Building 77 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard
Building 77 is a 1 million square foot building constructed in 1942, facing onto Flushing Avenue. The Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation selected Marvel to envision a new entrance to the repurposed building and the Brooklyn Navy Yard as a whole. Inside, a central corridor extends from the street to the campus, lined with the retail face of food producers as well as connecting the building lobby and elevator core serving 3,000 new employees on the floors above.
Entrance desk
The gantry corridor provides a space of meeting for production and retail, tenants and the public. ©Daniel Byrne
Ground floor corridor
©Josh Simpson
Ground floor corridor
Various seating arrangements invite users to stay, eat, talk and relax, activating the ground floor. ©Josh Simpson
Large openings were cut into the existing 10” thick concrete façade to create an entrance and covered loggia facing the street to bring in light, air and public access. ©Daniel Byrne
Full height storefront space separates the production areas from the corridor, giving visitors a full view into the production process. ©Josh Simpson
©Josh Simpson
©Josh Simpson
©Josh Simpson
Elevator lobby
Industrial finishes of concrete and metal are a backdrop to historic murals of working images at the Navy Yard. ©Daniel Byrne
Reflect history
Small details throughout the project reflect back on the manufacturing history of Building 77, such as the communal washbasins that the Navy Yard workforce used during the 1940’s. ©Daniel Byrne
Ground floor lobby
At the Ground Floor Lobby, a future set of custom doors at the ground floor elevator lobby slide and swing open at certain points during the day to allow the public to access a restaurant/event space at the roof. ©Daniel Byrne
View looking into ongoing work at the Brooklyn Navy Yard as seen from the North side of the building. ©Daniel Byrne
New pedestrian entrance
Once a building with a solid concrete base, few windows and only 3 doorways from Flushing Avenue. New openings cut into the building’s base create a new entryway and loggia facing onto a new public plaza. Daylight enters the interior spaces and provides visual connectivity into and out of the building.
©Daniel Byrne
History
During World War II U.S. Naval Officers coordinating operations for the North American Fleet. Before halting operations in the late 1960’s, Building 77 served as a storage warehouse for the Navy.
Building 77
The new pedestrian entrance and plaza lead into the Navy Yard campus, facilitating interaction between the public and building tenants. It also provides access to the building’s new and much needed amenities, including spaces for food businesses with both onsite production and retail space. From the ground floor, visitors can access the rooftop restaurant directly via an express elevator, or keyed access to special events on other floors. ©Daniel Byrne
Connecting within the building
The south building entrance is placed near the intersection with Vanderbilt Avenue. The 1801 fence line is folded back to the face of the building, creating a public plaza.
The central corridor is set along one of the two historical gantry-ways. This splits the ground floor asymmetrically, creating food-production spaces that vary in size and allows tenants to fill into a space that matches their scale of production.
Section with program
Ground floor gantry corridor
Existing Conditions: 2015
Events in Building 77
The gantry corridor is used in a variety of ways from every day traffic to special events. Beaux Arts Ball 2018, photo ©Nick Anderson
Beaux Arts Ball 2018
Beaux Arts Ball 2018, photo ©Nick Anderson
- Location
- Brooklyn, New York
- Client
- Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation
- Typology
- Commercial, Preservation & Reuse, Hospitality, Public, Workspace
- Size
- 966,228 SF
- Design Team
- Jonathan Marvel, Scott Demel, David Jakowski, Andres Loewy, Siyuan Ye, Andy Lin, Michael Stewart, Paul Chan, Carol Nung, Carly Berger, Makenzie Leukart, See Jia Ho, José Juan Terrasa-Soler
- Consultants
- Beyer Blinder Belle Core & Shell Architects, Silman Associates Structural Engineer, JFK&M Consulting Group, Energy Squared Food Tenant, Jeanne Giordano Ltd Retail Planning, Market Ventures Food Market Consultant, Lighting Workshop Lighting Design, Langan Civil Engineer, Faithful + Gould Cost Estimating, Expeditor JAM Consulting, Eremos Acoustics, DVS Security Consulting & Engineering Security, Sterling Project Management
- Photography Credits
- ©Daniel Byrne, ©Josh Simpson, ©Marvel Architects
