Fordham Oval: Affordable Housing in New York City

Design, floor area, community: how to achieve the ideal balance on the steepest ground

With their project for a challenging parcel on a cliff in NYC, Meltzer/Mandl Architects combine exciting design with a unique skill in navigating building codes and maximizing their potentiality, to unlock the economic and social value of a neglected place.

A model for successful housing

A plot of land on an 80-feet jump. Two zoning codes to consider. A project that must ensure enough floor area without obstructing the view of the river.

The design by Meltzer/Mandl Architects is a model of ingenuity and sensibility that tells the many challenges of New York City’s affordable housing market. The architecture firm run by Marvin and Eli Meltzer, called upon to plan the future of a complex 137,000-sf area in the City, has designed a powerful development that could provide over 400 units of low-income and senior housing. The building, which also includes a charter school, neatly follows the downgrading surface of the site with a gently bending profile, creating a public terrace that preserves the panoramic sight of the waterfront.

The key to MMA’s work lies in its logic. The design succeeds in matching the overall revenue for the property owners with the standards of NYC’s affordable housing, thanks to a thorough knowledge of the regulations that allowed MMA to optimize the economics and ensure their viability.

At the same time, the development elegantly blends into the neighborhood and invites the community to enjoy the green roof and a new public plaza.

The project is a proof that technical limitations, when skillfully managed, do not necessarily impede economic and social interests. As many other buildings by Meltzer/ Mandl Architects have already proven, even the most challenging contexts can open valuable opportunities in a crucial field such as affordable housing offers in the City.

Mastering the codes to solve a puzzle

All areas in New York City set before developers a complex regulatory scenario — some more difficult than others.

For their new task Meltzer/Mandl Architects have focused on a peculiar piece of land: an irregular scrap in the urban fabric, spanning across two different zoning districts, set on a sloping ground on the top of a steep cliff. The plot is owned by the neighboring co-ops overlooking the river and today, after five decades of disuse, the board is interested in the development of the area.

The architecture firm had to face a puzzling challenge. How to design a profitable project, a scheme with a sufficient amount of floor area, while avoiding interference with the view from the apartments of the owners? The portion of the lot that allows a greater buildable area is unfortunately the one directly in front of the existing buildings.

The assignment becomes increasingly hard when considering the math. The development must reach a $30m overall value, while satisfying the price standards of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) to access funding for affordable housing.

Simply put, this means finding room for a lot of units (ca. 600,000 sf) despite the many technical constraints on a topographically challenging context.

Only clever design and an extensive experience in navigating building codes could help.

Le Corbusier meets Jane Jacobs

The scheme is the proof of MMA’s ability to identify the different opportunities of a real estate deal and harmoniously combine them in a substantial, exciting solution — a signature approach in the firm’s experience.

The project leverages two different paradigms on a single pile-supported platform. A residential tower concentrates the high-rise Le Corbusier-style development in the position with as little impact as possible on the view, right along the boundary of the two zoning districts. The choice of a single tower maximizes the height factor: the more open air around the building, the taller it can be.

On the other side, the central building meets the local standards set by quality housing rules. With a vision that pays tribute to Jane Jacob’s ideas about street life, this regulation promotes the construction of low-rise buildings that would more likely fit into their surroundings, allowing for an extra quota of floor area to developers.

The final scheme is a case for urban balance — a project with a view on contemporary housing.

The design combines financial matters and social impact, maximizing the benefit of every stakeholder: owners, developers, future residents, the local community as well as the City. The complex would include a 9-story building for low-income, middle-income and senior housing, a 100,000-sf charter school and several community facilities, in addition to an underground parking garage. The presence of a grocery store grants further bulk.

Value from constraints: the work by MMA

Once again, a project by Meltzer/Mandl Architects gains strength from the constraints of the context.

Given a difficult scenario, MMA’s vision focuses on simplicity. The development naturally fits into the area, by giving a new purpose to the slope rather than opposing it, and provides a shared terrace accessible from street level. The vibrant local community is welcomed: a large plaza is open to everyday life and offers a view of the landscape now impeded. The new complex would also connect with the public park and playgrounds under the cliff, finally “mending” it with the neighborhood.

This project perfectly exemplifies MMA’s talented pragmatism: a project postponed over the years is finally viable, an uneven plot turns into a common ground. Value is unlocked.

Good architecture is a negotiation with the existing limits, especially in the context of affordable housing. With their practice in New York City, Meltzer/Mandl Architects carry on a discipline based on specialized knowledge, lucidity and responsibility in the city that needs these competences the most.