STATION

Mixed-Use Commercial-Residential Development
with Ross Woolley (Woolley Morris Architects)
Princeton Junction, New Jersey
Completed Spring 2021

Panoramic Construction Photo

Construction Closeout Photo: Mixed-Use Apartment, Rowhouses

A private client’s mixed-use commercial-residential complex near the Princeton Junction Train Station in New Jersey. Sited within a township redevelopment zone, this project consists of six conjoined two-and-one-half-story row houses for sale, and a two-story building containing 17 apartments above a 12,000 square-foot ground floor of commercial space for rent.

Commercial Ground Floor Plan // Residential Second Floor Plan

The mixed-use building has a steel structure on the commercial floor, with the upper residential floor framed in wood.

Typical Wall Sections

Typical Storefront Plan Details

West Elevation: Princeton Hightstown Rd.

Construction Closeout Photo: West Elevation

The building’s traditional formal aesthetic and earth-tone color palette are designed to comply with the context and ordinance of the local township. With a five-minute walk time from the building site to the train station, or a five-minute drive time to the Route 1 highway, the project is oriented towards working class early-career professionals who have been priced out of the housing market of the Princeton municipality and the surrounding single-family residential enclaves.

Typical Apartment Unit Plans

The 17 apartments consist of nine one-bedroom units, seven two-bedroom units, and one three-bedroom units.

Construction Photos

Constructed within a stilted market economy, this project is subject to the complications of the contemporary architectural addiction to the “Quadrivium Industrial Complex” of steel, concrete, glass, and plastic, as described by Mark Jarzombek. As with most American architecture built during the late 2010s and early 2020s, the project’s realization was impeded by exigencies of COVID-era issues with onsite construction, offsite manufacturing, US tariffs on Chinese goods and raw materials, and additional global supply chain bottlenecks. These forces clashed with a persistent mandate from client and contractor for value engineering and cost optimization. Working within these budgetary constraints, we continued to advocate for the most durable and hygienic built-in kitchen and bathroom materials possible; to retain as many in-unit laundry stacks as possible; and for additional resident amenities (including bolstered acoustic insulation, substantial HVAC systems, and energy-efficient wall and window assemblies). Throughout this process, our primary concern was comfort and habitability for the occupant — our foremost constituent.

Mark Jarzombek, “The Quadrivium Industrial Complex” in e-flux architecture (November 11, 2019). https://www.e-flux.com/architecture/overgrowth/296508/the-quadrivium-industrial-complex/.