7 Award of Merit
Award of Merit
Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility Brooklyn, New York Selldorf Architects New York, New York Design Architect
WCNY Public Television & Radio Syracuse, New York King + King Architects, LLP Syracuse, New York Architect of Record
Steven Gambino Architects Staten Island, New York Architect of Record
Koning Eizenberg Architecture Santa Monica, CA Design Architect
Photo Credit: Nikolas Koenig
Photo Credit: Matthew Williams Photography
The Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility is a processing center for New York City’s curbside metal, glass, and plastic recyclables which is being undertaken by Sims Municipal Recycling and the City of New York.
The WCNY public television & radio broadcasting headquarters is one of several anchor tenants located in the adaptive re-use of a previous manufacturing facility, which had sat abandoned for more than 20 years. Originally initiated by a comprehensive community based master plan, the design was to identify an approach for urban development reconnecting the neighborhood with the downtown through a series of open and shared public spaces.
The Education Center is one of the project’s most unique features, the structure contains programs for school children and the public including classrooms, exhibitions, and interactive demonstration displays. A key element of the design is a steel bridge which connects the Education Center to a viewing platform inside the Processing Facility where the viewing platform allows students and visitors to see the recycling process in action. The facility makes a major environmental contribution by delivering recyclables by barge—a strategy which minimizes the distance collection trucks must travel and eliminates 240,000 miles of annual vehicle travel from roadways. Recycled materials are used throughout and other sustainable measures include one of the largest applications of photovoltaics in New York City, a forthcoming wind turbine and bioswales for stormwater management. Jury Comments: As a project focused on environmental issues, 102 Sunset seems to walk the walk of sustainability. It employs creative use of materials commonly associated with industrial building typology and elevates industrial vocabulary into a celebratory role while not being gratuitous. It has a functional layout with spirit.
The design maximizes flexibility by taking advantage of many programmatic adjacencies. On the interior, a large thirty-foot long acoustical door joins the television studios, the public courtyard serves as an outdoor workspace for staff and provides additional seating for the café and at night, this space can also be transformed into an open-air community cinema and event space. Jury Comments: WCNY is playful and welcoming and creates identity and community for this client. The design includes a complement of old and new elements and the planning captures nicely scaled community outdoor space.