Handel Architects

Located in East Harlem in New York City, Sendero Verde is Handel Architects’ newest highly sustainable building. It was awarded through the City’s SustainNYC program, which seeks to create affordable residences without compromising design quality. Sendero Verde will be Passive House certified.

Sendero Verde is a mixed-use tower, with nearly 650 designated affordable residential units as well as extensive community space, retail space, and outdoor gardens. Community space will include a pool and athletic facilities. A charter school operated by DREAM will also be operating in the space, as well as supportive programming operated by Union Settlement. Retail will include a grocery store and a cafe/restaurant.

In taking a cue from an historical trail that once wound through the site, the project is arranged around a central meandering landscaped path, which weaves through the project from Park Avenue through the site to the western end of 111th Street and Madison Avenue.

The massing is broken down into three separate volumes which frame this path, creating a central courtyard. This courtyard spills out onto different levels, creating opportunities for individual community gardens.

The articulation of the building’s façade forms a pattern of subtle colors that visually recede and project, causing the eye to move about the architecture. The building on 112th St and as well as the tower are further broken up by pushing and pulling the façade slightly to create shadow lines and visual richness.