Alongside the Department of Environmental Protection, Hazen and Sawyer Engineers, and DLANDstudio, Selldorf Architects presented updated designs for The Gowanus CSO (Combined Sewage Overflow) facility and head house at the Community Board 6 Parks/Recreation/Environmental Protection Committee meeting on Wednesday October 17th.

Working with the community and incorporating public feedback the building makes a significant contribution to the future of resilient infrastructure with a design that is public facing and forward looking as it draws from the fabric of Gowanus’s industrial roots. The project elevates an infrastructure project to a public amenity with spaces for education and engagement.

As part of an EPA Superfund cleanup project, the facility is comprised of an 8-million-gallon underground tank where storm water and sewage will be diverted during overflow events and an above-ground head house facility which includes screening and de-gritting equipment, electrical transformers and odor control systems. The façade of the head house is a louvered terracotta that wraps around the entirety of the structure. The louvers create a cohesive, attractive skin to allow necessary ventilation and a controlled level of visual transparency that illuminates the internal process to the public. This added transparency breaks down the scale of the building along with a dynamic landscape design in collaboration with landscape architects DLAND Studio. The publicly accessible outdoor space consists of undulating topographies, seating areas and experiential paths across the site.

For more information, see the article in Bklyner.