Alafia has been recognized with a Merit Award in the Urban Design category of the 2022 AIA New York Design Awards! As part of New York State’s Vital Brooklyn Initiative, this ambitious master plan creates a wellness-oriented resilient urban development designed to address the chronic social, economic, and health disparities in a historically underserved area.
During the jury symposium, members of the jury commented on the multiple layers of residential and community benefit Alafia provides. They commended the sustainable green environment within and were particularly impressed with how much detail had been thought out and addressed – from stormwater to rising sea levels.
Creating a community for approximately 7,500 people, the new 2,400-unit development is centered around a series of programmed open spaces that break down the scale, foster a sense of ownership and belonging, and encourage healthy activities and neighborly interaction. The project also includes a substantial amount of retail space and a major health clinic that will serve the residents as well as the greater south Brooklyn area. Alafia emphasizes the connections between economic and physical health through an ambitious urban agriculture program that will employ local residents and includes nearly 2-acres of outdoor growing space, a robust indoor farming operation, and facilities for “Meals on Wheels” food prep, distribution, and open-air markets.
Adjacent to Betts Creek and Jamaica Bay, the site abuts a coastal ecosystem of marshlands and maritime groves. The plan fully integrates long-term environmental resiliency. The campus will include over 6-acres of open space, including bioswales, farmland, and other measures to absorb water and control erosion. The project is expected to resist rising sea levels, 500-year storm events through the end of the century.
Dattner Architects is currently designing the first three buildings in the development.
All AIA New York Design Award winners are featured in an awards exhibition at the Center for Architecture through June 11.
