The project calls for a building composed primarily of apartments measuring 275 to 300 square feet (26 to 28 square meters), smaller than what is allowed under current regulations, according to Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office. The zoning regulations will be waived to test the housing model at a city-owned site in the Kips Bay neighbourhood.
The Department of Housing Preservation and Development is issuing a request for proposals through a program called the adAPT NYC Competition, aimed at accommodating demand for smaller homes. The proposals will be judged on the basis of treatment of light, space, accessibility, and use of shared space. The winner will be announced by the end of the year and the new design will be put on display at the Museum of the City of New York.
The adAPT NYC Competition seeks proposals from the private sector for a rental building composed of micro-units (apartments under the city’s current size restriction of 450 square feet). It is seen as an experiment in innovative and imaginative design to create more affordable housing for the city’s growing population of 1-2 person households. Twenty percent of the complex will be income restricted, and the remaining non-regulated apartments will be rent stabilized. There will be no rent subsidy.
New York City has about 1.8 million one- and two-person households, and only 1 million studio and one-bedroom apartments.
