Beyer Blinder Belle completes Brooklyn skyscraper on "flatiron-like site"
Architecture studio Beyer Blinder Belle has completed The Brook in Downtown Brooklyn, a 52-storey mixed-use skyscraper that was informed by historic Brooklyn architecture.
The Brook sits in a triangular site next to the Brooklyn Tower at the confluence of DeKalb Avenue, Flatbush Avenue and Fulton Street, in one of "the most prominent and complex intersections in the entire borough", according to international American studio Beyer Blinder Belle (BBB).
"It creates a gateway to Brooklyn's central business district," said BBB. "Accentuating the unique geometry of its flatiron-like site to create a high-rise that feels uniquely grounded in its context."
The building rises 600 feet (183 metres) and contains 591 apartments, 30 per cent of which are listed as affordable, with amenity floors and retail space on its lower levels.
Its volume consists of a series of setbacks, one that runs horizontally along its base, and the other along its Fulton Street facade.
The studio says it used the setbacks to create a "different visual experience" along each side.
"On the tower's north facade, a series of setbacks play off the angles caused by the intersecting streets, breaking the building mass into three tiers plus a crown, reducing its overall scale, and creating separation from the neighbouring high-rise, Brooklyn's tallest," said BBB.
"As a result, the massing offers a different visual experience of the building from all four sides."
Its facade features punched windows set within 8-inch-deep aluminium-composite metal frames, which have a champagne-and-bronze colouration that calls back to the masonry palette of historic Brooklyn neighbourhoods, according to the studio.
The material choice was also selected to distinguish the building from the "many glazed high-rises" that have recently been built in Downtown Brooklyn.
On the interior, the building contains amenities such as a coworking space and basketball court on its second through fourth floors, which top out in a wedge-shaped terrace and outdoor pool.
The residential entrance is located on Fulton Street, and runs through "a subtly narrowing passageway" into a double-height atrium lobby.
The interior palette and other details, such as biophilic wall installations, were selected to "help residents decompress".
"Taken as a whole, the Brook elevates the Downtown Brooklyn skyline while remaining grounded in the scale, materiality, and daily life of the borough," said BBB.
The studio recently completed a headquarters building up town in Harlem for The National Urban League and led historic preservation on the renovation of New York's Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library.
The photography is by Jeff Goldberg/Esto
Project credits:
Architect/interior designer: Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners
Partner-in-charge: Carlos J. Cardoso, Zoning partner: Cassie S. Walker, Design partner: Richard Metsky, Project manager: Orest Krawciw, Project architect: Miguel Angel Maldonado, Design team: Mei Chu, Mary George, Jihoon Hyun, Kyung Jae Yu, Tyler Kreshover, Felix Scull, Robert Stackhouse
Interior designer: Bonetti/Kozerski Architecture
Landscape architect: MPFP
Structural engineer: DeSimone Consulting Engineers
MEP/FP Engineer, AV/Acoustics/IT: Cosentini Associates
Acoustical consultant: AKRF
Civil engineer: Langan
Lighting designer: BOLD
Code/Life safety: Holmes Keogh Associates (HKA)
ADA Code consultant: United Spinal Association
Vertical transportation: VDA
Fire alarm, fire protection, FDNY consultant:
Tower Consulting Engineers
Waste/Recycling consultant: Cini Little International
Code/Expediting: JAM Consultants
Design, marketing & leasing consultant:
Nancy Packes, Inc.
GC/CM: Suffolk Construction
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