![Sephardic Community Center / BKSK - Windows, Facade](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5012/d123/28ba/0d14/7d00/0c54/medium_jpg/stringio.jpg?1414488810)
- Year: 2010
-
Photographs:Jonathan Wallen, Jeffrey Totaro
Text description provided by the architects. The 100,000 square foot new Sephardic Community Center on Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn, NY is a transformative expansion of its 30-year old original building. It is symbolic of the central role it now plays in the surrounding neighborhood as an inter-generational facility. It expands upon the first Center's stated mission to preserve and nurture the rich history and culture of the Sephardic Community, it offers coherence to the Center's ever-widening program of educational, athletic and social services, and above all it extends a legible, clear invitation to all for participation in community events.
![Sephardic Community Center / BKSK - Facade](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5012/d12f/28ba/0d14/7d00/0c56/newsletter/stringio.jpg?1414488822)
The original 50,000 square foot community center with its textured concrete and minimal fenestration was representative of its time, built with a circumscribed palette of durable and opaque materials. The building was characterized by a simple massing strategy and overall sense of solidity. BKSK's design of the expanded Center involves subtle changes to the original main façade, a layered glass and masonry composition for the new wing, and a continuous canopy to yoke them all together. A dialogue between the two is palpable, one that honors the building's long-standing social importance and makes the facility's striking evolution appear as inevitable.
![Sephardic Community Center / BKSK - Facade](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5012/d12a/28ba/0d14/7d00/0c55/newsletter/stringio.jpg?1414488813)
The new complex now includes an additional street façade on a quieter residential street that further interprets the planar quality of the original building, and gracefully weaves an institutionally-scaled structure (gymnasium, preschool and community room) into the residential urban fabric. The deceptive simplicity of the exterior design only hints at the intricate programmatic puzzle of the interior.
![Sephardic Community Center / BKSK - Image 3 of 16](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5012/d134/28ba/0d14/7d00/0c57/newsletter/stringio.jpg?1414488816)
The Center hosts activities and programs for all ages, including a gym,pool and spa; a 170- student preschool center; meeting spaces for a wide range of social groups and gatherings; a performance space; extensive administrative offices; and a celebratory space as a repository of cultural memory. An emphasis on spatial legibility extends a sense of welcoming order to the multi-story Heritage Hall entry lobby, from which the full range of activities becomes evident. The community's shared lineage has become a true centerpiece of the lobby, with hundreds of ancestral images sandwiched between layers of glass.
![Sephardic Community Center / BKSK - Table, Chair](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5012/d13f/28ba/0d14/7d00/0c59/newsletter/stringio.jpg?1414488819)
Throughout the new and renovated areas a carefully wrought sense of coherence, an often- surprising visual connection between previously segregated functions, and the notable introduction of natural light to all circulation and informal gathering spaces has yielded a heightened sense of group interaction. An integral series of commissioned, site-specific artwork and unexpected furnishings that create areas of individual identity, support this building's bold vision of a mutually supportive community.
![Sephardic Community Center / BKSK - Table, Sofa, Windows, Chair](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5012/d14f/28ba/0d14/7d00/0c5c/newsletter/stringio.jpg?1414488833)