The current  Bushwick Inlet site is, quite objectively, an ugly place. Urban decay took its toll over the past several decades, leaving the area as an unkempt, fenced off lot. Rusted scrap metal and miscellaneous garbage plague the entire site. The view of the Manhattan skyline is mostly blocked by either high chain-link fences.  The few parts that are not blocked soon will be by an upcoming residential tower. Greenery is rare, appearing only as the odd bush or awkward blade of grass poking through the asphalt.

My project is an upwards peeling of the ground to both combat the boring flatness of the site and bring visitors higher and offer a clearer view of the river and of Manhattan architecture. This ramp-like structure adds much needed verticality to the site and features a green roof with recreational programming, such as a fitness center and a river lookout. This elevated space will cover the fire station and adjacent museum below, boldly mixing the daily lives of the firefighters and the general public. My project will give back to the community what they were promised years ago; a lush, friendly area.

The site is comprised of two streets forming an irregular angle on the north and east sides and the Bushwick Inlet cutting away to form the south and west sides. The irregular angle is due to the convergence of three city grids on our site, all of which are taking equal prominence and lacking order. My project seeks to define a new, rational set of rules for shaping the site and surrounding areas through the transition from old to new and overall gentrification of the area. Taking cues for the Neoplasticism movement, there is a bounding box subdivided into four zones, pertaining to program, that form a hierarchy from the street corner to the park. The spaces dividing these zones are large open atriums that imply a path from the city into the park by means of the building and encourage public interaction with the fire station. The building itself is subdivided into different spaces at regular angles and in ways that further imply a grid through the entire space.

The Bushwick Inlet Park in Brooklyn, NY boasts scenic views of the East River and Manhattan, recreational facilities and playgrounds for members of the public to utilize, and an exquisite waterfront district that acts as the unifying element between the Greenpoint and Williamsburg neighborhoods. Situated just north of the park is a fire station that services these facilities and their surrounding developments. Intended to act as a metamorphosis between the free flowing nature of the water found to the west of the site (in the East River) and the heavy urbanity that defines the site’s eastern borders, the site of the Brooklyn fire station is reminiscent of the roadways, traffic patterns, and streets that once existed there in the late-nineteenth century. By extending 15th Street to create an intersection at 15th Street and Quay Street, the now triangular shape of the site (as defined by a roadway system of 15th Street, Quay Street, and Franklin Street) is extremely influential in the overall design of the fire station.

Five apparatus bays and a maintenance bay make up the emergency components of the structure. These emergency systems are angled eastward (perpendicular to 15th Street) towards the urban portions of Brooklyn so as to provide as efficient of an exit and re-entry passage as possible for emergency vehicles. Upon entry into the public portions of the fire station, visitors may choose to walk towards the back of the structure (where they will find the educational spaces) or to ascend the grand staircase and arrive at the exhibits that make up the facility’s visitors center. The private residential components of the fire station can also be found on this second floor. These rooms are arranged in the shape of an “L,” which overlooks the Manhattan skyline on one side and the facility’s green roof on the other. Immediately outside the fire station, the Monitor Museum is situated at the intersection of Franklin and 15th Street so that it can be seen as a prominent cultural aspect within the city. There exists a public gathering space in between the backside of the museum and the outside of the fire station’s public education spaces so as to provide an environment for all members of and visitors to the community to gather together. This space provides a human metamorphosis of ideas, beliefs, and knowledge, in a very similar to manner to what the site provides for the surrounding region as a whole.

Jacob K. Javits Convention Center – James Ingo Freed http://www.aiachicago.org/dea_archive/2014/jacob-k.-javits-convention-center-renovation