A landscaped courtyard beckons from the lobby with café tables, recreation lawn and deck surrounded by lush vegetation and large wood benches. The ground floor also includes a children’s playroom, multi-purpose rooms, a computer lounge, and social service offices. On the eighth floor, a spacious lounge and laundry room overlook a green roof and, in the distance, the Manhattan skyline. An adjacent space designed as a library is drenched in sunlight through its east-facing glass wall and solarium ceiling.

Designed to respect and enhance its neighborhood context, variations in exterior materials and setbacks break the mass into smaller blocks. The corner is clad in dark brick, lending contemporary verve, while red brick evokes the area’s traditional fabric. The corner windows—rare for affordable housing—were achieved by adapting the concrete “block and plank” structure to create cantilevered floors. Repeating facade elements are flipped and staggered from floor to floor adding visual interest along the streetscape.

The westernmost volume sports a skin of silvery metal panels, echoing the steel-and-glass vestibules across the street as well as the glint of subway cars on the elevated tracks nearby. Balancing openness with security, street-level privacy grilles protect anonymity while allowing views out, and daylight into the lobby, offices, meeting, and community rooms. This is architecture to support mission, with interventions for a safe, stable, inclusive, and positive community life.