Tracing the Future: Affordable Housing in NYC

New York City is currently facing overlapping crises as never before, with affordable housing being out of reach for many New Yorkers. Increasing affordable housing supply by allowing alternative solutions (office-to-residential conversions and accessory dwelling units) and zoning changes is one of AIANY's main policy goals. In this panel we will hear from Bernheimer Architecture and Magnusson Architecture and Planning, including some that have been awarded by the NYSERDA Buildings of Excellence competition. Avinash Rajagopal, Editor in Chief, Metropolis magazine will moderate a discussion about the future of affordable housing in NYC.

Speakers:
Fernando Villa, FAIA, NOMA, LEED AP BD+C, Principal, Magnusson Architecture and Planning
Will Sheridan, AIA, Principal, Bernheimer Architecture

Moderator:
Avinash Rajagopal, Editor in Chief, Metropolis magazine

About the Speakers:

Avinash Rajagopal is the editor-in-chief of Metropolis magazine. He is an advocate for sustainable architecture and design, leading Metropolis's initiatives and programs for decarbonization and equity in architecture and interior design, including the Climate Toolkit for Interior Design, the Interior Design Pledge for Positive Impact, and the Planet Positive Awards. Rajagopal is the author of Hacking Design (Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 2013), has contributed to numerous volumes on architecture and design, and has lectured at the National Institute of Design in India, the University of Texas at Austin, the School of Visual Arts in New York, the New York School of Interior Design, and Parsons School of Design. He was one of the jurors for the AIA COTE Top Ten Awards 2023.

Will Sheridan joined Bernheimer Architecture in 2016  focusing on affordable housing. His first major project at BA, 1490 Southern Boulevard, an affordable senior-housing developed in the south Bronx, was the recipient of a SARA National Design Award, an AIANY Housing Design Award, and a BSA Housing Design Award. Will is currently overseeing Utica Crescent, a large-scale, affordable housing development in East Flatbush, Brooklyn that is part of NY State’s Vital Brooklyn initiative; Beach Green Dunes III, a passive house, all-electric, affordable housing development in the Rockaways, and Arverne East, an 116-acre oceanfront master plan that aims to create New York City’s first net-zero community. Will is also a founding member of citygroup, an architecture collective based in the Lower East Side.

Fernando Villa has more than 25 years of international design experience focused on sustainable, affordable and supportive housing and mixed-use developments. As Magnusson Architecture and Planning (MAP)’s lead designer, Villa has worked on a wide range of projects, including AIA National Housing Award winner MLK Plaza and AIANY Design Award winner St. Augustine Terrace. His Creston Avenue Residence was included in the NYC Public Design Commission’s “Designing New York: Quality Affordable Housing”. Villa is currently overseeing Highbridge and Carmen Villegas Apartments, both passive house developments that received NYSERDA Buildings of Excellence awards as well as Blue Ribbons for Design Excellence through the program. He has elevated the standards for affordable and supportive housing, linking design quality to the missions of his clients, empowering residents and challenging the stigmas of this typology. Villa is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and served as the co-chair of the New York Chapter’s Housing Committee. During his tenure as co-chair, the committee’s work was recognized twice in five years with the AIANY Vice Presidential Citation for Design Excellence.