brick chip APARTMENTS
Bed-STUY, Brooklyn
SITUATION: Inspired by AN area's stucco, stone-faced, and brick row houses, this multi-family repurposes traditional materials into a sustainable design that blends INTO its historic surroundings.
IDEA: use recycled brick chips AS A FACADE TEXTURE to connect WITH THE SURROUNDING BUILDINGS
1. background
The project is a 7 unit multi-family apartment building located in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Drawing from the area’s streetscape of 1900’s era stucco, stone faced, and brick row houses, the project repurposes these traditional materials into a sustainable design that blends into its surrounding neighborhood context.
2. facade
The facade is an idea about using traditional brick in a contemporary way. Not as a structural unit, but as a texture. Using pea-sized chips of recycled brick and embedding them into red pigmented cement stucco creates a gritty, tactile surface and conceals dirt with its shadow and patina. The finish wraps the building on 3 sides. Each is divided into panels and window openings to give the building a prefabricated but contextual appearance.
3. lobby
A 2001-esque mirrored niche greets tenants in the vestibule. A result of the cellar stair enclosure penetrating through the lobby, this counter area can be used for packages, floral arrangements, or a simple mirror for checking appearances.
4. hall and stairway
A split rib block was selected as the building’s structure. The block’s fluting and rough texture form the finish of the hallway and stairway helping to reduce the amount of material used for the construction. Lot line windows provide corridors and apartment units increased natural light. They also provide views of the contrasting interior and exterior materials.
5.stair lightwell
At the top of the stairway a mirrored lightwell below a skylight redirects natural and artificial light down into the stairs below.
6. APARTMENT units
The units are small but bright and self contained. Off white walls, light wood floors and white cabinets are complemented by reddish terrazzo and grey green tiles to create a calm and cosy feel. Units are fully electric and contain washer/dryer, dishwasher, as well as heat pump driven heating and cooling systems.
7. blending
The brick church’s proximity led to a design that uses but does not replicate traditional brick construction. Rather, the brick chip facade texture blends the contemporary and traditional with sustainable practices in a reinterpretation of the neighborhood’s architecture.
information
Completion: 2024
Gross floor area": 5,500ft²
Client: J.Kaye
Project architect: RESITUATED Architecture
Structural engineer: A Degree of Freedom PLLC
Mechanical engineer: ATOZ Consulting Engineers PC
Facade: Sessa Plastering
Photographer: Chris Mottalini