2011 - 12

The design for this multi-use community center takes advantage of an unusual triangular-shaped site. The building has three prominent facades (a rare thing in New York City) and is visible from most points of the neighborhood. The ground floor is maximized as retail space, so that the center’s operating costs
are offset by retail rent. Instead of creating an icon out of the volume of the building, we chose to reveal the interior of the building where the functions are most dense: at the stairs and ramps that connect the floors and all of the spaces. We envisioned the space on a Saturday morning filled with kids like a
vertical public park, with overlapping activities happening. In this regard, it is the perfect representation of the tight-knit community of Sunnyside, Queens -- a neighborhood remarkable for its wide cultural diversity as well as the sheer quantity of trees and evenly distributed green spaces.

Project team: Chad Smith, Momo Araki, Sofia Krimzi, Mike Jacobs