the beacon community facility
LOCATION: East Harlem, New York, NY
PROGRAM: Adaptive Re-use Community Facility
TOTAL AREA: 269,000 SF (Residential) and 66,500 SF (Multi Service Adaptive Re-Use)
CLIENT: The Community Builders + Ascendant Neighborhood Development
PARTNERS: NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development, W X Y Architecture, Victor Body Lawson, Terrain Landscape Architecture, Lettire Construction, ZeroEnergy Design, MaGrann Associates
We are proud to be part of the winning team for The Beacon, led by The Community Builders and Ascendant Neighborhood Development and including PCA, WXY Architecture, and Body Lawson Associates on the design team, selected by the NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development for the redevelopment of the East Harlem Multi-Service Center site at 413 East 120th Street.
The Beacon Multi-Service project is an adaptive re-use of the historic school building for new and diverse community facility uses, we proposed a Passive House level retrofit along with a glass rooftop addition. The sawtooth glass roof addition enhances the existing architectural character, creates dynamic new space for a greenhouse, gym and other uses, and gives the project its signature aesthetic by creating a beacon of light that will attract the community to the neighborhood amenities offered on site.
We feel strongly that maintaining the architectural fabric of neighborhoods - along with new construction where needed - is critical in a diverse and healthy city. This site represents a model for development: Providing a large new construction residential building to maximize new, affordable housing while breathing new life into a vital neighborhood institution that tethers the development to the history and social context of the community.
As leaders in reducing carbon emissions in construction, we strongly advocated that preserving viable existing buildings drastically reduces embodied carbon, and must be included in our roadmap towards carbon neutrality. The signature glass addition has a saw-tooth design that will hold rooftop solar PV. Throughout the project, there is proposed to be 280 kW of solar, offsetting 20% of the energy use of the development. By overlaying Passive House level design (both retrofit and for the new building) with adaptive re-use and renewable energy production, we believe The Beacon is a model for sustainable construction in New York City.
Our design for the adaptive re-use of 413 East 120th Street also features a flexible layout. By working within the existing structural grid but keeping the floor plate around a central hall structurally open, we design in the ability for the buildings’ future users to easily adapt the space to future needs. The ground floor of the existing building will be lowered for accessibility, and to create a direct connection with the street. Additionally, PCA proposed a covered walkway that connects the new residential development directly to the community facility building. Finally, in order to provide a double high glass roof addition that is contextual to the existing building, we proposed a slight lowering of the top floor.
Other key features of The Beacon development include::
The development will add 250-new affordable homes to East Harlem, of which 30% will be set aside for households that have experienced homelessness.
The new residential building will be constructed to the north of the existing East Harlem Multi-Service Center, which will be rehabilitated and expanded.
The original architecture of the multi-service center will be preserved and include additional space for after-school programming, a new atrium, green space, and the “Wagner Walk” walk path connecting the residential building to the multi-service facility.
PCA will be responsible for the design of the adaptive re-use of the existing East Harlem Multi-Service Center and the Wagner Walk. Additionally, PCA will lead the Passive House design approach for the entire project.
The PCA team is extremely proud to be part of The Beacon team, collaborating with The Community Builders, Ascendent Neighborhood Development and our design partners on the new building scope. We are excited to dive into the project and bring this excellent vision to life!
Check out HPD's full press release here