1385 Leland Avenue is a new, ground-up residential apartment building located in The Bronx, New York. We designed the six-story, 11-unit building to maximize the lot and provide residents with an array of communal gathering spaces. These spaces include two roof decks, a street-level garden, a recreation room, individual storage space and bike storage, laundry rooms, and a recessed, covered, fully-glazed exterior ground floor.
Each micro-unit in the apartment is draped in light from large-scale windows, and expresses a restraint of materiality that contrasts to the typical commonplace finishes in most local developer buildings. Exposed polished concrete floors and concrete ceilings, and plywood and stainless-steel kitchens make up the interior material palette; while the exterior façade expresses the building’s concrete frame, and features extensive glazing. The open entry, roof decks, and secluded garden act as portals for navigating the bounds between each public and private space.
By rethinking certain constraints, for example removing legal air requirements from the glazing, we were able to provide unique design solutions such as the large expanses of fixed glass that feature a mechanized unit above, combining both ventilation and motorized shades.
At the core of the building, a central, expressed exterior stairway provides convenient access to units and egress, offers ample neighborhood views, and establishes the building as an architectural statement.
Client: Confidential
Program: Residential
Status: Schematic Design
Size: 10,696 SF
Location: New York, NY
Team:
Architect: KM,A (Kyle May, John Diven, Zak Wosewick, Kaya Ramirez)
Images: KM,A