Our designated site is located between the edge of the East River looking towards Manhattan, and the city grid of Brooklyn. My idea was to combine these two different parts of our site and apply them on my building. To address the slopes found on the shoreline, I created a unique roof made of triangular shapes, a lightweight steel design based on the inherent structural efficiencies of the Buckminster Fuller geodesic dome. By giving the roof this peculiar shape, I am creating an energy-efficient building, and an expansive column-free space due to the series of triangles giving the roof the strength it needs to stand. This will be covering the living/public spaces of the firehouse, and will be attached to the Apparatus Bay. The last mentioned would be used to address the sharp corner found on our site created by two main streets intersecting. The roof and the apparatus bay are intended to be two different pieces that come together harmoniously, creating a connection with the different scenarios found in our site.

Image by: Geometrica

The People’s Firehouse established by the people for the people boasts its history and tradition. The site for the proposed firehouse located on a prominent corner in the warehouse district on the water addresses the streets of Brooklyn by responding to the extended street grid through the site. The resulting form and spaces take cues from the established grid. The apparatus bay is positioned along the main street for quick exit and entry during calls. The office and visitor center is separated from the main building housing the apparatus bay and residential spaces by a continued avenue through the site that leads to the boat dock. The west side of the building faces Manhattan and Bushwick Inlet Park and has a stepping green roof occupiable by the public. By addressing the history of Brooklyn through the spaces created within the building and providing an occupiable green roof for the public, the new People’s Firehouse will continue to protect the neighborhoods of Greenpoint and Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York, while maintaining its historical identity in the gentrifying scene.

Photocredit:

LA Museum of the Holocaust

Found on lamoth.org

The site lies between three orthogonality gridded neighborhoods in Greenpoint, New York creating a convergence point.  These three avenues have formed the main entrances into the building complex, also shaping a semi-public courtyard. The intersecting paths divide up the square to form three separate buildings, living, administrative, and work.  In both plan and section the perimeter of the building is a simple square, but on the inside angular geometries create a more interesting space.  Sloped glass walls facing the interior courtyard will let the maximum amount of light into the buildings and contrast with the more solid exterior walls.  By reaching out into the surrounding neighborhoods the community will be pulled into the heart of the firehouse reestablishing a sense of family.

Fassio-Viaud architects
Photographer: J-B Viaud