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Originally Posted by Charmy2
This has got to be the nicest looking prison ever.
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Let’s hope it gets built this way.
https://www.brownstoner.com/developm...lantic-avenue/
City Backtracks on Key Commitments for New 15-Story, 1,040-Bed Boerum Hill Jail, Locals Say
Oct 19, 2023
by Anna Bradley-Smith
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City agencies behind the design of the new 15-story, 1,040-bed Brooklyn Borough Jail in Boerum Hill have reneged on commitments made to the community during the land use review process, compromising the jail’s ability to integrate safely into the neighborhood, locals said at a community board meeting Wednesday night.
Specifically, underground parking for the planned 712,150-square-foot development has been cut from 292 spaces to 100 (which can only be used for authorized vehicles, not staff cars) and plans for a second tunnel between the courthouse and the jail have been dropped. Those factors would likely result in State and Smith streets being backed up with NYPD, corrections, and regular traffic, as well transfers of those in custody happening at street level, people said at the meeting.
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Concerns were also raised about the number of beds in the jail increasing from a planned 886 to 1,040, at the direction of the Adams administration, through the addition of mezzanine floors, ultimately decreasing the space prisoners have. There was concern that space had come through slashing the number of therapeutic beds for inmates with mental health issues, which must be on a single floor.
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A DDC rep told meeting-goers budget pressures were behind the parking cuts. He denied space-saving for the extra beds came from cutting therapeutic beds and said it was a policy decision, and said he had no knowledge of the previously planned second tunnel.
But not everyone was convinced. “This is a $3 billion building, when they talk about budget cuts, $3 billion is $3 million per bed,” said Justin Pollock, a rep from residential building 87 Smith Street. “It is the most expensive constructed building per square foot in the United States. So it’s incredible that they’re making budget cuts on this, when they’re spending this much money per bed to build a jail.”
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Architecture firm HOK is largely behind the design of the $3 billion facility and, along with city agencies, has held two public design sessions this year. The plans and renderings presented at Wednesday’s meeting were informed by those sessions and the “integrated and iterative process,” HOK Design Principal Kenneth Drucker said.
Renderings show the block-long jail appears similar to a tall luxury rental or condo development, contrasting with the more low-rise historic builds of surrounding Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill, and Brooklyn Heights (an issue that was brought up by local residents).
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”It’s really important for the entire team that this building is knitted to the fabric of Brooklyn,” Drucker said. He added the project was guided by principles of bringing natural light deep into the building, creating a civic asset, providing access to the outdoors for all users, and providing access to healthcare and education.
“And the idea is that we want to use a warm palette of materials, natural materials, the use of color and texture that are Brooklyn. And we want to normalize the space.”
HOK has worked on a range of justice system facilities across the country, including in patient treatment centers, court houses, and prisons. Drucker said a key reason the borough-based jails were being built to replace the troubled Rikers Island complex was to make it easier for families and the community to visit their loved ones, and the team was taking special care to make those spaces inviting.
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Meanwhile, the facade of the building and its massing has been informed by the articulation of the area’s brownstones and the architecture on existing civic buildings in Downtown Brooklyn, HOK design principal Aman Krishan said. She said the team had taken ideas from a traditional brownstone and “interpreted that through a modern language” resulting in paneling across the facade that reflects the “rhythm of brownstones” and some cornice detailing.
The building has a carve out at the center, dubbed the central reveal, that breaks up the massing of the large structure and allows natural light into recreation spaces. Krishan said the windows on that reveal were a nod to the double hung windows of brownstones, and the reveal itself was being done in a warm color seen across the surrounding neighborhoods.
“We’ve designed this facility for growth and change and think about this as an optimistic architectural intervention for the community and for its users,” she said. That includes having a horticulture space for those incarcerated at the jail, and a public art component that is being planned by the Department of Cultural Affairs and will be brought to the community at a later stage.
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Initial plans for a 20- to 40-story, 395-feet-tall building on the Atlantic Avenue site, and similar towers in the other three boroughs, were met with instant community backlash. Prior to the land use review process, which was completed in 2019, the city pulled back on those plans of 1,400-plus bed jail to one housing 886 people.
While the plan was adopted by the Adams administration, the mayor has since called it “unworkable” and added beds to each of the proposed jails. Even with the additional beds, the four jails will hold 3,300 prisoners, far less than the more than 6,000 capacity currently in the city.
Meanwhile, plans for the actual construction of the new Brooklyn jail have been marred with delays, and despite Rikers Island having a closing deadline of 2027, the new jail won’t be finished until 2029, the city says. Earlier this month, an application for a new-building permit was filed with the Department of Buildings for the 15-story, 339-foot-tall building with NYC DDC listed as the building’s owner.
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