SARATOGA AVENUE COMMUNITY CENTER

Location: Brooklyn, New York
Architect & Designer: George Ranalli
Project Architect: Mario Gentile
Project Team: Olivier Calderari, Brock Danner, Price Harrison, Fran Leadon

The New York City Housing Authority commissioned the renovation of an existing community facility in an 18 story housing block building and a 3,500 sq.ft. addition to that facility in a new building. The project is located on Saratoga Avenue in Brooklyn with the existing housing block and several other buildings sharing the site.

The commission is to renovate the existing 1,500 sq.ft. on the ground floor of the existing building converting the space to a more useable and finished space for the recreational programs sponsored by city agencies. Attached to this we are asked to add a new meeting room, kitchen, bathrooms, and a new directors office. The new meeting room is to be used for recreational activities during the day, youth meetings in the evening, and a rental party space on weekends. It is to be added at the north side of the site as this is in proximity to the existing community center.

The strategy for the project is to add a large masonry building to the eastern edge of the site and attached to a small retail building. This block is connected to the existing building by a long hall perforated with doors and windows for entry and light. The directors office is added as a small mass on the west side of the large room. The building is designed in masonry units which give a density and massive quality to the new structure. The wall is perforated with an array of windows and doors for light and view. At the roof there is a steel structure which is exposed and sits on top of paired steel columns. All details of the edge of the wall are covered with a cast masonry detail to protect the cavity of the construction. There are two main landscape spaces on the site. The first is a small space off Hancock Street which is adjacent to an existing sitting area. The second outdoor room is a larger terrace space adjacent to the entry doors and the main window door configuration of the assembly room. This terrace is bounded by a community wall on the south side and a movie screen on the east.

The design of the building is a reevaluation of the idea of public construction seen as durable, strong, and permanent. The walls and forms of the structure also explore the use of multiple masonry units which compose the running surface and edges and joints to the frame and glass openings. In the composition of the plan, the social spaces of the landscape as well as the interior volumes of space are designed to work in concert with each other as places of public assembly at the large and small scale range. Each space is connected to the adjacent one so that there is a flow and movement between each which anticipates the programs and events that will ultimately become its history.