Photo courtesy BLA
Architecture, interiors, and urban design practice Body Lawson Associates (BLA) has completed work on Home Street Residences, an innovative, new affordable housing complex in the Bronx, New York City, for formerly homeless seniors and a range of low-income residents.
Home Street Residences seeks to provide a congenial and memorable presence at a prominent intersection not far from two Bronx River parks.
Led by Victor Body-Lawson, AIA, the project team created 63 apartments averaging 51 m2 (550 sf) each, with 30 percent for formerly homeless seniors and the balance for low-income individuals and families. Constructed with panelized steel stud framing and extra insulation—and clad in part with gray brick to recall schist from a church formerly on the site—the economical architectural approach allowed for well-appointed living units and common areas with custom furnishings of site-salvaged wood.
According to the nonprofit affordable housing policy and advocacy organization, New York Housing Conference, the 6968-m2 (75,000-sf) building “transforms an underutilized site into a vibrant affordable housing project for seniors living in the Foxhurst Neighborhood of the Bronx,” with a “community facility space providing services for residents and community members.”
The developer of the project is Home Street Partners, LLC, working with manager-operator Bronx Pro Group. Community space programming is by the award-winning nonprofit DreamYard, which collaborates with schools, families, and youth in the Bronx.
