Residential building with 124 apartments is designed for the poorest New Yorkers, of which 25 are for former homeless people, 50 - for families where 4 people have less than $ 41,500 annual income, 12 - families of the same size, receiving less than $ 24,900 a year. In general, residents' income ranges from $ 13,000 to $ 79,000 per year. Depending on the size of the apartment (studio, 1, 2, or 3 bedrooms) and financial situation, the volume of rent ranges from 349 to 1588 dollars per month, which is very small by New York standards. At the same time, a resident of a house in Sugar Hill or other properties of the non-profit developer Broadway Housing Communities (BHC) costs American taxpayers an average of $ 12,500 a year. At the same time, a bed in a state shelter costs twice as much, in a psychiatric hospital - 10 times more.
More than 50,000 applications were submitted for apartments in this building, that is, the competition amounted to more than 400 applications for an apartment. This is a reflection of the serious housing shortage in New York, which affects primarily socially vulnerable groups of the population, and this problem is being fought as a priority by Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has promised to significantly expand the stock of affordable housing during the election campaign.
The location of David Adjaye's building in Sugar Hill is no coincidence: this area is included in the most disadvantaged area of New York - West Harlem, where 70% of children are born in families below the poverty line, the population (mixed ethnicity) is poor and poorly educated, and the infrastructure completely undeveloped. The construction was paid for by the state and benefactors. The budget was $ 80 million, of which a significant part was spent on cleaning the soil (previously there was a gas plant, and then a garage) and similar utilitarian purposes, and not at all for a huge fee to a famous architect, as some critics suggested.
The Sugar Hill home is one of the architecturally and complementary New York City Social Complexes that are improved in terms of architecture (for example,
Via Verde by Nicholas Grimshaw), but even against their background his "encumbrance" looks impressive. The first two levels of the building house the Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling (1675 m2) and an early childhood education center for children 0-5 years old (120-200 seats; 1133 m2). Such an emphasis on the children's theme is both a response to the needs of the local population, and a reflection of the policy of de Blasio, who considers it particularly important to strengthen preschool education.
The first floor is occupied by a museum with halls for performances and exhibitions, an art studio and a studio of a "resident" artist. Among the spectacular components is the "light tube" through which the sun's rays penetrate into a narrow corridor. Above, there is a children's education center with 6 classrooms with panoramic windows and two outdoor courtyards. Also in the wide base of the building are space for renting to a non-profit institution and a commercial garage.
Above, there are 11 floors of housing, although the 9th also has a public room, a BHC office and a terrace, since this is where the volume of the building is "shifted". It is planned to set up a garden on the roof, but for now it is simply covered with gravel and is accessible for walks.
The exterior of the house is defined by the aforementioned "shift", creating a console from one facade, from the other - a terrace, as well as the graphite color of the concrete facade panels covered with vertical grooves. An abstract pattern is applied to them, referring to the "Harlem roses": this is a lush stucco molding
historic homes of Sugar Hill, and equally historic roses that have been growing in Harlem since the 19th century. The neighboring houses in the Neo-Gothic and Neo-Romanesque styles with the characteristic jagged contour of the facade and numerous protrusions of turrets and bay windows are reflected in the same battlements of the Adjaye building. The response to the environment was included by the BHC in the task of a closed competition that the British architect won in 2010. Sugar Hill is protected by the state as a complex of historical buildings of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when prosperous African Americans lived here. In addition, between the two world wars, it became the scene of the "Harlem Renaissance", the flourishing of African American culture: outstanding musicians, writers, painters and photographers lived and worked there. A separate hall of the Children's Museum is dedicated to this phenomenon.
Observers note that the dark building on the hill resembles a harsh fortress, and housing for those in need should be "optimistic." However, Ajaye himself responds to this criticism with a question: why were his houses designed in the same aesthetics for rich Londoners considered "cool", and a house for the poor was immediately called "harsh"? - to which the expected answer is not found.
