The ribbon-cutting for the very first stage of Alafia, a 27-acre, 2,400-unit cost effective real estate complex in East New york city, occurred last December. However locals of the newly finished buildings created by Dattner Designers are currently settled in. The complex, almost 390,000 square feet in size and making up 576 systems, was developed at an expense of $387 million.
Together with their clients, Dattner Architects and SCAPE were awarded the job in 2018. Stage one’s 3 buildings consist of two high structures that share a lobby and form a large C in strategy, plus a much shorter structure that caps the open side of the C. The latter structure’s ground flooring includes maisonette systems that open to what will become Alafia’s main green area.
Each of Alafia’s 6 C-shaped structures include a main green space that serves as a dynamic communal gathering location.(Chris Cooper/Arch
Explorer/Dattner Architects)The interior of the C is an elevated balcony that is accessible from all three structures and opens to the south for maximum sun. SCAPE’s landscape planting and outdoor furniture selection creates comfortable locations for event. Interior facilities like laundry rooms and meeting suites watch out onto the fenced courtyard, enabling moms and dads to finish jobs while keeping an eye on kids playing outdoors.
As described on-site by Dattner partner Daniel Heuberger, this C shape is repeated across the job’s six phases. While the external taller buildings vary more in their architecture, the inner much shorter ones develop a constant armature that frames the six acres of open area, which are created to range from heavily planted to more open, agricultural scenes, Gena Wirth, a design principal and partner with SCAPE, informed AN.
The apartment meet Passive Home requirements and feature triple-glazed windows and ample insulation.(Chris Cooper/Arch
Explorer/Dattner Architects)The external facades of the structures are clad in a variable brick mix, while the interior ones are lined in with strong cream-colored brick. The window patterns vary in between a single punched opening and two separated vertical apertures. The courtyard-facing windows are ganged together into 2-story bands, which strengthens the terrace as a shared area.
The external facades of the buildings are outfitted in a variable brick mix, while the interior ones are lined in with solid cream-colored brick. (Chris Cooper/Arch Explorer/Dattner Architects)
Heuberger said Alafia has three scales of recognition: that of the building, through which citizens can determine their private apartments by the window patterns; that of the complex, where the courtyard makes up a sanctuary; and that of the total advancement, in which complexes call the primary open area.