Co-op City

Without a doubt New York is a rapidly growing city with more people than land space. New York's solution has always been to build upwards. This solution is primarily used for its office spaces and rarely with housing, but fortunately for me I visited the largest example of mass housing in the world, Co-op City [grandma's house], for 2 weeks. It's around 40 years old, covers 320 acres [only 20% is built up] and holds 55,000 people. Despite stuffing so much people in one spot, everything feels natural and un-packed, one thing that contributes to this is the fact that most people here either work on varying shifts or work in co-op city ensuring there is little or no peak hour.

View outside the apartment

First thing you notice about Co-op city from the highway is an endless sea of 30 story brick apartments. Up to now I’m unsure of how many apartments there are but they primarily follow 1 of 3 footprints. The H footprint which is 26 stories high, X footprint which is 33 stories high and the I footprint which [I think] has 23 stories. My grandmother lives in an H footprint apartment while I had a cousin who was staying in an I footprint apartment. Despite the difference in heights and footprints, the layouts were basically the same. Each apartment had more than one lobbies to enter the apartment, this essentially divided the apartment into different blocks. To segregate them even more, there is no way to travel from one block to another inside the building. Each block is also assigned a different street number [For example my grandmother’s block was 120 Carver Loop while the other blocks where 110 and 130 Carver Loop] Entrance to the lobby is limited to residents with a designated key or visitors who have been “buzzed” in. The key for this front door also opens fire doors at the side of the building and the door to the staircase [only the lobby staircase door is locked, however for safety reasons, this door can be opened from the staircase side]. The lobby also holds mailboxes for each resident.

X footprint apartment

H footprint apartment

I footprint apartment

Getting up to your floor is made possible by 2 elevators and 2 staircases per block. To conserve on space, the staircases are layered upon each other [I.e. the steps of one staircase forms the roof of the other staircase.] To conserve on energy, the stairs are lit by a pair of fluorescent tubes, one of which remains permanently lit while the other is turned on by motion detectors. Also during times when the electrical load on the apartments are high [such as really hot summers when air conditioners are in high use] only one elevator cab be made operational. One elevator can also be reserved if a tenant is moving in or out of their apartment to help with the transport of their belongings. Once on your floor, you are greeted by a windowless hallway that leads to your apartment as well as about 6-8 other apartments and a chute for dropping your garbage in.

Immediately outside each apartment is a set of unreserved parking spots that anyone can use, because these are usually full, parking is also available along the street side. There is also a 6 story sheltered parking lot reserved for residents and visitors willing to pay a one day fee. For residents using this lot, the fee is added to their rent. Residents entering the lots are given a pass card which automatically opens the barrier for them, I’m unsure of accommodations made for visitors as they mostly park on the sidewalk. The first floor is strictly reserved lots unlike the other 5 floors. Accommodation is also available for handicapped users on each floor with their parking spots placed near to the elevators. Staircases are also available but, like the apartments, can only be opened from the outdoors by key.

An H footprint apartment with a parking lot in the foreground

The format of Co-op City continues outwards where numerous malls serve different apartments with stores varying from electronics, barbers, clothing, banks and restaurants. There is one mall with a cinema. Walking around Co-op city is in itself a form of recreation, between the buildings are nicely maintained green areas with areas for sitting, playing board games, basketball, baseball and a playground for children.

In Jamaica, the layout of Co-op city and its mass housing/all in one city theme bears a strong resemblance to Oaklands. Although only 6 stories in height, a lot of the services of Co-op city is seen in Oaklands such as:

· having washrooms on only one floor [in Co-op city it’s in the basement while in Oaklands it’s on the 3^rd floor, immediately above on the 4^th floor is an area reserved for drying clothes.]

· the garbage chute on each floor

· mailboxes on the first floor

· malls, parks and playgrounds in between the buildings [Oaklands only had one mall at the main entrance and a large park area in the centre.]

· A mix of townhouses and apartments as well as diversity among each [In Oaklands, townhouses took up a larger footprint than the apartments where as in Co-op city, townhouses were scarce.]

· A consistent theme [Oaklands had plain concrete walls with a little Spanish tile overhang while Co-op City was full brick.]

· Churches, Schools and Bus Stops beside or nearby the complex.

This well thought out layout of Oaklands only just occurred to me this summer despite the fact that I’ve spent nearly half my life living there. Both Oaklands and Co-op City follow a good template than can be used over and over, and as shown, can also be scaled differently.