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Casa Celina
Casa Celina
The Bronx, Bronx County, NY, United States
Finalist, 2025 A+Awards, Concepts - Architecture +Low Cost Design
Project Featured on Sep 30, 2025
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Other Projects by Magnusson Architecture and Planning, PC
Casa Celina
The Bronx, Bronx County, NY, United States
Finalist, 2025 A+Awards, Concepts - Architecture +Low Cost Design
Project Featured on Sep 30, 2025
Type
STATUS
Built
YEAR
2023
SIZE
100,000 sqft - 300,000 sqft
BUDGET
$50M - 100M
Built on an underutilized parking lot at the Justice Sonia Sotomayor Houses in the Bronx, this 16-story, affordable senior housing is named for the Justice’s mother Celina Baez. The development was the winning proposal for a city RFP to develop senior housing on the public housing campus. It offers 204 affordable senior apartments (plus a super’s unit) as well as a range of amenities to promote physical and mental well-being.
Active Design includes stairs that are given prominent placement in high traffic areas with large windows for daylight and views. A top floor fitness room opens onto a landscaped outdoor terrace, which offers opportunities for active and passive recreation including a turf lawn, benches, tables and chairs, planters and views of the East River, Manhattan Skyline and the Bronx.
Lounges, programmed differently on alternating floors, are located next to the building’s circulation spine, creating a variety of social spaces which helps to prevent isolation – a frequent challenge for seniors. Open to the hallway the spaces facilitate easy and casual neighborly interactions. The second-floor lounge is enclosed and functions as a library.
At the ground floor, the laundry room looks out onto the adjacent playground and the community room has windows onto Thieriot Avenue. The nonprofit development partner offers a variety of social services to eligible community members from the 1,700 square foot community space along Watson Avenue. These spaces, wrapped with large windows, ensure visual connections to the community and illuminate the sidewalk with interior light enhancing safety at night.
The north/south orientation of the site and building provides an opportunity for energy generation through a large solar array, while the building geometry aims to shade the east/west facing units and mitigate heat gain. Prefabricated brick facade panels clad the articulated massing which catches light differently throughout the day. Windows reflect blues, grays, purples and teals; and angular planes hold shadows at varying lengths and shapes. While maintaining the contextual masonry aesthetic, the bold white color and dynamism of the exterior highlights the forward-looking urban infill ideas of this all-electric development.
Active Design includes stairs that are given prominent placement in high traffic areas with large windows for daylight and views. A top floor fitness room opens onto a landscaped outdoor terrace, which offers opportunities for active and passive recreation including a turf lawn, benches, tables and chairs, planters and views of the East River, Manhattan Skyline and the Bronx.
Lounges, programmed differently on alternating floors, are located next to the building’s circulation spine, creating a variety of social spaces which helps to prevent isolation – a frequent challenge for seniors. Open to the hallway the spaces facilitate easy and casual neighborly interactions. The second-floor lounge is enclosed and functions as a library.
At the ground floor, the laundry room looks out onto the adjacent playground and the community room has windows onto Thieriot Avenue. The nonprofit development partner offers a variety of social services to eligible community members from the 1,700 square foot community space along Watson Avenue. These spaces, wrapped with large windows, ensure visual connections to the community and illuminate the sidewalk with interior light enhancing safety at night.
The north/south orientation of the site and building provides an opportunity for energy generation through a large solar array, while the building geometry aims to shade the east/west facing units and mitigate heat gain. Prefabricated brick facade panels clad the articulated massing which catches light differently throughout the day. Windows reflect blues, grays, purples and teals; and angular planes hold shadows at varying lengths and shapes. While maintaining the contextual masonry aesthetic, the bold white color and dynamism of the exterior highlights the forward-looking urban infill ideas of this all-electric development.
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