The new Covenant House New York, a crisis shelter for homeless youth in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, provides a temporary home and multiple services for young people. The 80,000 sf structure includes 60 residential units and numerous amenities.
Designed by FXCollaborative, the structure offers a safe and respectful place to live, access to legal, physical, and mental health services, along with educational and spiritual support. The 12-story building is humanely scaled to contrast with the glass towers surrounding the site. Opaqueness and transparency are balanced, with more visual connections to the city within common spaces and more sheltered spaces in private areas. The building shell is composed of strong materials—brick, metal, and glass—while inside, elements of wood and fabric create warmth and comfort.
Services and administration are housed in the lower five floors, with residential rooms on the upper six floors. About 54,400 sf is above grade and 26,100 sf below grade. The main lobby welcomes people into the building, providing a singular identity and a central security point. A welcome center, a wellness center, and the CovCafé are located on the first floor. The café opens to a landscaped courtyard.
At the top of a gracious stair, Pride Hall, bathed in natural light extends out to a large, landscaped terrace with a variety of seating types and groupings. An art room and hope room are provided for youth expression and contemplation.
A gymnasium and small workout room occupies the lowest level of the building, along with a music room that includes a digital music production area. The building also includes dedicated classrooms, a computer room, and space for staff to support the employment and educational portions of the Covenant House’s mission. The fourth floor include spaces for behavioral health services.
Ten rooms on each residential floor offer a manageable neighborhood experience. With most rooms accommodating two people, the rooms can be configured for three or four if demand increases. A living room with a kitchenette is provided on each residential floor.
Throughout the building, individual bathroom and bathing facilities accommodate the gender identity of all who may come. This detail embodies the core values of Covenant House.
Owner: Covenant House International
Developer: Gotham Organization
Design architect: FXCollaborative
Architect of record: FXCollaborative
MEP engineer: Cosentini Associates
Structural engineer: DeSimone Consulting Engineers
General contractor/construction manager: Monadnock Construction
Related Stories
| Oct 12, 2010
Cuyahoga County Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, Cleveland, Ohio
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Gold Award. The Cuyahoga County Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument was dedicated on the Fourth of July, 1894, to honor the memory of the more than 9,000 Cuyahoga County veterans of the Civil War.
| Oct 12, 2010
Building 13 Naval Station, Great Lakes, Ill.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Gold Award. Designed by Chicago architect Jarvis Hunt and constructed in 1903, Building 13 is one of 39 structures within the Great Lakes Historic District at Naval Station Great Lakes, Ill.
| Oct 12, 2010
Full Steam Ahead for Sustainable Power Plant
An innovative restoration turns a historic but inoperable coal-burning steam plant into a modern, energy-efficient marvel at Duke University.
| Oct 12, 2010
From ‘Plain Box’ to Community Asset
The Mid-Ohio Foodbank helps provide 55,000 meals a day to the hungry. Who would guess that it was once a nondescript mattress factory?
| Oct 11, 2010
HGA wins 25-Year Award from AIA Minnesota
HGA Architects and Engineers won a 25-Year Award from AIA Minnesota for the Willow Lake Laboratory.
| Oct 11, 2010
MBMA Releases Fire Resistance Design Guide for metal building systems
The Metal Building Manufacturers Association (MBMA) announces the release of the 2010 Fire Resistance Design Guide for Metal Building Systems. The guide provides building owners, architects, engineers, specifiers, fire marshals, building code officials, contractors, product vendors, builders and metal building manufacturers information on how to effectively meet fire resistance requirements of a project with metal building systems.
| Oct 11, 2010
Rhode Island is the first state to adopt IGCC
Rhode Island is the first state to adopt the International Green Construction Code (IGCC). The Rhode Island Green Buildings Act identifies the IGCC as an equivalent standard in compliance with requirements that all public agency major facility projects be designed and constructed as green buildings. The Rules and Regulations to implement the Act take effect in October 2010.
| Oct 8, 2010
Union Bank’S San Diego HQ awarded LEED Gold
Union Bank’s San Diego headquarters building located at 530 B Street has been awarded LEED Gold certification from the Green Building Certification Institute under the standards established by the U.S. Green Building Council. Gold status was awarded to six buildings across the United States in the most recent certification and Union Bank’s San Diego headquarters building is one of only two in California.
| Oct 6, 2010
From grocery store to culinary school
A former West Philadelphia supermarket is moving up the food chain, transitioning from grocery store to the Center for Culinary Enterprise, a business culinary training school.
