Brooklyn Bergen is a new 105-unit housing development, located at the confluence of Boerum Hill, Gowanus, Fort Greene and Park Slope. The project seeks to draw from its neighborhood’s histories and existing housing and industrial typologies, while striving to create a new identity beyond context.
This highly collaborative project, brings together a talented team of architects, landscape architects, and interior designers. Taller Frida Escobedo is the architect and led the material expression of the project. DXA was charged with master planning. Workstead led interior design, and DXA together with Patrick Cullina developed the landscape and associated infrastructure.
An expansive garden entered from Dean Street fills out the site. Together, DXA and Patrick Cullina conceived it as coming home; a progression through a curated landscape along a gently meandering path, with angles that direct your attention to different experiences of gardens or sculptures. The path leads to a bridge that brings you to the refuge of home where residents find a space for healing and regeneration. The team sought opportunities for connection to the neighborhood and the landscapes conceived as a canvas for community. It encourages engagement, intersections, and opportunities for interaction. Taking the long view and working to future-proof the development, the site’s retention tanks were remade as garden terraces and plantings were designed to mitigate and delay stormwater absorption. Showcasing how water is displaced and captured as it moves across the site, the garden reveals natural wetting cycles, renders gravity visible and celebrates how the building is adapting to a dynamic environment.
At 400 feet long, the site itself, previously a parking lot and open-weather shed, occupies nearly half of a city block. In response to this monumental scale, the site is bisected by a large, central amenity space, which acts as a visible break in the street wall and introduces a generous outdoor garden. Each building wing is divided into vertical groupings of apartments, which recede from the sidewalk in a diminishing rhythm. This massing strategy creates privacy for ground floor units, a strong demarcation of building entrances, and additional opportunities for landscaping to engage the street. The direction of planimetric stagger is reversed above the second floor creating a dynamic plinth that grounds the building, while further diminishing its vertical impact. A regular grid of pillars and openings is superimposed across the building’s dynamic façade. Within this holistic and economic scaffold, a playful variety of textures, transparencies and materiality address the changing conditions and orientations of the program enclosed. Finally, this tapestry dissolves into the sky as a perforated crown, creating intimate outdoor rooms at rooftop terraces.
Workstead designed the interiors of both the residential units and shared spaces at Bergen. Drawing from the building’s connection to the natural world, the interiors prioritize calm, light, and sensory well-being. Throughout the project, they employed a refined, tactile palette, starting with light, airy tones in the ground-floor spaces and transitioning to deeper, jewel-like hues on the upper levels. Every detail, from white oak kitchen handles to custom-framed mirrors, was developed in collaboration with Brooklyn-based artisans, reflecting Workstead’s commitment to thoughtful, durable design. Custom lighting from Workstead’s own collection, including the Pendolo Pendant III and the Tube Pendant Large, adds warmth and dimension, and layers easily onto the timeless material palette. The project’s overarching goal was to create restorative spaces that feel personal and lasting—a place of respite within the energy of New York City.
Renderings by Darcstudio
