David Adjaye’s Sugar Hill housing
nears completion in Harlem

News: construction is almost complete on a David Adjaye-designed affordable housing complex in New York’s Sugar Hill district featuring a facade embossed with floral patterns (+ slideshow).

The Sugar Hill Development – located in the district of Manhattan made famous by rappers the Sugar Hill Gang – is designed by Adjaye Associates to provide 124 affordable housing units, preschool education facilities and a children’s museum.

David Adjaye described the building as a “new typology for affordable housing” and expressed his enthusiasm at engaging with “the cultural, social and physical fabric of Harlem”.

“My hope is that the building – perched high on Coogan’s Bluff – will offer a symbol of civic pride and will be a valued new resource for the neighbourhood,” he said.

Located on West 155th Street, the 13-storey structure features a facade of precast panels embossed with images of roses, in reference to the surrounding “heritage rose” district. These are designed to sparkle as the sun catches them.

The building steps backs at the ninth floor to create a three-metre wide terrace on one side and a cantilever on the other.

A landscaped plaza will form the entrance, while additional terraces will be available to residents on the second and third floors, as well as on the roof.

Other buildings by David Adjaye currently under construction include the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC, which is scheduled to open next year.

See more architecture by David Adjaye »

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