Brooklyn Children’s Museum

[Kris]

Rendering
http://www.rvapc.com/Authoring/Images/Projects/137/137_tmp277A.jpg

Model
http://www.rvapc.com/Authoring/Images/Projects/137/137_tmp277B.jpg
http://www.rvapc.com/Authoring/Images/Projects/137/137_tmp7.jpg

Model Night
http://www.rvapc.com/Authoring/Images/Projects/137/137_tmp9.jpg

Elevation South
http://www.rvapc.com/Authoring/Images/Projects/137/137_tmp5.jpg

Elevation West
http://www.rvapc.com/Authoring/Images/Projects/137/137_tmp6.jpg

Movie (http://www.rvapc.com/ht/HTProject.aspx?Base=Projects&projID=137&AreaId=137 &AssetCat=Movies)


On the occasion of its centennial celebration, the Brooklyn Children’s Museum (BCM) has embarked on a significant expansion and renovation of its 1977 “bunker” building, designed by Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer.

The BCM is located on the northwest corner of Brower Park in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. Essentially a square building on a square site, it looks onto St. Mark’s and Brooklyn Avenues to the north and west and fronts on the park to the south and east. The original building was meant to have minimal presence on the street, and hence only one of its two stories is above grade, further concealed along the street front by planted earth berms that rise to the level of the roof.

Beyond the expansion of its gallery spaces and the addition of underground parking, offices, and a theater, the renovation will reassert the museum’s presence within the neighborhood. A two-story, L-shaped building is to be constructed along the north and west sides of the current structure – in place of the berms – to accommodate the new programmatic components. With its bright yellow façade, the new structure will reestablish the museum’s presence at street level as well.

This addition will also correct the current facility’s problematic dead-end circulation, which forces visitors to exit exhibits by retracing their paths back to the entrance. The new building’s expanded plan and second floor galleries will be integrated into the existing structure by a series of corridors, staircases and vertical circulation cores that will give visitors many more options for moving through the museum. Additionally, the rooftop garden of the original building, long out of use because of security concerns, will be rehabilitated as a paved outdoor seating area for the museum’s second floor café.
http://www.rvapc.com/ht/HTProject.aspx?Base=Projects&projID=137

[Kris]

www.bchildmus.org

http://home.nyc.gov/html/artcom/html/design_awards21_files/slide0003_image008.jpg
http://home.nyc.gov/html/artcom/html/design_awards21_files/slide0005_image016.jpg

http://home.nyc.gov/html/artcom/html/design_awards21.html

[Kris]

The Jewish Children’s Museum (http://www.gwathmey-siegel.com/projects/architecture/cultural_projects/jcm/index.html)

[Jasonik]

Reminds me of an old school cash register.
http://www.gwathmey-siegel.com/projects/architecture/cultural_projects/jcm/images/pop-ups/jcm_r02.jpg

Bottom drawer
http://www.gwathmey-siegel.com/projects/architecture/cultural_projects/jcm/images/pop-ups/axo1.jpg

[Kris]

No kidding.

[BrooklynRider]

Is the Jewish Children's Museum a museum exclusively for Jewish Children or a children's museum of Jewish heritage of some sort?

[brooklyngersh]

Is it just me or is this Brooklyn Jewish Children's Museum racist and non-inclusionary?

Brooklyngersh :(

[TLOZ Link5]

It's not. It's a museum about Jewish heritage for children, not a museum about Jewish heritage for Jewish children. I mean, anyone's welcome at the Jewish museums on Fifth Avenue and in Battery Park City.

[Kris]

Children's Museum Breaks Ground on Vinoly Expansion

Source: New York Sun
Author: Donadio, Rachel
Date: 10/13/2003

Construction of architect Rafael Vinoly's daffodil-yellow, environmentally friendly new wing for the Brooklyn Children's Museum will begin this Thursday. In the works since 1997 and scheduled to open in 2006, the Vinoly wing will double the size of the Crown Heights museum to 152,000 square feet.

The addition is expected to cost $32 million, of which the city has committed $26 million through its capital budget. The museum also received a $2.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation to develop educational programming.

The museum's president, Carol Enseki, said the museum hopes to raise its annual attendance to 400,000 from 250,000 with the new wing. The wing relies on such technology as geothermal heating, air-conditioning that will use water from wells, and electricity-saving lighting devices. Last summer the Vinoly design won an award for excellence in design from the New York City Art Commission.

The museum is on city-owned land, and relies on city funding for operating support. Because of city budget cuts and the poor economy, Ms. Enseki said funding for operations "continues to be a challenge." But she said "careful planning" has kept the museum from having to cancel any programs.

[billyblancoNYC]

I wouldn't complain too much if I got $26 million for an expansion.