15 E 19TH STREET

​​The building is located in Prospect Park South, situated at the crossroads of Windsor Terrace, Flatbush and Prospects Lefferts Gardens.

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The street, which is the only cul-de-sack in the area, went through an extensive transformation in the last few years, from an alley lined up with three-story one family houses to one occupied by newly constructed seven-story apartment buildings.

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The new light grey porcelain facade was folded within the limitation of the New York City street wall code restriction that defines a percentage of the street wall that can be located away from the street. The fold is designed to create a sense of relief within a relatively narrow alley that wasn’t designed for taller structures. Simultaneously, the lighter color of the tiles and articulation of the joint lines that make up the grid of the facade serve as a calm background to the two trees which are growing in front of it.

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The porcelain rainscreen – the only material on the façade – is an open joint system, similar to one we designed a few years earlier on our building at 233 Grand Street in Manhattan. The pattern of the tiles is inspired by the brickwork of the facades of the old Victorian houses typical to the quiet streets of the neighborhood and intends to serve as a mitigating element between their small scale and the one of the much larger, newer apartment buildings that transform the neighborhood.

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Similar to our other projects, we found this treatment of the facade and use of material to be harmonious with, and pay respect to, the context of the old neighborhood while at the same time upgrading and refreshing the overall sense of the neighborhood and the street.