Urbahn’s Project for Bowery Residents Committee
The Bowery Resident’s Committee (BRC) aims to serve New York City’s most vulnerable by providing them with housing and other necessary services. With 30 locations throughout the city, the BRC is dedicated to providing a number of services including mental and physical healthcare, treatment for substance abuse, workforce development, and opportunities for both transitional and permanent housing, just to name a few. The BRC’s many locations and exceptional outreach programs allow the organization to serve more than 10,000 people in New York City every year.
Urbahn Architects partnered with the Bowery Resident’s Committee to update a Brooklyn space with great potential. A recreational rooftop at the BRC’s Women’s Residence was experiencing too much heat and sun, limiting its use. In reimagining this rooftop environment, the scope included adding a new fabric shading system, updating existing furniture, painting pavers, and furniture, and adding planters to liven up the space. Urbahn’s goal was to transform the rooftop into a more welcoming space for residents.
Ennead’s Project for Concrete Safaris
Concrete Safaris is a nonprofit organization rooted in East Harlem whose mission is to enable healthy living for youth through outdoor education, play, and community engagement. In 2012, Concrete Safaris received approval from NYC Housing Authority to start a community garden at Jefferson Houses after they successfully built the largest children’s garden on public housing property at Washington Houses in 2009. Today, the two gardens provide over 2,000 pounds of produce for the community and local restaurants.
Ennead Architects and Clune Construction partnered with Concrete Safaris to expand their programming space in East Harlem’s Jefferson Gardens by building a central gathering space composed of benches and planters. The raised planters, adjacent the benches, will enable users with less mobility to contribute to harvesting. The new space will allow Concrete Safaris to host a range of educational and community activities, such as lessons on harvesting and poetry readings, and will contribute to Concrete Safari’s mission to enable healthy living for youth.
COOKFOX’s Project for Ali Forney Center
The mission of the Ali Forney Center is to protect LGBTQ youths from the harms of homelessness and empower them with the tools needed to live independently. The Center was founded in memory of Ali Forney, a gender-nonconforming teen who fled his home at 13. Ali was dedicated to helping other young people and publicly advocated for the safety of homeless LGBT youth, and this mission inspires the Center today. The Center’s services include medical care, counseling, housing, meals, and more for thousands of youths in New York.
COOKFOX Architects partnered with the Ali Forney Center in Sunset Park, Brooklyn to help with the renovation of one of their emergency housing sites in Brooklyn. The renovation included updating a kitchen, countertop and backsplash, installing new flooring, and painting walls to make the site a more welcoming, comfortable, and functional space for house residents and Center volunteers.
Kavitha Mathew, AIA, LEED AP, Director of Leadership and Engagement at AIA New York, will be accepting the Bea Arthur Award at the Ali Forney Center’s annual Fall gala, on October 25, 2019, in honor of this project.
FXCollaborative, NBBJ, Perkins Eastman, and SGVA’s Project for Rebuilding Together NYC
Rebuilding Together NYC’s mission is to transform the homes and lives of low-income New Yorkers by improving the safety and health of their homes and revitalizing our communities. We do this by providing free home repairs, accessibility modifications, community center renovations, and construction workforce training and job placement services for low-income residents. Four architecture firms joined forces to paint and spruce up this community center, including classrooms and a high ceiling gymnasium.
Francis Cauffman Architects and ENYA’s Project for Bowery Residents Committee
The Bowery Resident’s Committee (BRC), one of New York City’s leading nonprofit organizations, provides housing and health services to thousands of vulnerable New Yorkers. The BRC Jack Ryan Residence—located at 131 West 25th Street in Chelsea and funded by the NYC Department of Homeless Services—is a 200-bed shelter for homeless men and women living with mental illness. The shelter provides a complete range of mental and medical health stabilization, medication management, case management, and medical services through two BRC programs: the Chemical Dependency Crisis Center (which offers 24 beds of supportive medically monitored detoxification services through) and the BRC Reception Center (the only clinically-based transitional residence for homeless individuals with persistent mental illness in the city). The goal of the programs is placing its clients into appropriate, supportive housing within nine months.
Francis Cauffman Architects (FCA) and the AIANY Emerging New York Architects (ENYA) partnered with the BRC Jack Ryan Residence to visually renovate essential high-use common areas at the CDCC and Reception Center. Through close collaboration and a charrette process, FCA and ENYA aim to truly improve the environment and brighten the experience for clients during their residence.