Project Overview
Flushing Meadows Corona Park is an iconic parkland in Queens, N.Y The nearly 900-acre site has played host to many memorable events throughout history, including the 1939 World’s Fair as well as the annual U.S. Open tennis tournament. Now, thanks to the use of precast concrete, Flushing Meadows Corona Park is also the home to the Mosaic Pre-K Center at the New York Hall of Science. This three-story, 33,320 ft² facility is helping address the shortage of school seats available for prekindergarten students in nearby neighborhoods.
Outside In, Inside Out
As the project team developed designs for the school, one of the most important considerations centered on its location within the park. Existing buildings on the campus tended to be more reserved in their design, with most consisting of hard materials with basic colors. Aesthetically, most of the structures also suggest permanence via their building materials, which consist of solid forms of concrete, stone, and brick masonry. Precast concrete was therefore the ideal solution for the Mosaic Pre-K Center, as the material could convey feelings of resilience and longevity while still allowing the design flexibility needed to develop an engaging building with a unique aesthetic.
The team responsible for the work, which included architect MDSzerbaty Associates Architecture and PCI-certified precast concrete producer Coreslab Structures of Thomaston, Conn., decided that the design should reflect its location inside the park. Precast concrete panels with large cutouts for expansive windows were used on the east facade of the building, helping to establish an important connection point between the structure and the park. The windows, which are deeply set within precast concrete panels, have colored terra-cotta tile surrounds inlaid in precast concrete that relate to the accent color of each classroom. The other end of the building features a modular grid of precast concrete panels that are broken down into smaller grids derived from other sources around the structure, including the composition of typical window-bay mullions at classrooms. Terra-cotta tiles, seemingly random in pattern, are embedded within this grid system, creating a lively wall full of visual interest and texture.
A key challenge in formulating a design for the Mosaic Pre-K Center was integrating the new building into the parkland site in a manner that would simultaneously let the building blend in and stand out from its surroundings. White architectural precast concrete panels quickly became the clear choice for the design team, as these panels have a robust sense of mass, which relates to the other historic structures on site, and could be manufactured and installed quickly and efficiently. The construction schedule was tight because work had to be complete before the school’s opening date. Using precast concrete helped the team meet this deadline, while also providing a structure that establishes a meaningful aesthetic relationship between being inside the building looking out and being in the park and looking in.
Mason Nichols is a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based writer and editor who has covered the precast concrete industry since 2013. |