Isabel Sellhausen

My project, a design for a community library in Gowanus, Brooklyn, began with reflection on New Yorkers' steadfast determination to read in the urban environment. Against all odds, New Yorkers carve out their own space for their needs. CANAL was designed with this attitude in mind. Gowanus has transformed itself into a green community; its canal, a former industrial waterway, is being cleaned. Now the canal and public walkways serve as the spine of the neighborhood. CANAL was designed as an extension of that spine, offering a public pathway and building that allow for connectivity and enjoyment. The left side of the ground floor was opened to create a breezeway and entrance that is continuous with the sidewalk, allowing people to enter freely and linger in the transitional space. Visitors walk past green wells to a work and circulation area at the back of the floor. The structure is supported by beams set in a pattern that carries the street grid into the space and aids movement both horizontally and vertically. The space contains deep wood benches reminiscent of those in the waiting rooms of train stations and of park benches, preferred spots for reading in NYC. The second floor consists of a large double-height space flanked by stadium-style seating areas and holding floor-to-ceiling bookcases. A mezzanine bridge connects all the areas, allowing visitors to walk, sit, or lie down while reading. The third floor consists of narrow bridges and soft nested seating areas. Green wells and alternating panels and skylights in the ceiling provide dappled indirect natural light. The materials used in construction—cross-laminated timber, upcycled glass blocks, locally mixed concrete—were chosen with sustainability and the history of the industrial neighborhood in mind. Breathing light, life, and community into Gowanus, CANAL serves as a new, greener commons.