The organizers of the competition were the city authorities: in their opinion, it is “micro-apartments” that are the most scarce commodity on the New York real estate market. Three-quarters of Manhattan “farms” consist of only one or two people, and most often they are young professionals who do not need and / or cannot afford spacious housing.
It was for their sake that the participants of the competition were instructed to develop a typical project of an apartment building for the 21st century. The "pilot" option will be implemented on 27th Street, on a plot of land owned by the city.
The nARCHITECTS project is a 10-storey building with 55 apartments ranging from 23 m2 to 34 m2. Each apartment will have a kitchen, bathroom, closet, as well as a living room-bedroom with an open plan, ceiling height will be 2.75 m - 3 m. 40% of apartments will be considered "affordable" with a monthly rent of $ 940 - $ 1800.
Around 18% of the building's area will be occupied by common areas, including lobbies, a roof garden, a glazed multifunctional space on the ground floor, and a gym.
The building will be Manhattan's first modular apartment building. Construction is scheduled for 2013–2015, with a budget of $ 15 million. The project will have to change existing zoning schemes, but the mayor of New York hopes that these changes will pave the way for the construction of such residential complexes without government support.
