Historic housing complex expands amenities
This month the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is opening a community center in the Williamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn. The $6 million center is one of several that NYCHA is building to improve recreational and educational facilities for residents.
NYCHA worked with architects at locally based Pasanella + Klein Stolzman + Berg (PKSB) to create the facility as part of NYCHA’s approximately $274 million broad capital improvement plan. The center is intended to complement the neighborhood’s historic Williamsburg Houses, a 24-building public housing complex built in 1938 and recently designated a city landmark. A large percentage of visitors to the center are expected to be from the Williamsburg Houses, but the facility is open to the entire community.
Prior to the completion of the center, the housing complex, which has 3,109 residents, had only two meeting rooms for activities. Now residents will have access to a gymnasium, a dance studio, an art studio with a dark room, computer facilities, a performance stage, a recording studio and a commercial kitchen.
The new center plays off the design of the Williamsburg Houses with the use of geometric lines and bright materials, so that it is reminiscent of a large, transparent Rubik’s cube. Flexibility was the main theme for designers, as they wanted the facility to accommodate the community’s future needs. Therefore, many of the spaces within the center are equipped with moveable partitions, large garage-like doors and perforated steel walls.
The center covers 21,000 square feet and is surrounded by several outdoor pavilions. An indoor basketball court leads to an outdoor court, which sits next to a park. The center’s outdoor amenities include a playground, a picnic area and a place for senior citizens to cultivate plants. The center can accommodate up to 595 people for special occasions and large community events.
The exterior of the building is primarily glass, which serves several purposes beyond the aesthetic, including those of marketing and security. Howard Marder, public information officer for NYCHA, explains that the glass works to “get kids in” with glimpses of the shiny basketball courts, and, once they are in, a myriad of options will keep the kids and other residents coming back to explore. Plenty of windows make it easy for the 13 staff members to monitor activities throughout the center.
The second floor of the community center features two replicas of Works Progress Administration (WPA) murals that were commissioned by the government for the public housing complex in the 1930s. The recreation rooms that originally housed the abstract murals were transformed over the years into offices and storage space. The murals disappeared for a time, some hidden behind boxes, others actually painted over. During the 1970s, the murals — then known only to a few historians — were discovered, restored and placed in the Brooklyn Museum. The replicas are based on two murals in the museum that were painted by Balcomb Greene and Ilya Bolotowsky.
The center won a public projects competition sponsored by NYCHA in 1997, was included in the New New York 3 exhibition of public projects in 2002 and received the Best of Competition Award at International Interior Design 2003. NYCHA officials are hoping the center is a hit with area residents as well.