It was a beautiful morning in Kips Bay today, when the first modular unit of New York’s first micro unit building was stacked into place.  The foundation was already in place at 335 E. 27th Street, and what was once called My Micro NY will now be known as Carmel Place.   In 2010, CHPC undertook Making Room, a look into the changing demands of New York City’s housing market. We found that 47% of New Yorkers over 25 do not live with a spouse or partner, and today we see that 1 or 2 person households account for 62% of households in NYC.  These findings demonstrated the need to find a newer, and smaller housing solution.  With fine attention to design and utilization of all existing space, the units, which are all between 270 and 350 sq feet, are surprisingly livable.

L-R: Perine, Lembo, Kapur, Enderlin, Mendez, Chandler, Oriwol

Tobias Oriwol, Project Developer at Monadnock Development kicked off the event with introductory remarks. Speakers included Eric Enderlin, Deputy Commissioner, NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development, Purnima Kapur, Executive Director, NYC Department of City Planning, Rick Chandler, Commissioner, NYC Department of Buildings, Rosie Mendez, Councilwomen, NY City Council District 2 and Nick Lembo, Monadnock.

CHPC, executive director, Jerilyn Perine also spoke and championed the potential in building small, “You can create beautiful, small spaces which sacrifice nothing.”

When construction is complete, over the course of the next three weeks, the building will consist of 55 units. 40% of those will be offered at affordable rental rates.  While the crowd was wowed by a crane lifting the intact unit into place like a giant Tetris piece, the creative vision and affordable follow through of Carmel Place were the real highlights of the day.

CHPC touring the Capsys production line

On Thursday, January 29, 2015, CHPC visited the Capsys production site in the Brooklyn Navy Yard to see what’s currently rolling down the line–unit modules for the MyMicroNY apartment building that will go up in Manhattan this year!

We were joined by a cohort of graduate students from the Georgia Institute of Technology School of Architecture, led by Professor Michael Gamble. Gamble’s students are participating in a three-year initiative that synthesizes efficiency and innovative design.

A MyMicro module at the start of the production line

Capsys specializes in modular building of various sizes and uses, from townhouses to supportive housing. Our group of visitors received an introduction to the MyMicro building from Capsys staff before enjoying a guided tour through the units currently in production. Each of the units, which will be studio apartments ranging in size from 270 to 350 square feet in size, takes about two weeks to complete from start to finish. Capsys predicts that once on-site construction begins, the building will be complete within two-and-one-half weeks.

A MyMicro module nearly finished in the factory

Later in the day, CHPC joined the Georgia Tech cohort at the showroom of Resource Furniture, which furnished the micro-unit of our Making Room museum exhibition and will be outfitting the MyMicro model unit. Deputy Director Sarah Watson provided the students with the background and principles of Making Room. With a clear picture of the types of households they are serving and the way those households are really living, the students have the best understanding of their needs. That way, they can design spaces that residents can use most effectively.

We are always excited to see Making Room principles in action, and our visit to Capsys offered a tangible result of our work.

MAKING ROOM: A VIRTUAL TOUR

The “LaunchPad” centerpiece of the Making Room exhibition

From January to September 2013, CHPC’s Making Room: New Models for Housing New Yorkers exhibition ran at the Museum of the City of New York, and was an unprecedented success. The exhibition covered all aspects of our Making Room initiative to date.

We were completely overwhelmed by the visitor numbers to the exhibition. The opening reception was attended by over 1,000 industry guests—more visitors than for any other exhibition opening event in MCNY history. The first Saturday of the opening week saw a 27.6% increase in attendance compared with the same week the prior year. And between January and September we had an audience of over 150,000 visitors, an estimated 40% of whom were from outside the US.

We conducted personal tours throughout the duration of the exhibition for groups of staff from various New York City and State government agencies, and from other cities and states across the country, including San Francisco, Austin, Georgia, and Boston. We also gave tours to developers, architects, land use planners, housing industry groups, and academics from across the United States and the world, including architects from Tokyo, the Mayor and Chief Architect of Barcelona, developers from London, and many more.

And now you can also have a virtual tour of the exhibition from the comfort of your own computer or device!

Enjoy a full guided tour by curator, Donald Albrecht, and our Deputy Director, Sarah Watson above.

You can also watch an incredible featurette on the exhibition made by film-maker Joanna Arnow:

It was so great to be a part of the first Dwell on Design event in NYC! We had so much fun at the LA Dwell of Design and it was an honor to be a part of the first ever Dwell on Design at 82 Mercer Street.

On the Main Stage on the last day, our Deputy Director, Sarah Watson took part on a panel talking about the design of small spaces. She took part in the panel along with Life Edited‘s David Friedlander and Michael Chen at MKCA Architecture talking about how small space living can be maximized – and why it is so important to produce diverse housing options that include typologies for single adults in the housing marketplace.

We look forward to the continued growth and success of NYC Dwell on Design in the years to come. It has a powerful voice in the future of how design can support urban environments.

It was so great to be a part of the first Dwell on Design event in NYC! We had so much fun at the LA Dwell of Design and it was an honor to be a part of the first ever Dwell on Design at 82 Mercer Street.

On the Main Stage on the last day, our Deputy Director, Sarah Watson took part on a panel talking about the design of small spaces. She took part in the panel along with Life Edited‘s David Friedlander and Michael Chen at MKCA Architecture talking about how small space living can be maximized – and why it is so important to produce diverse housing options that include typologies for single adults in the housing marketplace.

We look forward to the continued growth and success of NYC Dwell on Design in the years to come. It has a powerful voice in the future of how design can support urban environments..