Via Verde was built as a model for public housing. Did it work?
Good morning. It's Tuesday. We'll look at the Via Verde, planned as a model for beautiful, sustainable subsidized housing in the South Bronx, through the eyes of The New York Times architecture critic.
When it opened in 2011, the Via Verde project in the South Bronx stood out as handsome and worthy, an attempt at better architecture and sustainable design that promised value to match its cost. Michael Kimmelman, architecture critic for The Times, wrote at the time that Via Verde came with an ambitious goal: reimagining subsidized housing. The project had features unusual for public housing, such as a rooftop gym and a community garden where residents could grow fruits and vegetables, in a neighborhood where fresh food options are still limited.
I spoke to Michael, who just rewatched Via Verde, about how it went.
You have kept track of the residents there, who moved there twelve years ago. How do they feel about living there?
The residents tell me that they appreciate that it is a very safe place, and part of the security comes from the fact that it is effectively gated: the entrance is guarded by a concierge, a doorman behind a desk. That gives the place a certain degree of security, because there is someone watching who goes in and out, which was not the case in many housing projects.
Why not?
Partly for economic reasons, but also because housing projects in the 1960s and 1970s were designed with porous, open campuses full of entrances and exits and often with interconnecting corridors. It was very difficult to control those spaces.
Because you have a doorman on Via Verde, there is more of a residential community feeling. The people who live there are known. The small trade-off in terms of privacy is offset by the benefits of someone watching and also doing things like picking up packages.
It doesn't take much to provide a certain level of security. Jane Jacobs famously talked about eyes on the street, which was about the fact that people don't do things they shouldn't do when they feel like they're being watched. There is collective power in simply letting people watch. They don't have to be armed. They don't have to be aggressive. They're just there.
How different was the design from other housing projects? How unusual was the appearance, and why did it matter?
Via Verde's ambition was to show that just because a project was built for 100 percent affordability and some residents were previously homeless, it did not have to be without visual or aesthetic qualities.
It's important to remember that under the Bloomberg administration there was a real emphasis on design quality for public buildings. Via Verde and other buildings and parks designed under Bloomberg were intended to raise the level of public design, in the spirit of the New Deal and all the extraordinary public buildings New York had built in the 20th century.
So it was ambitious and it worked.
Right. Via Verde was about showing what could be. The backlash was always that it was expensive, exceptional and had a lot of political support, but here on earth this was not the way buildings are actually built.
Above all, Via Verde proved how important it is to bring all agencies together and use everything the government has available to make these types of projects possible in the shortest possible time. Our biggest problem is not that we don't know what good design could be or that we don't understand what sustainable design is; it's that we've created a system with so many barriers, so many ways in which a project can be delayed or jeopardized.
When Via Verde was created, we also had to change the conversation around architecture and subsidized housing. Architecture had become too focused on very high-end projects for museums, elite institutions and the wealthy, when it could play a more fundamental role in public well-being and equality.
You quoted someone saying that Via Verde cost $99 million and turned out to be “the least expensive and most expensive project.”
That was Adam Weinstein, who runs the nonprofit that manages the building. According to him, the maintenance of the building has been much cheaper than comparable buildings of the same vintage that were not built in the manner of Via Verde.
A premium was paid for the architecture and some sustainable elements in Via Verde, which are now standard but were not at the time. The costs were ultimately justified, because at the heart of Via Verde was an argument that smart, sustainable, dignified architecture has both an economic and a social benefit. The building showed respect for its residents, and the residents in turn respected the building. There is an argument that if you treat people with dignity, they will treat you and the community with dignity. When you tell people they are worthless, what do you expect their reaction to be?
This does not mean that the Via Verde was without accidents. The bamboo cabinets were intended to be forward thinking, but it turned out that they were falling apart and needed to be replaced.
You have a personal interest in Via Verdi. You wrote about that when you first became The Times's architecture critic.
Architecture is often written about before the buildings are put into use. It's like writing about a restaurant before someone eats there. I promised in that first article that I would respond to it as soon as people moved in. Buildings are not sculpture; they are lived experiences.
I also think it is important to follow up on the things we tell the public about. I'm glad Via Verde worked for the people who lived there, but I would have been interested if it hadn't. We owe it to the public to say if something is failing, and why.
Weather
By mid-afternoon, there may be sleds, snowballs and snowmen in Central Park.
The city is preparing for its biggest snowfall in two years, with the National Weather Service saying a powerful storm could blanket parts of the city, Long Island and northeastern New Jersey in snow. four to eight inches of snow. a The winter storm warning went into effect at 4 a.m.
The storm will be intense while it lasts, with speeds of two inches per hour expected in some areas, but will taper off by mid-afternoon. Expect temperatures in the 30s, with wind chills in the 20s and 30s. At night temperatures drop to above 20 degrees.
New York City public schools will hold classes remotely today and public libraries across the city will be closed.
ALTERNATE PARKING
Effective today. Suspended tomorrow (Ash Wednesday).
The latest New York news
METROPOLITAN diary
Bronx Tony
Dear Diary:
A few years ago I was in New York City with a friend. We hailed a taxi outside our hotel and headed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
We were very happy. The cab was a Checker, and at the wheel was someone who seemed like an authentic New York cabbie to us: heavy Bronx accent, unlit cigar, driver's cap.
When he heard we were from Fort Worth, Texas, he told us stories about the Bronx and advised us where to get the best Italian food in the city. His name was Toon.
When we arrived at the museum, we paid the fare, said our goodbyes and got out. We were just entering the museum when we heard someone calling our name.