New York, New York, USA
Located in Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, the new 80,000-square-foot Covenant House New York, designed and created by FXCollaborative and Starr Whitehouse serves the homeless youth of New York City.
Covenant House New York has recently been awarded a 2022 American Architecture Award Honorable Mention, by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
The four-story base houses a wide variety of programs to help as many as 1,900 at-risk young adults annually, with the tower above providing individual sleeping rooms and support spaces.
The facility is organized around a central security point just off the sidewalk.
A featured wood stair, called the Stoop, welcomes visitors and provides access to the second floor where multiple gathering spaces serve the Covenant House community.
The six floors of the residential shelter, meanwhile, provide up to 120 beds.
Individual bathrooms and bathing rooms offer privacy that respects the gender identity of all residents.
The design of the outdoor spaces is just as thoughtful: An expansive, covered first-floor courtyard and a second-floor terrace are inviting hangouts for all, while a fifth-floor terrace at the building’s setback accommodates staff.
The structure’s design balances solidity and transparency in much the same way that the facility provides for the dignity of the individual resident and offers gathering spaces for the community.
Windows deeply set in the structure’s brick wall express a sturdiness of construction that reflects Covenant House’s mission and aspirations for its residents.
The fenestration varies between the base and tower, with wide, extensive windows for the public spaces on the lower floors and individual windows that mark the sleeping rooms in the tower above.
Brick, stone, copper, and wood demonstrate these values in built form and promise a bright and durable future for the organization and its residents.
Project: Covenant House New York
Architects: FXCollaborative
Design Team: Heidi Blau, Dan Kaplan, Nicholas Garrison, Eric Van Der Sluys, Cristina Rodriguez, Alp Bozkurt, Frank Lindemann, Mercedes Armillas, Jodie Quinter, Leslie Infanger, Justyna Murowiec-Chun, Daniel Chilcote, Korantemaa Larbi, and Jaehee Lee
Landscape Architects: Starr Whitehouse
General Contractor: Monadnock Construction
Client: Covenant House New York
Photographers: Chris Cooper and Adam Kane Macchia