SUNSET PARK MATERIAL RECOVERY FACILITY - Brooklyn, New York, 2013
Architects: Selldorf Architects
Architects of Record: Gambino and LaPorta Architecture
Client: Sims Recycling Ltd.
General Contractor: West Rac Contracting Corp.
Photographers: John Majors, Jonathan Chesley, Nikolas Koenig, and Marc Lins
Project Description
The Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility is a processing center for New York City’s curbside metal, glass, and plastic recyclables undertaken by Sims Municipal Recycling and the City of New York. Located on an 11-acre waterfront pier in Sunset Park, the design’s programmatic use as a recycling center inspired reuse throughout.
The masterplan organizes buildings to support functionality, creates distinct circulation systems to separate visitors from operations, and adds two acres of native plantings. Buildings are organized to create the site’s own urban context.
The 140,000-square-foot facility includes a Tipping Building, where recyclables arrive by barge; Processing and Bale Storage Buildings; and an Administrative and Education Center. The Education Center contains programs for students and the public including classrooms, exhibitions, and interactive demonstration displays. A pedestrian bridge connects the Education Center to a viewing platform inside the Processing Facility, offering visitors a chance to view the recycling process first hand.
Working with a pre-engineered building, one of the design challenges was to find ways to articulate the program and give an overall expression to the facility that would distinguish it from ordinary big box construction. In response, structural elements are inverted to appear on the exterior, giving steel girders and lateral bracing a greater visual impact.