Ignacio Alonso, a student who graduated from the ESARQ School of Architecture in 2002, is completely restoring a historical residential building in the Brooklyn borough of New York, together with the rest of his team at New Amsterdam Design Associates. This will make him the second ever Catalan architect, after Josep Lluís Sert, to have a building project in the U.S. city.
Alonso’s project involves restoring an early 20th-century building on Seventh Avenue in Brooklyn that has been empty for 20 years. The five-storey building will house four luxury homes, one on each floor, and a commercial space on the ground floor. The construction project is expected to be completed in eight months.
The project respects and incorporates the building’s historical character by restoring the original façade features and cleaning and replacing the original brickwork and metal parapet. Some of the distinctive elements, such as a four-story turret, have also been restored. Likewise, the original building materials are being reused for other purposes, such as new furniture for the common areas that will be made from reclaimed wooden beams.
The new project retains the character of the past owners and has been very well received by the residents of the neighbourhood. Alonso’s project could be said to provide a touch of nostalgia.
