OCV Architects

The Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center (GMDC) had a grand opening for 221 McKibbin Street to celebrate a newly renovated not-for-profit industrial center, redesigned and preserved by OCV Architects. The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce announced that the project has won the Building Brooklyn Award (BBA) for Historic Preservation.

JUNE 2009 GREENPOINT BROOKLYN, NY: A 72,000 square-foot building, site of a former turn-of-the-century jute factory, and until recently a derelict industrial property, was renovated and transformed by OCV Architects into flexible-layout manufacturing and art spaces. These new workshops will serve metal smiths, print makers, woodworkers and more artisans. When the City of New York re-zoned Williamsburg and Greenpoint in 2005, new incentives and assistance became available to transform old buildings into vital new resources for the small manufacturing business community. Brooklyn Borough President, Marty Markowitz stated, “I am pleased to have helped GMDC develop this manufacturing center which will provide below market rents for small manufacturers and artisans as well as jobs in the Williamsburg and Greenpoint community.” 
Financing for the project was the result of a complex deal that included New Market tax credits and Historic Preservation tax credits. 

OCV Architects were selected to design the project given their expertise in preservation while working within tight budgetary constraints. The renovation plans focused on stripping the existing structure of brick, heavy timber and cast iron to the original historic features, restoring and highlighting these elements, while designing a functional and efficient space that takes advantage of the original building’s sources for natural light. The plans included a  new 4,000 lb. capacity freight elevator  that serves the three story main building and an off-street truck loading dock. Units sizes are flexible but as currently designed range in size from 1500 - 7500 sf.

The Brooklyn chamber of Commerce recognized OCV Architects for the Historic preservation work at 221 McKibbin Street in their annual Building Brooklyn Awards™. “The largest annual real estate industry event in the borough, the Building Brooklyn Awards (BBA) recognizes recently completed construction and renovation projects that enrich Brooklyn’s neighborhoods and economy.” The BBA award ceremony will be held Wednesday, July 15, 2009.

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Serviam Gardens — an 8 story 240-unit affordable Senior housing and mixed-use project by OCV Architects — will recycle, reuse and redevelop 9 acres of Mount Saint Ursula’s campus in the Bronx. The project also includes adaptive reuse and restoration of an exiting Georgian style convent on the property. The development will generate revenue benefitting the Church, the religious community and the Catholic Girl’s School of the Ursuline Mission.  The 2-phase plan will also renovate, reuse and enlarge an Historic convent by converting it to housing and adding new construction.

Sponsored by the Enterprise Foundation, the design features of Serviam Gardens adhere to the strict standards of Enterprises’ Green Communities Initiative. Such features include a Green roof, a rain water recycling system, energy efficient lighting and cooling, and a super-insulated building envelope. The Enterprise Foundation provides over $180 million annually to develop affordable housing grants through their Rose Fellowship.

Fordham Bedford Housing Corporation will lease the land as part of their initiative to create more affordable housing in New York City. While building efficiently is challenging, (with scarce land resources and increasing demand), OCV Architects continues to partner with city agencies and non-profits to bring solutions to the affordable housing battle, making a better New York for the diverse city population.

Jack Coogan, partner at OCV Architects, heads up the project. Serviam Gardens is just one of many Green supportive housing projects in the architects’ portfolio and on the boards at his bustling firm. For Coogan, Green design features are part-n-parcel of smart design, benefitting residents, the environment and the bottom line. Green architecture cuts costs because Green buildings use less.

In addition to senior apartments, the mixed-use site will feature communal spaces for recreation, on-site social services, a library, parking, and child-care facilities. The plans also include surrounding gardens, which will serve to minimize the impact upon the Mt. Saint Ursuline School campus as well as benefit the residents.

 

Rose Fellowship

Enterprise Foundation

Fordham Bedford Housing Corporation

The Natural Resources Defense Council

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OCV Architects is creating a supportive housing breakthrough in Fox Point, a low income housing residence (sponsored by Palladia, Inc.), by bringing sustainable design in low income housing up to US Green Building Council LEED standards. OCV Architects is a proud member of the USGBC.

FOX POINT is 48 units of studios, one and two bedroom apartments and support facilities in 55,000 square feet of light and airy architecture. The new building envelope and engineering systems employ high-performance, sustainable design as a healthy background for living. The architecture is focused on being inviting and efficient, with every advantage of the natural light to realize both. The design also responds to the special typography of the site, with steps and levels of living space and green space. This not only makes for multiple ‘green roof’ and garden areas for the tenants to enjoy, they also help manage water, temperature, costs and impact of the building. Qualifying tenants are given affordable homes and access to a variety of social services on site. For those formerly homeless residents, HUD subsidizes their rent through HUD’s Care +Shelter Program.


This project is registered for LEED silver accreditation, employing many of the opportunities for low impact development outlined by the USGBC. Through these sustainable materials and systems, Fox Point is housing with long-term viability in mind, reducing the need for future repair and prohibitive operational costs, and thereby protecting the project as an investment in affordable housing — making a better New York.

Among these sustainable design systems featured at Fox Point is the use of a highly innovative  micro turbine — a highly efficient generator that recovers and reuses the wasted energy and heat produced by the conventional systems it piggybacks on. The energy recovered is reused for heat, light and other building operations, significantly supplementing the energy provided by utilities. City buildings create 79% of New York City’s greenhouse gas emission, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg has identified micro turbines as part of the solution to our great city’s high fossil fuel impact. Micro turbines expend sustainable energy that is 70-80% usable (where as only 35% of a power plants expended energy is usable).

Founding partner at OCV Architects, Richard Vitto RA AP knows from over three decades of experience that LEED establishes a high standard for future development, but not one we should shy away from. For affordable housing it creates a building and an environment that serve the population most in need of these benefits.

Download a Fox Point brochure here >

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