New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announcedthe winner of the city's adAPT micro-apartment competition yesterday, a contest to design a 250- to 370-square-foot living space that launched last July. The winner, chosen from 33 applicants, is a collaborative effort between Monadnock Construction, the Actors Fund Housing Development Corporation, and nARCHITECTS called My Mirco NY, which will have its design implemented in a 55-unit building scheduled for completion in 2015.
The contest was part of an effort by Bloomberg to increase the amount of affordable housing in the city; 40 percent of the units will be offered below market rate. The building will stand on a city-owned plot on Manhattan's East Side.
"This is an important opportunity to change the way we think about living space in an urban setting," said Monandnock's Alphonse Lembo.
With rising housing costs, particularly in dense cities like New York and San Francisco, U.S. municipalities are increasingly looking to sub-300 square-foot apartments as a way to alleviate housing pressure, though it is yet to be shown whether such programs are effective.
Like many others, the winning design incorporates high ceilings and dual-use furniture to make the space seem larger. Although the press release called the winning proposal "fresh", "striking", and "innovative", the long, narrow floor plan is similar to comparable projects like San Francisco's SmartSpace, with fold-up furniture, micro kitchen, floor-to-ceiling storage, and loft space.
The mayor's office had to waive some zoning regulations to make My Mirco NY legal, but it did not release any information about the competition's runners-up or what their designs were like.
"The growth rate for one- and two-person households greatly exceeds that of households with three or more people, and addressing that housing challenge requires us to think creatively and beyond our current regulations," Bloomberg said.
nARCHITECTS designed the building around prefabricating the units and stacking them on a foundation, then adding a brick facade. It will be the first multi-unit prefab building in Manhattan.
