singing bridge residences
LOCATION: Chicopee, MA
PROGRAM: Affordable Housing (105 apartments)
TOTAL AREA: 110,000 SF
CLIENT: Brisa Builders Development
PARTNERS: Pare Corporation, edm
The Singing Bridge Residences project is a new 110,000 GSF, eight-story building located along the Chicopee River in the revitalizing Chicopee Falls neighborhood of Chicopee, MA. Paul Castrucci Architects is designing the new Passive House building to provide 105 affordable apartments to working families to meet increasing housing needs in Chicopee and the wider region.
Singing Bridge Residences will be the centerpiece of the larger Baskin Redevelopment project, also planned and designed by Brisa and Paul Castrucci Architects, a mixed-use redevelopment of the former Facemate industrial site, guided by the City of Chicopee’s redevelopment visions.
The site’s natural setting and industrial heritage provide inspiration for the new building. Located along the Chicopee River, the multi-story apartment building benefits from ample access to sunlight and views along a nature corridor that is being revived after over a century of intense industrial use. The future public park planned along the riverbanks plugs directly into the open space around the new building, connecting future residents to outdoor activities, bicycling and walking opportunities.
The regularized, rhythmic openings in the façade, rendered in a commonly used, local red brick, references many of the historic and well-preserved industrial buildings that remain standing in Chicopee or that previously defined the Chicopee Falls neighborhood. The monumental opening at the base of the building also recalls the old factory gates which were once meeting points for folks in Chicopee. Like then, the monumental portal both signals the entrance to the new structure and also bundles together a variety of site paths and provides a meeting point for the new community’s development.