Webster Green
Bronx, New York
Architect/Designer | Magnusson Architecture and Planning PC
Builder | Galaxy GC Group
Developers | The Doe Fund | Robert Sanborn Development
Landscape Architect/Designer | terrain-NYC
Photographer | ImagenSubliminal
Located on a former grayfield and designed to achieve LEED Gold, this 77,000-sf development provides 82 units of affordable and supportive housing. Designed for community engagement, the ground floor features an open lobby, administrative offices, and two community spaces with storefront windows along the street. A seventh-floor lounge offers all residents shared views of a landscaped roof and the nearby Bronx Botanical Gardens. A planned landscaped courtyard will offer yet more space for respite and play.
The design ties thematically to the park down the block, lightens the project’s environmental impact, and highlights nature within this urban context. Prioritizing the street frontages, the structure’s ”L” shape reestablishes the property’s presence along the streetscape. A glazed front entrance and elevator lobbies emphasize the building’s corner and bring natural light into the corridors. The line of fenestration breaks the building massing into two volumes. The brick exterior along East 204th Street is consistent with the brick façades on its block, while the other side fronting busy Webster Avenue is clad in metal. The strategy helps the development fit in with the surrounding architecture, while also offering a design vision for the neighborhood’s future.