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Transitional Services for New
York Inc.
Queens, N.Y.
Gary Shoemaker Architects
Community-Based Services Agency Housed
in Miesian Glass Box
© Paul Warchol |
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& drawings' above.
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behind this project click on 'people & products.'
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Transitional Services for New
York, Inc.(TSI), is a not-for-profit, multi-faceted mental
health agency that provides community-based services to individuals
with mental disabilities. Their new administrative offices
facility, which includes the renovation of an existing building
built in 1954, focuses on preserving the split-level structure’s
bones, namely the existing floors, roof, and steel structure.
The design interventions concentrated on clipping on a new
aluminum and glass skin/cage to the existing structural system,
creating a new exterior facade; reconfiguring the interiors
to suit the new tenants needs; and establishing a new symbolic
anchor, in both a physical and conceptual sense, in the form
of a new conically shaped conference room.
The building is a glass box, which is
depressed five feet below the sidewalk level with continuous
light wells across its front and rear. The logic for the renovation
is influenced by Mies’s Farnsworth House and Philip Johnson’s
Glass House. While the Farnsworth is an object floating in
the landscape and the Glass House is an object come to rest
on the landscape, this structure actually nestles into its
surroundings, subtlety downplaying its scale in deference
to its neighbors. Materials were selected for cost effectiveness
and durability. Major finishes include split and ground face
concrete block, brick and block, and particle board paneling.
Colors were selected to reflect the energy and diversity of
the children, their families, and the neighborhood.
Formal name
of building:
Transitional Services for New York Inc.
Location:
Queens, N.Y.
Gross square
footage:
7000 sq. ft.
Total construction
cost:
$1.1 million
Client:
Transitional Services for New York Inc.
Architect's
firm:
Gary Shoemaker Architects, PC
55 John Street 17th Floor
New York NY 10038
T 212-766-9915
F 212-766-1594
www.gsarchitects.com
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