On July 8, 2016, Deborah Berke Partners was announced as the winner of the International Design Competition to transform Bayview Correctional Facility into the Women’s Building of NYC. The firm was chosen from a group of 43 applicants by a selection committee made up of leading architects, women’s rights activists, and people formerly incarcerated at the facility. The former’s women prison is being turned into a hub for the girls’ and women’s rights movement—an effort spearheaded by the NoVo Foundation and the Goren Group. The building will include office space for women’s rights nonprofits and shared conference space, and is likely to provide child care services, a café, and a ‘green space.’

Pamela Shifman, NoVo Foundation Executive Director, stated that aside from their expertise and creativity, Deborah Berke Partners stood out because of “their collaborative spirit and willingness to co-create; and the team’s strong alignment with the mission and the values of The Women’s Building.” In particular, Deborah Berke and her award-winning firm show they are committed to gender equality and justice in their active promotion of the advancement of women in the field of architecture. On the team with Berke are the firm’s principal, Rhoda Kennedy, and senior associate, Arthi Krishnamoorthy.

The building has a complex and layered history, including its creation as a YMCA for sailors and merchant marines and its later use as a women’s prison and its closure due to Hurricane Sandy. It’s important to tell those stories, both the light and the dark sides of its history, which will ultimately make the project even more meaningful. —Deborah Berke

Deborah Berke Partners will continue the NoVo Foundation and Goren Group’s commitment to taking the community’s visions and suggestions for the Women’s Building seriously. Besides a brainstorming session held in December 2015, NoVo and Goren have spoken to about 600 women’s rights activists and Chelsea community members to bolster community collaboration.

Additionally, Berke’s team plans to preserve aspects of the building’s history in the redesign. It is not yet known in what respect this historical preservation will be manifested. Important to both the designers and the foundation, though, is that some aspect of the prison be preserved in order to emphasize the transformation of “space of women’s confinement [to] a space for women’s liberation,” as was expressed by the Buffetts. Deborah Berke reiterated that mission stating, “The building has a complex and layered history, including its creation as a YMCA for sailors and merchant marines and its later use as a women’s prison and its closure due to Hurricane Sandy. It’s important to tell those stories, both the light and the dark sides of its history, which will ultimately make the project even more meaningful.”

One step closer to being realized, the Women’s Building will begin construction in 2017 with a projected completion date in 2020.

Read the Women’s Building’s press release announcing Deborah Berke Partners as the winners of the design competition here.

 

The Prison Public Memory Project looks forward to continuing the documentation of the facility’s past and future. We are currently researching its periods as the YMCA Seaman’s House and Bayview Correctional Facility.