Earlier this month, the City of New York broke ground on the new $18.2 million Marlboro Agricultural Education Center (MAEC) at the New York City Housing Authority’s Marlboro Houses in Brooklyn.
In line with the mission of its nonprofit operator, The Campaign Against Hunger, MAEC aims to strengthen food autonomy and security in underserved neighborhoods. MAEC will provide Marlboro Houses with diverse, community-oriented programs.
Designed by the Studio Gang and built by Consigli Construction Co., the 9,900-sf center will feature a rooftop greenhouse for raising plants and fish. The second-floor greenhouse will serve as a learning lab for schoolchildren and visitors and will help young adults engage with local, sustainable food production. On the ground floor, flexible teaching and community spaces will offer cooking and nutrition classes, among other programs. In the winter, MAEC will host an indoor market.
The building’s large windows and generous sidewalk frontage aim to strengthen connections with the surrounding neighborhood. Entrances on multiple sides create physical and visual connections to the street and surrounding area. A small public terrace and planter garden will encourage visitors to stop by.
Located in a coastal flood zone, the building will be elevated, which also will create opportunities for street furniture. The sustainable design includes passive heating and cooling, solar access, all-electric systems, and rainwater storage and reuse. The project, which targets LEED Gold certification, will use materials with minimal maintenance for a lifecycle of over 60 years.
The MAEC project leverages a design-build project delivery method to remove lengthy contracting from the traditional delivery method that historically has been used for city capital projects, according to the City of New York’s press release. The design-build method also will shorten timelines and increase participation by minority- and women-owned businesses.
On the Building Team:
Project operator: The Campaign Against Hunger
Design architect: Studio Gang
Design-build contractor: Consigli Construction Co.
Landscape architect: Eponymous Practice
Structural engineer: Thornton Tomasetti
Civil engineer: Philip Habib & Associates
Geotechnical engineer: Langan
MEPFP: BALA Consulting Engineers
Greenhouse enclosure design: Prospiant
Related Stories
Education Facilities | Sep 20, 2018
Teen Center of Excellence under construction in Ferguson, Mo.
Arcturis is the Architect for the project.
Education Facilities | Sep 12, 2018
Security vs. 21st century learning: We shouldn’t have to choose
In order to effectively talk about school design, we need to start by understanding what a school is designed to do.
Education Facilities | Sep 12, 2018
350,000-sf High Tech High School opens in Secaucus, N.J.
The technical school is on the Frank J. Cargiulo Campus.
Education Facilities | Aug 30, 2018
Construction completes on only dedicated STEAM facility for girls in Rhode Island
LLB Architects designed the building.
Education Facilities | Aug 24, 2018
Encourage student wellness by incorporating active design into college campus architecture
Before you incorporate active design into your college campus, you need to understand exactly what doing so entails.
Education Facilities | Aug 21, 2018
Meet the new vo-techs
Career and technical education is preparing K-12 students earlier than ever for college and the job market.
Education Facilities | Aug 20, 2018
More districts are reusing empty offices, stores, and other buildings to upgrade their schools
Older schools, with their small windows and rooms and creaky infrastructure, are tough and expensive to retrofit.
Education Facilities | Aug 14, 2018
Making schools more secure is imperative, but how best to do that isn't settled yet
In the first 21 weeks of 2018 alone, there were 23 school shootings where someone was killed or injured, according to CNN.
Education Facilities | Aug 13, 2018
Is STEM running out of steam?
Has STEM, which the business community urged school districts to embrace, been oversold as a career path?
Education Facilities | Aug 7, 2018
High-tech instruction space trains students in manufacturing robots
Harley Ellis Devereaux served as lead designer and lab planner for the project.
