A new landmark on the Brooklyn skyline, TEN Arquitectos’ DBCD (Downtown Brooklyn Cultural District) South building at 300 Ashland, is nearing completion, with tenants expected to move in by the end of the summer. The mixed-use building will feature 379 apartment units and will also become the new home of a number of cultural tenants, including the performing arts organization 651 Arts, MoCADA, Brooklyn Academy of Music cinemas, and a new branch of the Brooklyn Public Library.
Reacting to its site and context, the 32-story tower has been articulated as three volumes: a central circulation spine and two flanking volumes, where the apartments are located. The tower is skinned in perforated aluminum, which will pick up the colors of the surrounding streets, buildings and sky.
Located in booming downtown Brooklyn, the tower rises from the south section of a triangular site at the intersection of Flatbush, Ashland, and Lafayette Avenues in downtown Brooklyn – its slim footprint allowing the majority of the site to be dedicated to a new 15,000 square foot public plaza.
The building podium is comprised of a series of outdoor landscaped terraces that create public spaces screened from the noise of Flatbush avenue and visually connected to the Grand Plaza. The terraces allow for entrances into the building on multiple levels, and the opportunity for outdoor programming like film screenings, dance performances or farmer’s markets.
On the ground floors, the building will house 50,000 square feet of cultural space and 43,000 square feet of retail space along Flatbush Avenue. By folding the civic plaza upwards, the retail space can line the full perimeter of the base, avoiding an internalized “mall organization.”
The bulk of the 32-story tower will be residential, featuring studio, 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom units (20% of which are affordable housing), a 24 hour gym and a 29th floor outdoor roof deck designed by James Corner Field Operations.
Architects
Location
300 Ashland Pl, Brooklyn, NY 11217, United StatesDesign Team
Enrique Norten, Andrea Steele, James Carse, Joe Murray, Vi Ngo, Dichen DingStructural
Rosenwasser/GrossmanMEP
Ettinger Engineering AssociatesCivil Engineer
Philip Habib & AssociatesLandscape Design
Workshop: Ken Smith Landscape ArchitectGeotechnical
Langan Engineering & Environmental ServicesExpeditor
William Vitacco AssociatesLighting
Horton Lees Brogden Lighting DesignTheater and AV
Fisher Dachs Associates, IncSignage
Two TwelveAcoustics
Lally Acoustical Consulting LLCCode
William Vitacco AssociatesIT
CERAMIArea
380000.0 ft2Project Year
2017Photographs
TEN ArquitectosArchitects
Theater
Fisher Dachs Associates, IncAV
Fisher Dachs Associates, IncInterior Designer
William Vitacco AssociatesCode Consulting
William Vitacco Associates
