AIA NY supports new zoning proposal for New York City

AIANY continues to support the NYC Department of City Planning’s Zoning for Quality and Affordability proposal, now making its way through the City’s public review process. We have reviewed the text and believe the revisions will help deliver a more sustainable city by helping to accelerate the construction of affordable and senior-oriented housing, allow architects more leeway to create better buildings more responsive to local contexts, spark the development of many surface parking lots and empty lots with irregular dimensions, and decouple the creation of housing from parking requirements, thereby encouraging the use of mass transit. The proposed zoning text amendments can improve the city’s built environment and streetscapes for many New Yorkers, advance projects that support a livable city, and increase economic activity within the architecture, engineering, and construction markets, bolstering the creation of jobs. As the review of the ZQA amendments continues, however, we hope that the public, Community Boards, and Council Members will make an effort to understand how the amendments may impact individual districts and other City policies. Over the last seven months, we have participated in lively discussions about ZQA and its implications for NYC’s neighborhoods. In addition, AIANY has taken a lead in educating the design community and the public on how the changes will lead to better buildings and communities. Zoning for Quality and Affordability facilitates improved housing design by allowing architects to build out the maximum amount of floor area available to them, which is currently limited by height and zoning restrictions. ZQA eliminates these artificial barriers and increases flexibility to achieve the permitted zoning capacity while encouraging better and more contextual designs. We support the advancement of these amendments. Zoning, as a tool to allow for more affordable housing development, is highlighted in the Designing Affordability: Quicker, Smarter, More Efficient Housing Now exhibition, on view at the Center for Architecture through January 16, 2016. Designing Affordability examines how architects, engineers, planners, policy makers, tenants, and homeowners are crafting innovative ways to reduce the cost of housing and increase opportunities by rethinking how we build, maintain, and occupy structures. By addressing various elements necessary for the production of housing, the case studies, both local and global, presented in this exhibition endeavor to reduce project costs, whether by leveraging land, deploying new technologies, rethinking home life, or constructing modularly. Through these means, the projects are designing affordability. The next corresponding public program, organized with the Institute of Public Architecture, What is a Vibrant, Healthy Community?, will take place on Tuesday, December 1. Tomas Rossant, AIA, is the president of AIA New York and a founding partner and design principal at Ennead Architects LLP, New York, N.Y.