Woods Bagot has shared photos of their ongoing interior work inside SHoP’s supertall landmark The Brooklyn Tower (formerly known as 9 DeKalb), in anticipation of the record-breaking high-rise’s completion later this year. 

The project was led by Principal Krista Ninivaggi of Woods Bagot’s New York studio. Their brief for a lobby space and an amenity program called for a seamless transition between the 93-story building’s interior and exterior facade, whose own design was inspired by the imagined “Metropolis of Tomorrow” first envisioned by writer and architect Hugh Ferriss in the late-1920s.

An assembly of wood veneers and milled panels scaled to the facade's extrusions feature prominently among the building’s interior. Further details include stone cladding and a vaulted ceiling that harkens to the former Dime Saving Bank that forms the tower’s base. Overall, The Brooklyn Tower includes a total of 547 apartment units, a commercial gym, and four pools in addition to 17,000 square feet of amenity spaces located on the 7th and 8th floors.

Woods Bagot says the completed work “represents a powerful bond between the past and future.” JDS Development Group contracted Krista Ninivaggi for the project following a string of other successful collaborations with the developer.

Ninivaggi adds: “We were one of many buildings tipping the scale toward fresh and compelling lifestyle-driven interiors. The current design ambitions of multifamily buildings are not that different from hotels. Both spaces are warm and welcoming, and as opposed to a hotel being an escape, a residence is a refuge.”

The reimagined lobby space was a central part of the design strategy for the tower. Its extended entrance at Flatbush Avenue serves as one of two used by residents of the apartment units and is finished in beige tones replete with custom-made furniture, a dime-inlaid ceiling, and checkerboard flooring that matches the former bank building’s interior.

The project was selected as a 2022 Best of the Year Finalist by Interior Design. At 1,073 feet, the tower is now officially the tallest in downtown Brooklyn and greater Kings County. SHoP expects construction to wrap within the coming months. Further details for The Brooklyn Tower design can be found here.