Brooklyn, NY

Completion Date: December 2010

Owner: Common Ground

Program: A seven-story, 63,000-square-foot apartment building in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn. Designed for homeless and lower-income seniors, the Domenech belongs to a network of supportive housing developments by the nonprofit Common Ground. Rents are subsidized by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); residents contribute 30 percent of their income. The 72-unit building includes 54 one-bedroom apartments, 18 studios, and a library, and occupies a lot that is 155 deep and only 80 feet wide.

Design concept and solution: The architects needed to fit a large number of units onto the deep and narrow site, on a budget of less than $300 per square foot, while creating a bright and welcoming environment for tenants. Departing from HUD's usual matchbox-style rubric, the Kirschenfeld team used a C-shaped arrangement of single-loaded corridors to take advantage of the depth of the site. A central courtyard brings light to all the units, while the corridors around the perimeter are also bathed in light coming in from the site's edges. To help squeeze the most space out of the lot's narrow width, the architects ran the bearing walls of the concrete structure along the short side of the building. This choice allowed them to use a very thin Kalwall panel system for the courtyard facade. The translucent panels with inlaid windows form an expansive checkerboard pattern that lets light through without compromising privacy. In keeping with the style of the neighborhood, the street-facing facades are clad in iron-spot brick. Sustainable features such as a green roof, water-saving plumbing, and locally made concrete planking have the project on track for LEED Gold certification.

Total construction cost:
$19 million

Location:
1501–1505 St. Marks Avenue, Brooklyn, NY

People

Owner: Common Ground

Architect:
Jonathan Kirschenfeld Architect, PC.
45 East 20th St, 5th floor
New York, NY 10003
T: (212) 219-9931
F: (212) 219-9934

Personnel in architect's firm who should receive special credit:
Jonathan Kirschenfeld RA (Project Architect)

Jason Gibbs (Project Manager)
Adrian Vasile
Pedro Pulido

Architect of record
Jonathan Kirschenfeld Architect, PC.

Interior designer
Jonathan Kirschenfeld Architect, PC.

Engineer(s)
Mechanical Engineer: Reynaldo C. Prego P.E.

Structural Engineer: Robert Silman, Associates, P.C.

Consultant(s)
Robert Schwartz and Associates (specifications)
Philip Angel Expediting, Inc. (expediting)
Paragon Building Consultants (expediting)
Curtis B. Wayne (construction consultant)

General contractor
Glenman Industrial & Commercial Contractors, Corp.

Photographer(s)
Philippe Baumann 212-253-8664
Jason Gibbs 212-219-9931
Pedro Pulido 212-219-9931

Renderer(s)
Jonathan Kirschenfeld Architect

CAD system, project management, or other software used:
AutoCAD

 

Products

Structural system
CMU bearing walls and precast concrete plank
(Plank by Oldcastle Precast Building Systems)

Exterior cladding
Masonry:
Endicott Clay Products (face brick)

Metal/glass curtainwall:
Tubelite curtainwall & storefront
(installed by Monsey Glass)

EIFS, ACM, or other:   
Sto (EIFS)
Abet Laminati (rainscreen)
DalTile (glass tile)

Roofing
Built-up roofing: Firestone SBS

Elastomeric:Henry

Other:   
LiveRoof (modular green roof system)
Hanover Architectural Products (concrete pavers)

Windows
Steel:
Crystal Windows

Aluminum:
Crystal Windows

Glazing
Insulated-panel or plastic glazing: 
Kalwall  
(installed by Monsey Glass)

Doors
Entrances: Tubelite

Metal doors: Long Island Fireproof Door

Hardware
Locksets: Yale

Hinges: Stanley

Closers: Norton

Exit devices: Yale

Interior finishes
Cabinetwork and custom woodwork: 
DuPont Corian (kitchen counters)
Digifabshop (custom millwork)

Paints and stains: PPG

Resilient flooring:  Marmoleum

Glazed CMU: Clayton Spectra-Glaze

Furnishings
kitchen appliances: GE / Hotpoint

Lighting
Interior ambient lighting:
Cooper
Shaper
Lamar
Mercury

Downlights:
Lightolier
Focal Point

Task lighting:
Lamar

Exterior:
B-K Lighting (exterior LED)
Cooper (bollards)
Hadco (recessed steplyte)

Conveyance
Elevators/Escalators:
KONE Ecospace elevators

Plumbing
Crane Plumbing (toilets)
American Standard (bath lavatories and faucets)
Delta (kitchen faucets)
Zurn (shower valves)
Fiat (terrazzo shower receptors)
Just Manufacturing (kitchen sinks)