The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development selected Monadnock, Sisters of Charity Housing Development Corporation, and The Master Group to transform a City-owned site in Stapleton on the North Shore of Staten Island into 100% affordable housing. The mixed-use development is anticipated to bring 360 new affordable homes, an all-inclusive health and social program for seniors operated by ArchCare, a new medical space for Richmond University Medical Center, and a counseling center for the YMCA of Staten Island. More than half of the homes will serve extremely and very low-income households, including 54 homes reserved for formerly homeless households.

This project takes a comprehensive and integrated approach to addressing multiple climate hazards, including sea level rise, increasing precipitation, and increasing temperatures through resilient design. The innovative design also creates a strong sense of place by connecting residents and the community to the waterfront, a key goal that participants identified in the City’s community engagement sessions. The site plan and landscape design work together to address flood risks from potential coastal surge storms, and extreme precipitation. Design components include:

1. Thoughtfully placed building entrances that decrease the need for deployable flood barriers.
2. Sloped lawn and landscape areas that direct stormwater into a series of bioswales, channels designed to absorb or carry runoff from heavy rain and reduce the load on the sewer system.
3. Dynamic, undulating, and reflective street walls to enhance pedestrian experience and create a sense of place, while also connecting the site to the waterfront.
4. Plus, significant landscaped areas to promote good health and active lifestyles, including a walking path on the rooftop, which also contains a solar array and rooftop farm for residents.