Rockaway Community Center
A community center in Arverne with a stepped courtyard and an integrated steel canopy.
An academic civic-building proposal combining workshops, education and temporary emergency accommodation.
Developed with Yuqi Fang in Donald Cromley’s Spring 2022 studio, the project occupies a site beside the elevated rail line at Beach 62nd Street, Queens. The brief combines making, display, gathering and short-term shelter. The design coordinates this program with structural, enclosure and environmental systems.
- Context
- Pratt Institute · ARCH 302.09
- Semester
- Spring 2022
- Collaborators
- Yuqi Fang & Siyue You
- Instructor
- Donald Cromley
- Site
- Beach 62nd Street, Arverne, Queens
- Status
- Academic community-center proposal
Courtyard and program
The stepped courtyard organizes the main circulation and public rooms. The lower level accommodates making, display, storage and services. Classrooms, gathering and dining spaces, a kitchen and offices occupy a raised level. Ramps and stairs connect both levels through the courtyard.
The site plan extends pedestrian access toward the subway station and places planted areas along the eastern edge.
Making, display and service spaces surround the stepped central courtyard.
Canopy and environmental systems
Branching steel supports carry a modular canopy incorporating glass, solar elements, lighting and drainage. A repeated grid coordinates the enclosed rooms and open areas beneath the roof.
Sections trace rainwater toward landscape and storage systems. Details include maintenance access, battery equipment, soil and filter layers, and a waterproof tank assembly. These systems are developed as part of the academic design proposal.
The section coordinates branching structure, occupied floors, canopy and water-handling proposals.
Lighting studies test how the roof and public areas remain legible after dark.
Assembly and documentation
The exploded axonometric separates foundations, floor plates, stairs, railings, walls and roof components. It shows how circulation and the stepped courtyard relate to the building assembly.
Plans, sections, renderings and a short assembly animation document the final scheme, from its coastal site organization to its structural and enclosure details.
The building is separated into structural, enclosure and circulation layers.
Interactive model
Interactive display model from Rockaway Ver1.3dm. Original instance positions are retained. Fine glazing profiles are simplified; presentation colors distinguish components.
Building assembly
12 seconds · No audioExploded sequence showing foundations, floor plates, circulation, enclosure and roof assemblies.
Yuqi Fang and Siyue You, ARCH 302.09, Spring 2022, Donald Cromley, Pratt Institute. Academic community-center proposal developed from a studio brief combining civic use, making and emergency shelter.
