Updated Design Guidelines for the Modernization of NYCHA Buildings
Interactive website presents up-to-date information and downloadable resources to ensure design and construction excellence while encouraging user feedback and collaboration
Updated guidelines formalize NYCHA’s modern design focus on high-quality housing and building performance, resident health and well-being, and climate mitigation and adaptation
On June 12, NYCHA unveiled its updated 2025 Design Guidelines, which will inform modernization projects for residential NYCHA buildings. The 2025 Guidelines are hosted as a centralized, interactive website, making it easy for internal teams and external partners to find, use, and engage with up-to-date information and downloadable assets. The 2025 update follows a 2017 design guidelines document and reflects NYCHA’s much-expanded capital investment portfolio, having been designed to support the wider, expanding range of programs. The 2025 Guidelines are also organized in alignment with NYCHA’s most recent Physical Needs Assessment and formalize the Authority’s prioritization of high-quality housing and building performance, resident health and well-being, and climate mitigation and adaptation while expanding on the design and construction excellence principles and strategies outlined in the earlier version. The new platform supports collaboration and continuous improvement with a built-in feedback mechanism for staff and design partners to share lessons learned and suggest updates.
“The design guidelines released in 2017 helped to guide and support the remarkable transformations and improvements made to many NYCHA properties over the course of the years since,” said NYCHA Chief Executive Officer Lisa Bova-Hiatt. “The 2025 document updates and expands on these guidelines – in a modern, interactive, and accessible format – to inform design and construction as we continue working to modernize NYCHA’s residential buildings and improve the quality of residents’ lives across the city in the years to come.”
“The development of the 2025 Design Guidelines was a highly collaborative effort between NYCHA leadership, staff, external partners, and residents,” said NYCHA Chief Asset & Capital Management Officer Shaan Mavani. “The interactive design of the website encourages engagement, feedback, and continuous updates, so we expect the guidelines to significantly enhance communication and collaboration, as well as the overall impact across NYCHA staff, design and construction consultants and contractors, and residents at NYCHA properties undergoing modernization.”
The 2025 Guidelines were officially unveiled at the NYCHA Design Guidelines: Integrated Tools for Advancing Design Excellence event hosted in collaboration with the American Institute of Architects (AIA) New York Housing Committee. The briefing featured a keynote address by NYCHA’s Deputy Chief Asset and Capital Management Officer Dylan Baker-Rice, followed by a panel discussion featuring NYCHA’s Real Estate Development Department and architecture and engineering industry leaders. The discussion shared insights about the new interactive platform’s consolidation of design guidance and facilitation of continuous improvements throughout the Authority’s various modernization efforts.
The 2025 Guidelines provide an update to previous performance requirements, specifications, and other guidance and information critical for ensuring design and construction excellence during the modernization of NYCHA properties. Restructured as an interactive website, the guidelines present a large amount of information and downloadable specifications, drawings, and other documents – in user-friendly formats – and they enable NYCHA staff responsible for design and construction projects, as well as ongoing operation and maintenance of assets, to share their experience and feedback. The website format also allows the guidelines to be easily updated and expanded to reflect changes in codes and local laws, refinements to NYCHA’s performance requirements and specifications, and innovation in building materials and technologies.
In 2017, NYCHA published its Design Guidelines: Rehabilitation of NYCHA Residential Buildings document to support NYCHA staff and design professionals by clearly outlining design and construction principles for the modernization of the Authority’s building stock. Since then, NYCHA has vastly expanded its property rehabilitation activities. As of the beginning of 2025, NYCHA is managing a $6 billion capital projects portfolio, has $7 billion of comprehensive renovation work completed or in construction through the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) program, and has established the Public Housing Preservation Trust to take on additional comprehensive renovations. The 2025 Design Guidelines consolidate the expertise and learning NYCHA has developed working closely with residents and a wide range of partners through these initiatives.