The Bronx, New York
The Bronx Developmental Center was originally planned as a total-care residential facility for 750 physically disabled and mentally handicapped children. The project, as built, accommodates 380 residents, as well as serving as an out-patient facility. While the program’s complex technical requirements demanded particular attention, the design is above all an attempt to create a sense of place that responds to the special feelings and needs of the residents.
The triangular site occupies part of a blighted industrial no-man’s land – a traffic island – bounded by the Hutchinson River Parkway to the east and a network of railroad tracks to the west. Although a large, dilapidated warehouse by the rail yards was to be renovated, the new building could not be related to its setting in a conventional sense- there being no defining contextual organization or architectural reference on which to base a set of design propositions. The logical strategy was, then, to allow the new structure to create its own context, and the general layout opens inward to a realm where the resident is protected from the external setting.
The two major programmatic elements divide around the lateral axis of the composition: the support services wing in the rectangular block on the west, and the residential units and services in the stepped volumes on the east. The gymnasium and physical therapy building on the south, and the two large courtyards, each with a corridor at its northern edge, stitch the composition together.
布朗克斯发展中心是一座公共文化教育建筑，建于1970年至1977年，由理查德·迈耶事务所设计。该建筑最初规划为一座可容纳750名身体残障和智力障碍儿童的全照顾住宅设施，但实际建成时只容纳了380名居民，并成为门诊设施。建筑师在满足复杂的技术要求的同时，试图创造一个能够响应居民特殊感受和需求的场所。建筑的位置在纽约市布朗克斯，被Hutchinson River Parkway和铁路轨道包围，原来是一个废弃的工业区。建筑设计没有依赖于传统的建筑组织和文化背景，而是试图创造自己的文脉。整体布局向内部开放，为居民提供一个保护他们免受外部环境干扰的空间。建筑的两个主要功能区域分别位于建筑的东西两侧，由南侧的体育馆和物理治疗建筑以及两个大型庭院串联起来。总体而言，布朗克斯发展中心是一座成功地结合了技术要求和居民需求的建筑。