Papp Project Receives AIA Award

Papp Architects’ design of Norden Lofts in White Plains was recently honored with a 2018 American Institute of Architects Westchester + Hudson Valley Design Award in the category of Adaptive Re-use. Norden Lofts is a 65-unit, six-story renovation of a long-vacant industrial loft building into a multi-family building with amenity spaces including fitness center, bocce ball court, library, lounge, and community room. The building’s original use as a World War II bomb sight research and development facility for Norden-Ketay Corporation was uncovered in our research of the existing structure. The sighting instrument developed and tested on this site was considered highly advanced for its time and has been cited for providing a strategic advantage to the Allied Forces during the Second World War.

A “first-mover” in this former industrial district re-zoned to include residential uses, the design sought to simultaneously restore and modernize the original character of the former commercial building. This was accomplished by exposing the original brick finishes, and adding new steel casement replica windows and riveted plate steel accents. New entrance and circulation components feature standing seam zinc panels and street level tie-back awnings. The apartment interiors exhibit exposed twelve-foot concrete ceilings and columns, wood floors and colorful millwork and wall treatments. The basement level was utilized to accommodate a bocce court, library, work lounge, dog grooming station, fitness center and a community room. The full award submission may be viewed in the gallery above.