December 19, 2022 by

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

The design objective of the project is to enhance how the Schomburg Center interfaces with the public and with the surrounding Harlem community by displaying portions of its vast collection and current events to the street.

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is one of the world’s leading research facilities devoted to the preservation of materials on the global African and African diaspora experiences. The Center is a research unit of the New York Public Library dedicated to collecting, preserving and providing access to materials documenting black life, and promoting the study and interpretation of the history and culture of peoples of African descent.

The design objective of this project is to enhance how the Schomburg Center interfaces with the public and with the surrounding Harlem community by displaying portions of its vast collection and current events to the street. Features of the design include high definition LED display systems, interactive information panels, display windows for historical artifacts, and a new landscape plaza with distinctive paving, plantings, and seating adjacent to the display areas. The project also includes a new gift shop and conference room building addition along with interior renovations of the Center’s Manuscripts, Archives & Rare Books Division.

Location

New York, NY

Project Type

Renovation, Addition

Completed

2017

MFA Design Team

Scott Marble, Karen Fairbanks, Steve Pitman, Annie Suratt, Adam Marcus, Katie Shima, Rodrigo Zamora, Peter Adams, Jason Roberts, Doreen Lam, Benjamin Hait, Adrienne Penaloza, Keenan Korth

Structural Engineer

Robert Silman Associates

MEP Engineers

Plus Group PLLC

Civil Engineer

Leonard J. Strandberg & Associates

Lighting Design

Richard Shaver Architectural Lighting

General Contractor

Westerman Construction Co, Inc

Landscape Architect

SCAPE / Landscape Architecture

LEED Consultant

Vidaris Inc.

Historic Preservation

Li/Saltzman Architects

Facade Consultant

Front Inc.

Client

New York City Department of Design and Construction, New York Public Library, The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Recognition

Design Award of Merit

SARA NY Design Awards

Public Space

Architect’s Newspaper Best of Design Awards

LEED Silver

January 3, 2023 by

Mind-Builders Creative Arts Center

Mind-Builders is a cultural institution in the Bronx that provides a range of programs and classes in the performing arts for children and adults of all ages. It was founded in 1978 by a former public school teacher with the goal of providing quality dance and music instruction to families in her neighborhood.

This project consists of a gut renovation of the 12,000 sf, 4 story building to provide dance studios, performance spaces, music rooms, classrooms, and offices. Most of the instruction spaces are designed as multi-functional to allow flexibility in the scheduling and types of classes offered. Classrooms on the first-floor house a daycare program during the day and are then converted to dance studios for evening and weekend classes. The main dance studio on the second floor can be used for large classes or subdivided with a movable wall into two smaller classes and can also be utilized for large public performances.

All new mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems, a new elevator, and egress stairs are included in the renovation. The design and documentation was done entirely with BIM technology. The project is registered with the United States Green Building Council and achieved a LEED silver rating.

Location

Bronx, NY

Client

NYC Department of Design and Construction

Year

2013

MFA Design Team

Scott Marble, Karen Fairbanks, Adam Marcus, Jennifer Downey, Stacey Murphy, Alexis Coir, Robert Booth, Milan Dale, Darren Zhou, Rodrigo Zamora

Structural Engineers

Liam O’Hanlon Engineering

LEED Engineers

Viridian Energy & Environmental

Lighting Design

Richard Shaver Architectural Lighting

Landscape Architect

SCAPE / Landscape Architecture

Recognition

LEED Silver

January 4, 2023 by

Glen Oaks Branch Library

Queens Library

This project replaces an existing one story facility with a new 18,000sf high performance, LEED certified building located at the juncture of a low scale commercial/institutional area with a suburban residential neighborhood.

Glen Oaks Branch Library replaces an existing one story facility with a new 18,000sf high performance, LEED certified building located at the juncture of a low scale commercial/institutional area with a suburban residential neighborhood. The program includes reading rooms on all three levels, a cybercenter, and community meeting spaces.

The above grade massing and material treatment respond to the very different site conditions on each elevation, while the interior library spaces are open plans with reading rooms on all three levels.

As the building area required is double that allowable by zoning, half of the interior spaces are placed below grade. A double-height space adjacent to the building entry and three strip skylights in the plaza bring light through a contoured ceiling to define more specific reading areas in the reading room below. The profile of the contoured ceiling is read at the double-height space, making a visual connection between the plaza surface and the ceiling surface, accentuating the artificiality of the ground. The landscape strategy takes into account the ground surface’s dual role as an outdoor public space and its inversion as the roof of the cellar below, exploring the relationship between artifice and nature.

A large picture-window along the front elevation provides views into and out of the second floor children’s area, while also satisfying the Library’s desire to provide a civic identity to the community. Other exterior materials, including channel glazing and fiber cement board paneling, merge the scale of the library to Union Turnpike and its residential adjacencies.

Location

Queens, NY

Client

NYC Department of Design and Construction

Year

2013

MFA Design Team

Scott Marble, Karen Fairbanks, Robert Booth, Mallory Shure, Jake Nishimura, Eric Ng, Adam Marcus, Stacey Murphy, Katie Shima, Christopher Kroner, Andrew Colopy, Jane Lea, Darren Zhou, Jennifer Downey, Alexis Coir

MEP Engineers

Plus Group PLLC

Structural Engineer

Buro Happold Consulting Engineers

Geotechnical Engineers

Langan

Lighting Design

Richard Shaver Architectural Lighting

Landscape Architect

SCAPE / Landscape Architecture

Recognition

Design Award of Merit

SARA National

Landscape Architecture Design Merit Award

American Society of Landscape Architects

American Architecture Award

The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design

Design Excellence

Queens Chamber of Commerce

A+ Awards Special Mention

Architizer

Building of the Year

American-Architects

Design Merit Award

AIA New York

Design Award of Honor

SARA/NY

LEED Gold

Process

December 19, 2022 by

Department of English Building

This project for New York University’s Department of English includes the complete renovation of an 8-story building near Washington Square Park.

The building houses faculty offices and administrative spaces for the department, as well as some shared meeting spaces. The first floor of the building is visually open to the street and provides a significant new space for departmental events. This new event space has a custom designed ceiling of expanded metal panels; their ephemeral effect is to lightly mask the existing infrastructure while accommodating lights in a pattern that flows across the space. Felt surfaces and an emphasis on shared light create continuity throughout the floors. The walls of faculty offices are translucent glass along the circulation spaces in order to share light from the perimeter to the interiors. Book shelves located behind the glass creates a pattern of faculty book collections seen in silhouette from the public spaces.

Location

New York, NY

Client

New York University

Year

2013

MFA Design Team

Scott Marble, Karen Fairbanks, Annie Suratt, Jason Roberts, Benjamin Hait

MEP Engineers

Thomas Polise Consulting Engineer

Structural Engineer

Robert Silman Associates P.C.

Civil Engineers

Langan Engineering and Environmental Services

Lighting Designer

Richard Shaver Architectural Lighting

Acoustics / AV/IT / Security

The Sextant Group

LEED Consultant

Viridian

Photography

Eduard Hueber / Arch Photo, Inc.

January 3, 2023 by

Bedford Field

The objective of this project is to provide upgraded facilities for Princeton’s Field Hockey athletic field, team rooms, and public spaces. This project adds to the existing athletic complex, integrating new facilities into a landscape of high performance playing fields.

The objective of this project is to provide upgraded facilities for Princeton’s Field Hockey athletic field, team rooms, and public spaces. This project adds to the existing athletic complex at Princeton, integrating new facilities into a landscape of high performance playing fields. The scope of work includes: new team rooms for field hockey and lacrosse teams with space for trainers, team meetings and video reviews; the renovation of existing team rooms; the development of a new entry court with new finishes, donor recognition and ceremonial signage; an enlarged press box to service the new field; and the coordination of a new 1,500 seat grandstand.