Garage Operations and Maintenance Building
NYC Department of Sanitation
Edgemere, NY
Award: The NYC Arts Commission Award for Excellence in Design, 2004
daSILVA Architects provided architectural services to the New York City Department of Sanitation for the design of the new Queens Community District 14 Garage and Salt Shed. Completed as a joint venture with Judd Designs, this project includes two stories of administrative offices overlooking a double height garage and truck repair shop; it encompasses 75,000 SF in Edgemere, Queens.
The 393,000 SF panhandle-shaped site is adjacent to a former landfill that was capped in the early 1990s. A public fishing pier to the northeast of the site, as well as the wetlands surrounding it, were reestablished and are now designated New York City parkland. New landscaping with plants indigenous to wetland environments was included in the design.
The first floor of the facility was designed to store and service 34 large vehicles. The 8-bay repair shop has an overhead traveling crane; locker rooms and facilities for 200 sanitation employees are located on the 2nd floor. Multiple skylights suffuse the space, creating an open atmosphere throughout. Personnel areas face the southwestern sun
A sweeping curtain-wall of spandrel shadow-box ribbons above and reflective vision glass below creates rippling, changing layers of light and color. Exterior walls are precast concrete with both a smooth and stippled finish atop a dimensioned limestone base. Interior partitions constructed of several types of concrete block—polished, ground faced, scored, or left in their natural state—are accented by bolted stainless steel railings and stairs; exterior openings are protected by painted bent plate. Duct work, supporting frameworks, and exposed steel beams reinforce the machine aesthetic.
The undulating fence surrounding the compound was designed to engage the natural light coming through the empty spaces of the fence pickets. Indigenous flowering plants and bushes were placed in the curves and pockets of the fence to break up its length. The vegetation also serves to conceal parked vehicles. While responding effectively to each agency’s stringent requirements, this entire facility maintains a handsome character that blends into the neighboring park lands.
This project was required to use multiple prime contractors and architects due to New York state’s WICKs Law.