On January 27th, the Brooklyn Museum opened its new Toby Devan Lewis Education Center to a host of donors, dignitaries, and those most welcome—neighborhood families and their children!
The brightly colored, kid-friendly space is brightly lit as well, due to AYON Studio’s efforts in replacing a large portion of the rear curtain wall of this national and NYC Landmark. Although the main museum building is a Beaux-Arts McKim, Mead & White masterpiece dating back to the late 19th century, the existing curtain wall was a stark Brutalist-style façade comprised primarily of windowless precast concrete panels, leaving the prior interior environment dark and dreary, with the only natural light coming through minimal skylights.
To bring significantly more daylight into the new Education Center, AYON Studio designed a glass and metal-panel curtain wall that fits seamlessly with the remaining portions of the existing wall. We carefully coordinated this exterior work to achieve necessary approvals from the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) at Public Hearing, down to the custom paint color of the metal panels. Because of our vast experience working closely with LPC, we were able to obtain their approval and successfully guide the project through completion.
Another unique challenge for this façade replacement was to ensure wild bird protection, now mandated by the NYC Building Code, in compliance with Local Law 15 of 2020. Using a dot pattern on the glass that prevents birds from flying into the glass was especially critical given the Museum’s location, directly across the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and Prospect Park, which is home to 292 species of birds.