Center for Community and Entrepreneurship
New York, NY
AAFE, a non-profit organization founded in the mid seventies, is a community-based group, established to advocate for equal opportunities. AAFE offers invaluable programs and services to the community such as homeownership counseling, housing rights and entitlement service counseling, civil rights advocacy, economic development, and youth development and education.
JCJ Architecture, in collaboration with Leong-Leong, has designed a building that elevates a non-profit organization, fosters a sense of community and encourages entrepreneurship on a metropolitan site with spectacular views.
This non-profit organization’s challenge was to identify the highest and best use for property owned through an affiliate. The building is designed to consist of 4 levels of Class A office space (1 of which will be dedicated to the organization’s own offices), 1 level of community gathering/event space, 1 level of incubator office space to foster entrepreneurship, a ground-level retail marketplace and below-grade parking with mechanical lifts. The approved scheme modified the form of the upper office levels - extruding and rotating these forms - to create unique and exciting outdoor terraces at the community level. The project is designed to include elements of biophilia, A ‘living wall’ was included to provides an element of biophilia to a main stair, which would also create auditorium style seating.
The building is designed to serve as a physical presence that manifests the social and community objectives of this organization.
