Maplewood

Nominated by: Torti Gallas and Partners
Location: Ithaca, NY
Developer: Greystar/EdR
Architect: Torti Gallas and Partners
General Contractor: LeChase
Owner: Cornell University
Landscape Architecture: Whitham Planning and Design
Project Website: www.livemaplewoodapartments.com

Project Statement

Sensitivity to context, connectivity to the town and university, a diversity of building types and architectural character, and thoroughly integrated sustainability distinguish the Maplewood revitalization. This suburban repair of a low-density, obsolete, automobile-oriented and monolithic student housing project forges a pedestrian-oriented, carefully crafted neighborhood that links Cornell University housing to the Town of Ithaca as a seamless community of common interests integrated into its fabric of blocks, streets, landscapes, and open spaces.

Key highlights include:

• 444 graduate student housing units (872 Beds)
• 5 four-story apartment buildings
• 100 townhouses
• 10 stacked flat buildings
• 7,700-square-foot community center
• Neighborhood retail
• The significant increase of safe, affordable housing options for graduate students in a college town with a tight housing market and stress on its academic year rental stock
• High levels of sustainability with focused strategies including:
• Careful, detailed and integrated storm water management to protect the native Finger Lake and Gorges landscape
• The transition from fossil fuel heating to site wide renewable sourced heating, which is singular in its scale in the Northeast and has led to a Cornell University research study on Smart Heat with the project as its “living laboratory”
• A variety of open spaces and buildings ranging in scale and type that encourage community interaction in the public realm
• Collaborative development of a model form based regulatory code, which established a framework for the Town of Ithaca’s site plan entitlement, facilitating future smart growth and sustainable development in the town.