Staten Island is the New York City borough with the fastest-growing population. Because of this, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) recognized the need for an expanded law enforcement presence that would cut response times and relieve the workload of the existing precincts. The design solution responds to the challenges of an irregular site with two distinct building volumes: a two-story linear bar, gently arcing in plan and gradually increasing in height as it approaches the commercial district of Richmond Avenue, and a separate one-story volume where the site extends outward to the south. The second floor cantilevers toward Richmond Avenue in a symbolic gesture of community engagement that defines the main entrance and creates a visual link between the main lobby and the street. The two building masses are distinguished by varied heights, differing surface treatments —horizontal stainless-steel cladding on the long bar, and gray brick on the one-story volume —and a skylight over the interstitial space between them, which brings natural light into the ground-floor lobby. The long bar structure also shields the residential neighborhood to the north from the police parking lot to the south. Outdoor mechanical services are concealed within the building form and integrated into an enclosure clad in the same stainless steel.
Photography: Brad Feinknopf
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