New York: First prefabricated micro-apartments

Jul

New York: First prefabricated micro-apartments

With floor areas clocking in at as little as 260 square feet, My Micro NY housing units by nARCHITECTS are the latest singles-oriented housing option to enter the New York rental market. The modular units will be fabricated at the Brooklyn Navy Yard for stacking in Kips Bay, and are projected to welcome their first inhabitants by the end of 2015.

Current New York city zoning and density rules set a minimum apartment floor area of 400 square feet, yet this regulation was waived for My Micro NY in the interests of creating more affordable housing. An inflated rental market has long posed issues for those seeking housing in the city, particularly singles and students with tight budgets. My Micro NY will create 9 stories and 55 individual apartments, whose features include 9 and 10 foot ceiling heights, Juliette balconies, and concealed storage space.

In New York, nARCHITECTS vision of practical living spaces that don’t waste a single resource or inch of space for the My Micro New York building won them first place in the adAPT NYC competition. These prefabricated micro-apartments, assembled using modular construction techniques, are meant to revolutionize the future of living spaces in Manhattan.

nARCHITECTS designers are also helping to preserve the past in Brooklyn with the new Wyckoff House Museum. They’ve crafted a cultural education center for generations to come that features a playful color scheme directly based on an antique china cabinet in the historic building.

“One thing we try to do at nARCHITECTS is create connections between concept, technical innovation, and civic engagement,” Bunge says. That mission has led them to numerous awards and recognitions, including being selected by the NYC Department of Design and Construction Excellence Program in 2007 and then again in 2012. And their current projects show their commitment to bringing this connection to everything they do.