Camera Dashboard: 30 in 30: #28

Sunday, January 28, 2007

30 in 30: #28

The Melrose Community Center by Agrest + Gandelsonas in the South Bronx is "primarily geared towards teenagers, providing them with facilities for activities such as athletics, arts and crafts, videos, and computing," according to the architects.

The project is composed of two distinct volumes: an ovoid piece containing a gymnasium and a bar piece containing classrooms. Both are linked by the entrance. The above view shows what would be the back of the building, though here it is at its most transparent with the single-loaded corridor of the bar facing the lawn and street beyond. The front door and its hard horizontal and vertical planes shown below is a much different character. This side facing the housing blocks that the community center serves.

While the character of the bar building is "two-sided," the ovoid piece is consistent around its perimeter. Staggered aluminum panels sit above a concrete block base. A small window near the entry gives a peek into the gymnasium's interior. If this solid form were rectangular rather than oval, with sharp edges rather than a continuous soft surface, the "symbolic aspect of the project ... in its social function for the local residents who live amongst one of New York City�s highest crime rates" might be much different.

Down the street from this project is the Bronx County Hall of Justice by Rafael Vinoly. The massive, 775,000 s.f. complex consists of an unrelenting facade on 161st Street but a sensitively-handled courtyard to the rear. I bring this up because in this courtyard is a circular chamber that recalls this earlier Community Center both in uniqueness of form (set against orthogonal buildings) and material treatment (solid with sloping element). Perhaps Vinoly saw this earlier success and incorporated a similar feature into his more high-profile commission.