With the gentrification happening in Brooklyn, New York there are proposals for new residential and commercial high rises, and schools. In the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn, there is a need for a new firehouse to provide sufficient services to the increase in population. Situated on the corner of Quay Street and Franklin Street, the firehouse becomes a community beacon by rising above the historical industrial neighborhood.

The stacked program provides height to compete with the new high rise and becomes more private as you move up. The circulation “rod” allows for a central circulation core to each level providing an easy, fast access for the firefighters to reach the apparatus bay through an escape chute. The rod allows for the stacked program to be pushed and pulled creating green roof terraces and providing views of Manhattan. To promote more community involvement, the firehouse is also becoming the North Brooklyn Children’s Garden (NBCG) as the community will have access to the green roofs; and the children from the proposed new schools can come learn and plat foods and vegetables, and the community can host events there as well. The materiality of the building also uses a concrete framing system with Elm wood panels, which are local sources, to bring back the idea of the historical wooden firehouses and also celebrate the new concrete framed structures being built.

The firehouse becomes a hinge point for community members, both new and old, to experience the past and present.

Photo Information:

Website: http://www.archdaily.com/417868/aguas-claras-house-ramon-coz-benjamin-ortiz

Designers: Ramon Coz + Benjamin Ortiz

Photographer: Sergio Pirrone