This Bronx Community Center Folds Like Origami to Blend Three Spaces Seamlessly - Yanko Design

"Chen's solution uses a folded metal roof that mimics the site's varied topography while organizing interior volumes. The site sits on slopes along the waterfront, positioned between historical and modern Bronx districts. Rather than fighting that terrain or treating it as a constraint, the folded geometry echoes those slopes and simultaneously blends walls into ceilings to define distinct programmatic zones."

"Rather than fighting that terrain or treating it as a constraint, the folded geometry echoes those slopes and simultaneously blends walls into ceilings to define distinct programmatic zones. Rowing facilities need height and clear circulation for equipment. Libraries need intimacy and acoustic separation. Museums need flexible display areas and controlled lighting. The fold creates spatial differentiation without fragmenting the building into disconnected boxes. The roof modulates as it moves through the structure, generating ceiling heights and spatial qualities tuned to each program's specific demands."

"The material palette uses metal, glass, and wood panels in ways that respond to functional requirements rather than aesthetic preferences. Metal provides structural continuity for the folded roof system and handles waterfront weathering. Glass opens sightlines to the river and brings daylight into spaces where angular geometry could feel compressed. Wood panels introduce warmth in library zones and provide acoustic absorption where hard surfaces would create problems."

An 18,000 square foot proposal for the Harlem River shore combines a rowing facility, a small library, and a sport rowing museum under one roof. The site features sloped waterfront terrain between historic and modern Bronx districts. A folded metal roof echoes that topography, blending walls into ceilings and organizing interior volumes to create distinct programmatic zones. The geometry provides height and circulation for rowing, intimacy and acoustic separation for the library, and flexible, controlled spaces for the museum. Metal, glass, and wood are deployed to meet structural, daylighting, weathering, and acoustic requirements.

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