Project Description
FROM THE ARCHITECTS:
Studio Libeskind has been selected as part of the design team to create 197 affordable housing units and provide more than 10,000 square feet of community space for residents at the Sumner Houses in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood of Brooklyn. The team includes Selfhelp Community Services, RiseBoro Community Partnership, and Urban Builders Collaborative/Lettire.
The project contributes to Housing New York 2.0’s “Seniors First” program, a commitment to build senior housing on NYCHA-owned land. For the duration of the 99-year ground lease, the apartments at Sumner Houses will be affordable to extremely low, very low, and low-income individuals.
“I am extremely grateful and inspired by this opportunity to contribute to the Bed-Stuy community,” said architect Daniel Libeskind. “I believe I can speak for our entire team that our goal is to serve the senior community by creating homes that give a sense of civic pride and create more much needed affordable housing in New York City,” added Libeskind.
Located in the park-like setting of the existing Sumner Houses campus, the building will feature 129,928 square feet of affordable senior housing within 10 stories, coupled with a ground-level community facility of 10,285 square feet along Marcus Garvey Blvd.
The design features a dynamic, yet rational, geometric form that is interrupted with a pattern of open and solid elements. The design team’s goal was to create an active interaction with the street and surrounding context. Bold diagonal lines wrap the building at angles that rise from the ground, creating a folding form that breaks down the massing at street-level. A glazed entrance lobby creates a transparent and open connection to the street. The residential facility is organized as a courtyard building, with corridors looking inward toward a central green public space. Construction is slated to be completed by 2020.