Sendero Verde

Organization Name: Handel Architects

Project Title: Sendero Verde

Project Location: New York, NY

Project Description:
Located in East Harlem in New York City, Sendero Verde is a mixed-use multi-building project awarded through the City’s SustainNYC program, which seeks to create affordable housing for New Yorkers without compromising design quality. Sendero Verde will contain 709 designated affordable units as well as extensive community space, retail space, and outdoor gardens. A school will also be operating in the space, as well as supportive programming operated by Union Settlement, which is one of the oldest settlement houses in New York City. Ground floor retail will wrap the site. Sendero Verde will be Passive House certified, making it the largest fully affordable Passive House building in the world when it is completed. The articulation of the building’s façade echoes the underlying design concept: subtle color variation as well as pushing and pulling of the façade will allow the façade to visually recede and project, as well as create shadow lines and visual richness.

Community Impact:
Sendero Verde’s design aims to provide a “community of opportunity” to East Harlem residents - by providing a variety of opportunities and support services under one roof, it is a demonstration project on how to break the cycle of poverty that disrupts so many people’s lives. The "community of opportunity" is woven throughout the project and is reflected in both the types of spaces that are offered, and in how those spaces are arranged. A school will be operating in the space, as well as supportive programming operated by Union Settlement, a housing services provider established in 1895. Playgrounds, community gardens, and a landscaped courtyard will offer residents easily accessible greenspace.

Organization Description:
Handel Architects is an architecture, interior design, and planning firm that began in New York City in 1994 with a commitment to making cities better places to live. The firm creates buildings that are not just things in themselves, but serve as catalysts for positive urban and social change.

Team Members:

Architect: Handel Architects
Developers: Jonathan Rose Companies, L+M Development Partners, Acacia Network
MEP: Cosentini
Structural: DeSimone
Sustainability: Steven Winter Associates
Landscape