The Collective, a global network of co-living that creates private spaces with communal facilities has announced its recent partnership with Sou Fujimoto Architects in New York City. Located in 1215 Fulton Street, in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, the building will start welcoming its first tenants in 2022.
The Collective, founded in London, chose Sou Fujimoto Architects, a firm that focuses on the fundamental relationship between people and nature to design the 240,000 square feet project. The building will accommodate 440 members within common spaces that will host “cultural and community programming, accessible to residents and the public alike”.
Inspired by the surrounding built environment, Fujimoto opted for red brick cladding on the facades, connecting the building visually to the neighborhood. The envelope is punctuated by huge glass openings that reveal the interior, create a dramatic bas-relief, and allow an abundance of daylight in the space. Moreover, Fujimoto’s design recognizes the site’s rich institutional legacy, once home to a former Slave Theater, “a nexus of black culture and political activism between its opening and its closure”.
We’ve so enjoyed working with Sou Fujimoto, a true visionary who has really rethought the potential of residential architecture through both public and private projects, […] As a company, we’re forging a new, value-driven approach to urban living, which brings people in connection with place. Since Sou is known for his innovative and unique sensitivity to each project’s surroundings, he and his team made a natural partner for 1215 Fulton Street. We’ve been humbled by his cultural curiosity and his. design vision for this project. -- Reza Merchant, The Collective’s founder, and CEO.
The edifice, a ten-story comprised of three buildings, is joined on the ground-floor, to enhance the connections with the street level. The building’s largest common space, the interior courtyard is open to the public, with direct passageway linking Halsey and Fulton Streets. This collaboration will be The Collective’s second-largest project planned for the U.S. The building will also include public spaces for exhibitions, theater, and performance, ground floor co-working, restaurant and rooftop bar.
Designing for New York presents such a significant moment for our practice, […] I am honored, in particular, to be working in a culturally rich neighborhood like Bed-Stuy, and to reimagine this historic site. I hope our design will sustain and serve the incredible culture of this community. The Collective’s mission of creating space that enables people to lead more fulfilling lives resonates strongly with my practice. It was a great challenge and opportunity to envision a building that brings together such a diversity of activity and connection. -- Sou Fujimoto
- Design Architect: Sou Fujimoto Architects
- Executive Architect: Ismael Leyva Architects
- Development Partner: Tower Holdings Group
