Designing multifamily housing atop infill lots in New York is a balancing act. On one end, it’s essential to program every square inch of available building area because, well, space is scarce here. On the other, it’s necessary to maximize natural light access for rooms far from windows with voids and openings that eat into programmable space, a dance that in recent years offices like SO – IL have mastered.
In Brooklyn, a new rear addition and renovation by MODU offers a case study for filling in what planners call “the missing middle.” Mini Tower One is a recently completed expansion to a Brooklyn brownstone by the New York office. The 3,500-square-foot project was completed in 2023, and just received a 2024 AIA New York Design Award. The addition added another 30 percent of square footage to the house, a build out that required just another 12 percent of energy usage because MODU used basic passive house principles to inform the design.
Upon completion, the existing building’s street facing facade remained intact while the volume that protrudes out from the back rises upward and is clad with corrugated metal, giving it a more contemporary look à la Frank Gehry in Venice Beach. A 50-foot-tall Birch tree anchors the backyard and an edible garden sits atop the roof. But despite the exterior’s ingenuity, enveloped in a super insulated facade, Mini Tower One’s intrigue happens indoors.
Read more on aninteriormag.com.
