Studio Gang designs agricultural education center for the New York City Housing Authority

Earlier this month, the City of New York broke ground on the new $18.2 million Marlboro Agricultural Education Center (MAEC) at the New York City Housing Authority’s Marlboro Houses in Brooklyn.

In line with the mission of its nonprofit operator, The Campaign Against Hunger, MAEC aims to strengthen food autonomy and security in underserved neighborhoods. MAEC will provide Marlboro Houses with diverse, community-oriented programs.

Designed by the Studio Gang and built by Consigli Construction Co., the 9,900-sf center will feature a rooftop greenhouse for raising plants and fish. The second-floor greenhouse will serve as a learning lab for schoolchildren and visitors and will help young adults engage with local, sustainable food production. On the ground floor, flexible teaching and community spaces will offer cooking and nutrition classes, among other programs. In the winter, MAEC will host an indoor market.

The building’s large windows and generous sidewalk frontage aim to strengthen connections with the surrounding neighborhood. Entrances on multiple sides create physical and visual connections to the street and surrounding area. A small public terrace and planter garden will encourage visitors to stop by.

Located in a coastal flood zone, the building will be elevated, which also will create opportunities for street furniture. The sustainable design includes passive heating and cooling, solar access, all-electric systems, and rainwater storage and reuse. The project, which targets LEED Gold certification, will use materials with minimal maintenance for a lifecycle of over 60 years.

The MAEC project leverages a design-build project delivery method to remove lengthy contracting from the traditional delivery method that historically has been used for city capital projects, according to the City of New York’s press release. The design-build method also will shorten timelines and increase participation by minority- and women-owned businesses.

On the Building Team:
Project operator: The Campaign Against Hunger
Design architect: Studio Gang
Design-build contractor: Consigli Construction Co.
Landscape architect: Eponymous Practice
Structural engineer: Thornton Tomasetti
Civil engineer: Philip Habib & Associates
Geotechnical engineer: Langan
MEPFP: BALA Consulting Engineers
Greenhouse enclosure design: Prospiant

LPA Architects conducted a post-occupancy evaluation, or POE, of the eSTEM Academy, a new high school specializing in health/medical and design/engineering Career Technical Education, in Eastvale, Calif. The POE helped LPA, the Riverside County Office of Education, and the Corona-Norco Unified School District gain a better understanding of which design innovations—such as movable walls, flex furniture, collaborative spaces, indoor-outdoor activity areas, and a student union—enhanced the education program, and how well students and teachers used these innovations.

Resiliency | Jun 24, 2021

Oceanographer John Englander talks resiliency and buildings [new on HorizonTV]

New on HorizonTV, oceanographer John Englander discusses his latest book, which warns that, regardless of resilience efforts, sea levels will rise by meters in the coming decades. Adaptation, he says, is the key to future building design and construction.