Practicing ArchitectureAwards

2010 AIA Housing Award Recipient

Category 2: One and Two-Family Production Homes

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Notes of Interest

The project is the first phase of a two-acre urban renewal project on a site that has been vacant for more than sixty years. Positioned between Brooklyn’s downtown commercial core and adjacent historic neighborhoods, the project anchors the redevelopment by reconnecting the site to its residential neighbors.

Each house is a modern interpretation of the classic townhouse type. Together, the houses establish a unified but lively streetfront; the composition of each house is subtly varied to create quiet but distinct differences. A respectful dialogue between old and new guided the approach. Taking design cues from the historic houses adjacent and across the street, the townhouses’ facade planes, assembly details, openings, and entries produce a visually compelling procession. Development of fourteen individual homes provided a singular design opportunity; not since the late 1920’s has New York City seen a new uninterrupted blockfront of market-rate townhouses.

To help launch the project, a site-specific installation was designed and implemented that brought together the work of 42 designers and 25 artists, all Brooklyn-based, under one domestic roof. This “blockparty” engaged the design community and the neighborhood with open houses and public events over the course of several months.

The project participated in the NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority) program.