Via Verde – The Green Way

Via Verde is the winning scheme of the New Housing New York Legacy Competition, backed by four organisations: the Enterprise Foundation, NYSERDA (the state's energy research and development authority), the American Institute of Architects' New York chapter (AIA) and the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). It was the first juried competition the city had held for housing that was both affordable and sustainable. It was won by the developers Phipps Houses and Jonathan Rose Companies, working with the practices Dattner Architects and Grimshaw. The brief asked for a design that could be repeated, sustainable methods and “healthy living” principles, in the hope that the project could serve as a model for future schemes in the city.

The 1.5-acre (about 0.6-hectare) site was vacant and triangular. The city handed it to the developers for a nominal sum, to help keep the homes affordable. Most of it had been a disused rail yard lying below street level, and the corner of East 156th Street and Brook Avenue had once held a petrol station. These earlier uses had caused contamination serious enough to call for a major clean-up, carried out under New York State's brownfield cleanup programme.

The scheme was designed by Dattner Architects and Grimshaw, Grimshaw listing Dattner as associate architect; Lee Weintraub is the landscape architect and Lettire Construction Corp. the builder. The complex was completed in 2012 and formally opened that June, with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the federal housing secretary Shaun Donovan taking part. In 2013 it received the Secretary's Housing and Community Design Award, given by the AIA and the federal housing department (HUD) for excellence in affordable housing design, and the silver medal of the Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence.

The complex has three parts: town-houses, a mid-rise block with duplex flats and a 20-storey tower. Their stepped massing draws on the idea of weaving nature into the city. At the centre of the scheme a garden acts as the organising element for the community: it starts as a courtyard at ground level, then winds upwards through a succession of south-facing roof gardens that form a walkway for residents.

The green roofs of the town-houses, the mid-rise block and the tower are linked. They collect rainwater, are used to grow fruit and vegetables and provide outdoor space for residents; the complex has 40,000 square feet (about 3,700 m²) of green roofs and open space. A reclamation system recycles water for irrigation, and the roofs soak up run-off and shed heat.

Every flat has two facades, which brings cross-ventilation and plenty of daylight; the finishes give off few volatile organic compounds and the fittings save water and energy. The facade is a prefabricated rainscreen of composite wood, cement and metal panels, with panoramic windows, sunshades and balconies facing the courtyard. Photovoltaic panels built into the buildings generate electricity, and the stairs are lit by daylight. The complex was designed to earn LEED Gold certification.

The complex has 222 homes: 151 rental flats for low-income households and 71 cooperative flats for middle-income households. The homes include simplex and duplex flats and live-work units whose ground floor serves as a workspace.

The scheme also includes 7,500 square feet (about 700 m²) of shops and community space. There is a health education and wellness centre, health-oriented shops, a fitness room and bicycle storage.

Via Verde rises where Brook Avenue crosses East 156th Street, in Melrose, a neighbourhood in the southern Bronx. The flats are people's homes, so the complex is seen from the street.