HONOR AWARD

“ The City Kids Education Center inspires its young users with tactile textures, natural light, and flowing spaces. Since the building’s program itself is whimsical, it is delightful to see equally fun forms. The fact that the building was originally a lumber warehouse shows the transformational possibilities of adaptive reuse.”

The City Kids Education Center is a new childhood education center located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The project, submitted by Barker Architecture Office, is an adaptive reuse of a former lumber warehouse located under an existing residential highrise. Six preschool classrooms open onto a central double height courtyard gathering space lit by a large storefront window as well as a constellation of pendant light fixtures to bring the outside into a large interior space with limited access to windows. The interior “plaza” features a thickened wall that incorporates the reception desk and storage cubbies and provides a central gathering space for the classrooms. Windows of varying shapes and sizes in the interior façade allow borrowed light to enter the surrounding spaces and provide visual access for children and teachers. The classrooms are interconnected through double doors and shared spaces such as bathrooms and play sinks. Half height walls allow for visual privacy for the kids and monitoring capability for the teachers. The after-school program for elementary school students is accessed up the stairs at the reception area. Apertures bring light and views to the courtyard and the street. Lockers wrap the courtyard volume in the form of a city skyline. Specialized classrooms for cooking, theater, STEM, art, and movement are accessed off of the upper hallway. A lounge with bleacher seats provides a place for informal gathering. Plank flooring creates continuity between space. Acoustical felt panels cut into graphic shapes provide visual interest.

This project underwent construction during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic prompted some ventilation improvements in the form of electronic and ultraviolet light HVAC filters, touchless security and check in points, as well as the addition of operable windows to bring light and air to all classrooms.

Submitted by ASDF, Waterwheelhouse, a new enclosure for a 1932 Hydro-electric Water Wheel near Cazenovia, New York is intended to exhibit a historical example of hydro-electric infrastructure in Central New York. The enclosure makes the eighteen foot diameter steel waterwheel and its mechanisms visible to the public while also protecting it from vandalism and the elements. The enclosure structure consists of a two by eight balloon frame, clad with prefabricated panels of one by three vertical slats, anchored to an existing stone masonry foundation. The facade of vertical slats conceals the waterwheel when viewed on the oblique, but as the visitor approaches, the screen becomes transparent to reveal the massive steel object within. Of significant importance in the design was to maintain a cost of under 10,000 dollars while also providing a strong and durable enclosure for the waterwheel. Although an obvious choice for the structure would have been preservative-treated wood, we sought a more environmentally sensitive method to address rot-resistance on the creek. We discovered a local source of Tamarack, a naturally durable wood species native to the Adirondacks which could be cheaply sourced from a mill only a few miles from the waterwheel site. Tamarack was intended to be used for both the two by eight framing and the one by three facade screen. The wood would be untreated and rough-cut to keep costs down while providing important long-term durability to the structure. The project remains unbuilt after funding for its construction was canceled.

UNBUILT, COMMISSIONED ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN WORK BY PRACTICING EMERGING ARCHITECTS LICENSED 10 YEARS OR LESS, NOT YET BUILT

WATERWHEELHOUSE: A NEW ENCLOSURE FOR A 1932 HYDRO-ELECTRIC WATER WHEEL

CAZENOVIA, NEW YORK

SUBMITTED BY: ASDF