According to the nypost, New York City has chosen a three-story, three-unit emergency modular housing prototype, complete with balconies, to be sited next to the Office of Emergency Management in Brooklyn. The upper two floors are 822 square-foot, three-bedroom units with a 480 square-foot handicap accessible apartment on the first floor. Designed by Garrison Architects of Brooklyn and built by American Manufactured Systems and Services (AMSS) of Vienna, Vir., the $1,135,147 million contract for the modular unit was determined to be the best value by the Army Corps of Engineers. Measuring 12 feet wide and 40 feet long, the modules are shipped fully equipped and only need to be clipped together and have the utilities hooked up. MHProNews has learned a desk, dining table, chairs, beds, an electric stove and microwave will be included in each unit. Rooftop photovoltaic cells have refrigerant-flow heat pumps that balance inside temperatures and increase heating-cooling efficiency by 30 percent. Jim Garrison, principal of the architectural firm, says “Even though this is a stand-alone, it is designed to operate as a row house and be deployed on a city block so it has a garden in back and parking in front and makes a secure perimeter to create an urban street.” Architects, students, and academics will likely live in the units for periods of time to provide feedback.
