11 Hoyt

Originally a center of commercial and civic life, Downtown Brooklyn lacks comfortable outdoor spaces—an absence that is increasingly felt as its residential population has increased by more than 40 percent in the last twenty years. 11 Hoyt transforms its full-block site, formerly a parking garage, into an elevated green podium anchored by a tower with scalloped edges rising above it. Visible from the street yet buffered from its activity, the podium’s indoor-outdoor environment acts as the “fifth facade” of the building, increasing its sustainability while encouraging neighbors to meet and interact among trees, gardens, and other amenities.

The project’s connection between inside and outside is furthered by the tower’s thickened, inhabitable facade. The building pushes out in plan to create expanded living spaces with built-in window seats framing eight-foot-tall windows, maximizing views of the neighborhood and waterfront and offering glimpses of the building’s sculptural exterior. Migrating across the facade like the cusps of a wave in section, the scallops allow for more than 190 unique floor plans that accommodate a diverse mix of residents. Built of precast concrete, the scalloped facade units will be prefabricated and installed to identical floor plate and column layouts on-site. The compact footprint of the tower and the low height of the podium respect the site, privileging sunlight to the green roof and the street.

The precast concrete panels being installed on site.