La Mora Senior Apartments offers 60 units of affordable and energy efficient housing for older adults in Yonkers, addressing a critical need in a historically underserved neighborhood. Designed for residents 62 and older, the four-story building includes both one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments. Each has its own kitchen, laundry, and HVAC system. The apartments also feature large, operable windows in the living area, providing ample daylight and fresh air. La Mora amenities include a community room, multipurpose space, fitness center, landscaped terrace, rooftop deck, and services through the Yonkers Office for the Aging.
La Mora is the first modular multifamily building in the United States to be certified by Phius (Passive House Institute U.S.). The building integrates off-site modular construction with stringent energy performance standards. The design team worked with the Municipal Housing Authority for the City of Yonkers and The Mulford Corporation to manage an exceptionally complex process that called for coordinating consultants, bridging gaps between factory and site construction, and overcoming delays from air sealing, energy modeling, and supply-chain disruptions. Despite a challenging process, the team produced a high performing, resilient building that offers residents comfort, lower utility costs, and shelter-in-place capabilities during outages.
Passive House certification required attention to detailing and installation quality, both important to passing the door test. The design’s high-performance envelope and systems are vital to minimizing energy use. The building envelope’s air leakage rate is extremely low, and the building’s projected energy use intensity (EUI) of 23 kBtu/sf/yr is highly efficient for the building type.
The U-shaped building respects the scale of its single-family neighborhood context, and alternating bays echo the rhythm of nearby historic homes. Strategic landscaping shields the parking lot from view and also provides shaded outdoor gathering space. Built in an old vacant lot that once belonged to a junior high school, La Mora is not only an affordable housing solution but also a model for climate-conscious, equitable development—expanding opportunities for Yonkers’ seniors to remain in their community, age in place with dignity, and live sustainably.
