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Carriage Houses 1, 2, & 3 from Arthur Kill Road. © Naho Kubota
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Back porch of House 2. © Naho Kubota
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Super-saturated end walls create event backdrops with covered porches designed as hosting platforms for outdoor activities. House 3 back porch looking toward House 2. © Rice+Lipka Architects
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Carriage Houses site & immediate surrounds.
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Carriage Houses 1, 2, & 3 from Arthur Kill Road. © Naho Kubota
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Tufted insulation slows temperature & humidity changes within the spaces to protect SIHS's collection of historic carriages without the use of extensive mechanical controls.
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Large fans and a cross ventilation system cool the buildings without air conditioning.
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House 3 interior with tufted insulation nearing completion.
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Interior with historic artifacts. © Naho Kubota
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Carriage Houses 1, 2, & 3 from Arthur Kill Road.
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House 2 north entry porch.
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House 3 steel arch detail.
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Aerial view of physical model.
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The buildings are arrayed around a central exterior circular zone, or Access Hub - a free arrangement that frames grassy exterior areas between the sheds for SIHS fund-raising events.

CARRIAGE HOUSES & GROUNDS

Staten Island Historical Society, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, NYC/DDC, Staten Island, NY

Proposal 2007
Project 2008-13
Completion 2013-18

As part of NYC's Design Excellence program, RL has designed this ground up project for three new buildings that provide viewing and storage facilities for the SIHS's 62 historic carriages. The program includes exhibition gallery for the top carriages, restoration space, and multi-purpose space for education programs and events. Departing from the given program for a single 3,000sf metal Butler building that could only house a part of the collection, RL was able to triple the area using three steel arched-span structures. The deeply corrugated galvanized panels were sized to maximize storage capacity and economically perform as both structure and skin to provide 10,000sf needed to house the entire SIHS collection.

The multiple houses are situated to frame a series of exterior spaces for the organization's frequent outdoor events. Super-saturated end walls create event backdrops with covered porches designed as hosting platforms for outdoor activities. Taken as a whole, the project forms a collections campus, opening up programming and shaping a new identity for the SIHS.

Winner of the 2018 AIA New York State Award of Citation, the 2018 NYCxDESIGN Award, the 2018 SARA/NY Design Award of Excellence, and the 2011 NYC Public Design Commission Award for Excellence in Design.

Rice+Llpka Architects
Principals: Lyn Rice & Astrid Lipka
Associate: Benjamin Cadena; Project Architect: Ivan Chabra
Project Team: Danny Wills

Structural: Silman
Civil: Wohl & O'Mara
Environmental: Buro Happold
Lighting: Richard Shaver Architectural Lighting