As part of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s $7.5 billion New Housing Marketplace Plan to provide affordable housing for 500,000 New Yorkers, Oldcastle Precast provided structural precast concrete building components for the new development at Forest Houses in New York.
It is part of the largest municipal housing plan in the nation.
The development at Forest House is a “green” and energy saving designed, precast concrete building, manufactured by Oldcastle Precast, containing 124 affordable units available to households making 60% of the AMI or less. The 109,000-sf building also contains a superintendent’s unit, landscaped open space, and 43 underground parking spaces under the first level and features a unique rooftop, commercial greenhouse that will yield 80,000 to 100,000-lb of fresh produce a year and be distributed to residents and local markets in the Bronx.
Oldcastle manufactured 136,162-sf of precast concrete hollow core plank for the floors and roof, which was specifically design to handle the unique load of a roof top greenhouse and 70,000-sf of precast concrete wall panels to construct an energy efficient building envelope for the eight-story Forest House Development building. The exterior precast walls were cast with Glen-Gery thin-brick and sandblast type finish with colored concrete to provide a comprehensive exterior finish.
In addition to the housing structure, a Storm Capture Reuse System was installed to handle approximately 16,000 gallons of captured water. An equipment package treats the captured water making it available for irrigation to the roof-mounted hydroponic greenhouse, providing another unique feature to this environmentally friendly project.
This is the 5th total precast concrete building solution that developer Blue Sea Development and Oldcastl have worked together on in the past 10 years.
The development team consists of Blue Sea Development Co., Blue Sea Construction Co., LLC, ABS Architects and TY Lyn International. The team was selected due to its history of developing quality affordable housing that is both attractive & sustainable. The project is scheduled for completion December 2012 and is seeking LEED Certification. BD+C
Related Stories
| Apr 5, 2011
Top 10 Buildings: Women in Architecture
Making selections of top buildings this week led to a surprising discovery about the representation of women in architecture, writes Tom Mallory, COO and co-founder, OpenBuildings.com. He discovered that finding female-created architecture, when excluding husband/wife teams, is extremely difficult and often the only work he came across was akin to interior design.
| Apr 5, 2011
What do Chengdu, Lagos, and Chicago have in common?
They’re all “world middleweight cities” that are likely to become regional megacities (10 million people) by 2025—along with Dongguan, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, and Wuhan (China); Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo); Jakarta (Indonesia); Lahore (Pakistan); and Chennai (India), according to a new report from McKinsey Global Institute: “Urban World: Mapping the economic power of cities”.
| Mar 30, 2011
China's low-carbon future city
In 2005, the Chinese government announced its target to reduce energy consumption per GDP unit by 20% by the year 2010. After a multi-billion investment, that target has been reached. The Chinese Climate Protection Program’s goal to increase energy efficiency, develop renewable energies, and promote energy savings while reducing pollutant emissions and strengthening environmental protection is reflected in the “Future City” by SBA Design.
| Mar 30, 2011
Is the AEC industry at risk of losing its next generation leaders without better mentoring?
After two or three horrifying years for the AEC industry, we are finally seeing the makings of a turnaround. However, data developed by Kermit Baker as part of the AIA Work-on-the-Boards survey program indicates that between 17% and 22% of design firms are eliminating positions for interns and staff with less than six years of experience. This data suggests the industry is at risk of losing a large segment of its next generation of leaders if something isn't done to improve mentoring across the profession.
