21st Street Condominiums, Brooklyn, NY
Old House/New House: The narrative for this project was driven by the site. An old frame house situated on an underdeveloped site sits directly adjacent to a church near Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn. The house was to be kept and altered while building a significant addition to the rear. Our solution was to accentuate the meeting of these two volumes both spatially and materially. The old house was gutted, stripped of its siding, structurally reinforced and clad in stucco. New windows were inserted as punched openings. The addition, which by code had to be of non-combustible construction, was built of steel framing and concrete floors, and clad in corrugated metal. Floor to ceiling windows face south, and strip windows open onto the lot line, framing views of the adjacent church. Because of the existing certificate of occupancy, a fire escape was required on the rear of the house. This became an opportunity to provide easy access to the roof deck and create a sculptural volume. The house is located within an R6B zoning district. This is contextual zoning. This project is in keeping with the existing three story buildings of the neighborhood, and maintains the existing street wall of the original house.