After five years of design and construction, ODA New York has completed Denizen Bushwick, a 1.2 million sq ft residential development featuring 911 apartments, 20% affordable housing units, 15 mega-murals, 100,000 sq ft of outdoor space and a full suite of curated amenities. ODA designed the entire development, architecture, interiors and landscape design.
To date, Denizen is one of ODA’s largest projects, and one of the largest residential projects in NYC. With it, ODA envisions a more connected future for this area. Denizen is welcoming and inclusive of the community around it, while providing a sense of ownership and personalization for the people living there. In areas of rising urban density, ODA is working to create transparency and belonging through art, public space and community involvement.
Denizen’s communal spaces and courtyards are bisected by a 17,850 sq ft public park that creates a green promenade between the two sites, equivalent to two city blocks. ODA’s in-house landscape team designed the park, interior courtyards, and two roof gardens. These spaces consist of more than 100,000 sq ft of outdoor space with impressive 360° views of the Manhattan skyline and Brooklyn. Designed to draw residents outside, rooftop amenities include a dining area with four kitchens, a mini-golf course, a hammock garden surrounded by a meadow, a dog park, and a fully staffed garden. The roof’s long leafy paths and secret secluded spaces are home to more than 250 native New York tree species, and over 1,200 species of shrubs and perennials.
This year, the Denizen rooftop farm will have garden plots available to residents to grow their own food from a selection of over 100 different seeds. With expert guidance from the Green Food Solutions staff, residents will be able seed, transplant, and harvest their own food.
The rooftop farm serves as an edible oasis for urban residents with Pick Your Own days, pickling workshops, and hydroponic happy hours.
Inside the development, amenities include a game room, chef’s kitchen, bowling alley, rock climbing wall, spin studio, yoga studio, pool, a golf simulator and a movie theater. Denizen hired a team to maintain the ODA designed amenities, choose expert fitness instructors, and craft events such as poker nights, beer tastings, pasta making classes, and movie nights.
We are proud of what has taken shape at Bushwick. Not only were we able to transform a dilapidated industrial building and turn it into a magnate for community, but we’re influencing how people connect, how cities are developed, and paving the way for architecture to be part of the solution.
Eran Chen, Founding Principal, ODA