSIS Maximum Buildable Floor Area: 28,444.5 sf Street Wall:
Not Required
Minimum Base Height 60’ Maximum Base Height 80’ Maximum #Building#
Height 105’
Maximum Floor Area Ratio: 6.02 Open Space Ration: NA Maximum Lot Coverage: Corner Lot: 80% Recreation Space Required: 2.8% of residential floor area, if interior, deduct from zoning floor area. Density Per Corridor: if 10 or fewer units per floor in R8, deduct 50% of corridor sf.
Exterior Rendering Aerial from Mount Carmel
Exterior Rendering Series of Balconies
Exterior Rendering Side View from Mount Carmel
Exterior Rendering View from across 27th Street
Exterior Rendering View from Adjacent Park
Rendering of the Corridor Lounge
Rendering of the Rooftop Kitchen Area
Interior Rendering Balcony
Interior Rendering Kitchen/Living Space
Rendered South Elevation
Rendered West Elevation
Living iv vi Room Room m / Kitchen che chen en 400sf
Zoning Plan
Unit Plan
Module Axonometric
Typical Floor Plan
Basement Floor Plan
Ground Floor Plan
Eight Floor Plan
Ninth Floor Plan
Program Matrix adAPT Housing
Lot Size (SF) FAR TOTAL ALLOWABLE FLOOR AREA (SF)
4,725 6.02 28,445 Level
PROGRAM
Typ Floor
Basement
Ground Fl
Typical Residential Corridor
Unit SF
Units/Fl 245
# of Typ Floors
SF/Fl 10
474
Eighth Fl
2,450
6
2,205
441
6
441
402
402
Refuse Storage and Disposal
213
32
402
Lounge Tenant Storage
670
Bike Storage
400
Lobby
6
Commercial Storage Mechanical (5%)
QH Deduct
16,905
Total Floor Area 16,905 sf
242
3,087
100%
0 sf
831
473.34
358 sf
402
235
3,853
32
32
6
32
111
3
108
501
3,853 sf 12
160 sf
441
458
441
458
Laundry
235
Commercial Fit-Out Space
Sub-Total
831
Communal Kitchen/Dining Core
Ninth Fl
2,274
235 2,274
458 sf 41
194 2,274
1,125 366
77
6
77
126
665
FLOOR AREA CALCULATION
3,176
3,166
3,513
21,078
3,265
1,701
29,250
GROSS FLOOR AREA CALCULATION
3,383
3,202
3,780
22,680
3,505
1,845
34,615
ALLOWABLE ZONING FLOOR AREA
24,642 sf 28,445 sf
Lot Coverage 80% Residential SF
# of Units
Total SF
69
16,905 sf
Loss Factor Usable Square Footage
19,179
Rentable Square Footage
25,397
Laundry
Total Number
Square Feet
Washers
3
17
Dryers
2
9
Folding Area 3/sf
16 Total Square Feet
41
24%
adAPT Housing Qtr 1, 2013 Jan
Qtr 2, 2013 Apr
Qtr 3, 2013 Jul
Qtr 4, 2013 Oct
Qtr 1, 2014 Jan
ID 1
Task Name Design Team Mobilization
2
Initial Architectural Documentation
3
Building Department Review
3/18
Building Department Review
4
Detailed Architectural Documentation
3/18
Detailed Architectural Documentation
5
Bidding
6
Construction Team Mobilization
7
GroundBreaking
8
Site Construction
11/19
Site Construction
9
Factory Construction
11/19
Factory Construction
10
Module Delivery
11
Module Setting
12
Final Inspections
13
Marketing
14
Occupancy
Project: Development Schedule Date: Fri 9/14/12
Nov 12/3
12/10
Dec 12/7
Feb
Mar
Initial Architectural Documentation
May
Jun
Aug
Sep
Nov
Dec
Feb
Mar
Qtr 2, 2014 Apr
May
Jun
Qtr 3, 2014 Jul
Aug
3/15
7/19
8/30
9/2
Bidding
10/7
10/4
Construction T 11/15
11/15
6/27
4/7
4/22
4/23
Module Se 5/23
6/30
4/23
Marketing
Final Inspe 7/30
7/23
7/30
Task
Progress
Summary
External Tasks
Split
Milestone
Project Summary
External Milestone Page 1
Deadline