Family Intake Center

Occupying a sloping site near Yankee Stadium and highly visible from the Major Deegan Expressway, the Family Intake Center will be the first purpose-built home of the New York City Department of Homeless Services.

The approximately 70,000 square-foot, nine-story-high building is organized into two distinct parts. The first floor and concourse level are the more public and active spaces, which accommodate intake and screening in a series of open and spacious rooms that are both physically and visually accessible; other functions on the lower floors include a medical suite, security, personal item storage, a variety of social services, and mechanical spaces. Floors two through seven are organized as a series of large, loft-like spaces bathed in light with views to the south, which provide open administrative work areas for staff, client waiting areas, and client meeting/interview rooms.  High performance building systems are integrated throughout, and the building is designed to achieve LEED Silver certification.

Reflecting the building’s location on the edge of two newly revised zoning districts—one residential and the other light industrial—exterior materials are used to make a connection to the physical context. Masonry walls gesturing to neighboring residential buildings, and zinc panels, referring to industrial structures, are tied together with expanses of glass. The building’s overlapping grids of cladding are intended to suggest the city’s rich heterogeneity.