Park Slope Tower

An ambitious addition to an existing commercial garage building, in Park Slope, Brooklyn. A new single family residence of about 6300 SF on three floors built over the garage. It was designed to provide views of the entire Manhattan and Brooklyn skylines from its highest roof levels.

The building is done in panels of Cor-ten, a special type of steel that attains a warm rusty patina after exposure to the elements. Once it has this patina it stops rusting, forming an impervious layer protecting the virgin steel underneath. The design created a grid of panels related to the underlying structural stud wall system, and has stainless steel strips between the panels that connect to the stud system. The Corten and stainless system is not weather-tight -- by design. It is a wall system (called a rain-screen system) that has a waterproof layer behind the metal panels, so that any water that manages to get behind the panels hits the waterproof layer and rolls down and out the bottom of the wall.

The project also has a massive green roof (about 2200 sf) that provides a lush garden for the owners, along with a small farm.

(See Cynthia Gillis' entry for "Green Roof - Haven and Harvest," to see details of the green roof.)