Local studio Commoncraft has used a cantilevered volume to curve 545 Metropolitan over its neighbours, navigating the narrow Brooklyn site in order to provide more floor space.
Located on Williamsburg‘s busy Metropolitan Avenue just across from the Lorimer L subway station, 545 Metropolitan is a six-storey mixed-use building that contains apartments, ground-level commercial space and terraces on its backside and roof.
Commoncraft has completed a residential tower in Williamsburg
The building is wrapped in a black stucco finish, which contains a mica chip to give it a subtle glimmer, and features rows of slim rectangular windows on its front side, punctuated by a single “inverted arch” window.
Its volume is extended towards its west side into a cantilever and in a tiered fashion along its backside. Its first, commercial floor extends to the back of the site, where it’s covered in a row of skylights.
Its unique form was shaped by zoning and site restrictions
Commoncraft co-founder Tony-Saba Shiber told Dezeen that the unusual shape was informed by site restrictions that required the studio to get creative with the project’s Floor Area Ratio (FAR), or the relationship of its available total square footage to the footprint of its site.
Additionally, the three-storey building to its left was located in the same zoning lot and was untouched for the project, meaning unused square footage from the pre-existing building could be integrated into the new 545 Metropolitan tower.
It cantilevers over its neighbor building, which shares the same zoning lot
Other limitations, such as its residential zoning district R6B and its proximity to an underground station, moulded its form.
“From the outset, the site presented a series of constraints that directly informed our design process,” Shiber told Dezeen.
“The original zoning lot comprised two existing buildings: a three-story structure to remain and a one-story building to be expanded into the new six-story project. As a result, the remaining buildable FAR for the zoning lot needed to be accommodated within the envelope of our project.”
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To fit the desired square footage into the building, the studio decided to widen its upper floors into a cantilever, while its narrower base was slotted into the lot.
“In response, we scrapped some of our earlier design studies in favor of a strategy that reclaimed floor area through a cantilever extending above the adjacent building on the lot — a move made possible only by the unique site conditions this zoning lot afforded,” said Shiber.
The building was made using typical construction methods and was “relatively straightforward” despite its cantilever, according to the studio.
The facade pulls in elements of playfulness, such as two arched windows amidst more standard rectangular openings
“Despite its unconventional volumetric composition, the project was realised using construction methods largely consistent with those typical of a building of this scale and type,” said Shiber.
“Located adjacent to the Lorimer MTA train station, the site required that both approvals and construction processes be closely coordinated with Transit Authority requirements, particularly in relation to foundation work.”
The building contains upper-floor apartments and commercial space on its ground floor
Finally, the studio wanted the facade to “read as a monolith”, but softened the building’s edges by creating rounded corners and introduced moments of playfulness via a singular, inverted arch window and an orange-painted staircase that glows from a top window.
Its appearance calls to the surrounding neighbourhood, while embracing the building’s peculiarity, according to the studio.
A top-level staircase was painted bright orange
“In tandem with the volumetric studies, we began looking at how the facade grid could be contextually specific while also striking a balance with the unique form,” said Shiber.
Commoncraft also designed an East Village coffee shop with a distressed interior made with rowlock bricks and worn plasterwork and a colourful diner elsewhere in Williamsburg.
The photography is by Andrew Fu
Project credits:
Client + General contractor: Patoma
Architecture + Design: Commoncraft
Structural engineer: JAG Engineering
M/E/P/FP engineer: Ryan Soames Engineering
Civil engineer: Hidamari Engineering Services
Geotechnical engineer: Geotechnical Engineering Services, PC
Code consulting + expediting: Metropolis Group
Fire + Life safety consultant: SLS Consulting
Renderer: Kevin Pham
Stucco finish: Sto