Webster Green brings affordable and supportive housing to the Bronx

Magnusson Architecture and Planning has recently completed Webster Green, a $30 million affordable and supportive housing development in the Bronx. The mixed-use development provides apartments and supportive housing for formerly homeless individuals and families.

The 77,000-sf building is located on a grayfield site and comprises 82 apartments ranging from studio, one-, and two-bedroom layouts, and 41 supportive homes. The ground floor includes several administrative and program management offices for The Doe Fund, a non-profit developer and service provider; two community spaces; and the laundry room. A landscaped courtyard on the ground floor features native and drought resistant/tolerant plants and shrubs, seating areas, permeable pavers, and a drip irrigation system. A seventh floor lounge looks out onto a landscaped roof and the Bronx Botanical Gardens.

A glazed front entrance and lot bring natural light into the public corridors while the building’s fenestration breaks the massing into two volumes. One side of the building features a brick exterior to tie in with other brick facades on the same block, while the other side is clad in metal, offering a design vision for the neighborhood’s future.

The building was designed to achieve LEED Gold status and includes high efficiency PTAC heating and cooling in the apartments and VRF heating and cooling in amenity and social service areas; LED lighting throughout; low-E thermally broken Energy Star windows; low VOC paints, primers, and caulks; and water-saver faucets and showerheads.

Bold cantilevered designs are prevalent today, as developers and architects strive to maximize space, views, and natural light in buildings. Cantilevered structures, however, present a host of challenges for building teams, according to José R. Rivera, PE, Associate Principal and Director of Plumbing and Fire Protection with Lilker.