A couple of years in the past, Brotherhood Sister Sol, the West Harlem youth improvement group, opened a $22 million headquarters that turned a pilgrimage cease for New York design buffs. Its jagged glass facade, alongside a block of previous tenements, resembled an upraised hand, leaning over the sidewalk.
“An architectural showpiece,” is how I described it again in 2022.
I fearful then whether or not the structure was purposeful. With 700 youngsters romping by way of the quirky rooms and slim halls, BroSis, because it’s additionally identified, was fated to endure a each day stress check that appeared to benefit a re-evaluation.
So I hopped a 1 practice the opposite day to see how the place was holding up.
It seemed remarkably well-loved and spotless, a transparent signal of delight. The constructing nonetheless comes as a visible jolt on West 143rd Avenue. Designed by Urban Architectural Initiatives, its message stays clear: this isn’t your tasteful company constructing. It speaks to a special viewers and totally different objective.
The afternoon I arrived, teenagers have been making artwork in one of many lecture rooms and unloading piles of twigs and leaves into giant wood bins of steaming compost in the neighborhood backyard that BroSis oversees subsequent door. Amongst different issues, the constructing has allowed BroSis so as to add workers and beef up its environmental applications, putting in new composting bins, a whole lot of them ultimately, all throughout town.
Psychological well being providers have additionally been expanded now that BroSis has room for extra clinicians and social staff. So have artwork, dance and different after-school courses. The group presents professional bono authorized recommendation. In its previous constructing, workers cooked for teenagers in a small dwelling kitchen, and sometimes resorted to ordering pizza. The brand new constructing features a skilled kitchen that seems 40,000 meals a yr.
