THE BANRION

The third edition of the Timber in the City considers a site in Queens, just south of the Queensborough/Ed Koch Bridge. Overlooking the east river, with views to Roosevelt Island and Manhattan, the vacant site can be understood as a segment within a larger chain of mixed-use waterfront development in the Borough, including the Hunters Point and Annabel Basin projects underway to the south, and stretching south to Brooklyn and north to the Bronx. These new approaches to affordable housing stands in contrast to the NYCHA Queensbridge Housing development to the north. Constructed in 1939, it is one of the largest public housing complex in North America. Along with the adjacent Queensbridge Park, it reflects nearly century-old ideals of living, construction, affordable housing, and landscape which will be reconsidered and re-imagined in this competition. This site has a unique mixed-use zoning designation and an ample allowable FAR, which the competition program does not maximize. Instead, it is to be considered the first of a phased development of this significant site. Competitors are required to anticipate the future phased build-out of this site to utilize the full FAR as a condition of the competition design.