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Atrium at Sumner

Brooklyn, NY

A testament that affordable multifamily projects can be functional, efficient, and aspirational

Atrium at Sumner in Brooklyn, NY

Project Overview

The Atrium at Sumner on NYCHA’s Sumner Houses campus in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, is one of Studio Libeskind’s first completed projects in New York City. Incorporating Passive House standards, the building includes many significant green and energy efficiency standards and is projected to reduce energy usage by over 70%.

The building enclosure features triple-glazed windows and exceptional airtightness along with a high degree of continuous exterior insulation. The exterior insulation finish system (EIFS) cladding provides the continuous insulation and the nearly monolithic and continuous stucco-like appearance Studio Libeskind was striving for.

SWA’s enclosure consultants worked closely with the designers, structural engineers, and EIFS manufacturer to develop a strategy for expansive joint locations in the unusual façade design so as to not disrupt the monolithic appearance. Other challenges were slab edge deflection concerns and a variety of windowsill shapes and dimensions—all of which needed to meet design, structural, and cladding material limitations.

Photography credit: Credit Hufton and Crow Photography

Project Team

  • Architect: Studio Libeskind
  • Developers: NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development, NYC Housing Development Corporation, Selfhelp Community Services, Urban Builders Collaborative

Building Details

  • Affordable senior housing
  • 140,000 GSF
  • 11 stories
  • 190 units and amenity space

SWA Services

  • Building Enclosure Consulting

Learn more >>

Press Coverage

Is Daniel Libeskind’s Latest Residential Building the Blueprint for Affordable Housing?

Architectural Digest

[The] windows all take subtly different shapes to “get away from constant repetition and implication that you’re just a number,” the architect explains. “Nobody is a repetition of somebody else, and we should recognize that. You’re also able to look at the building from the street and recognize your home by the window.”

Photography credit: Steven Winter Associates

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