Brooklyn Children's Museum
Innovative Architecture Using Durable Materials
Rafael Viñoly was firmly convinced that technological innovations are of great importance for progress in architecture. However, it was also clear to him that they do not necessarily have to go hand in hand with the use of new materials. Sometimes, a time-honored product like ceramic mosaic tiles is exactly what innovative architecture needs. The expansion of the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, a project designed by the New York architectural firm Viñoly in 2008, is a wonderful example of this. The highly sustainable building captivates with its ceramic surfaces, which still look just as fresh as they did shortly after completion.
The museum’s expansion by Rafael Viñoly (born in 1944 in Montevideo, Uruguay) encompasses 9,000 m² of museum space, nearly 2,000 m² of rooftop terrace, and an additional 1,000 m² of garden space. In 2015, the rooftop terrace was expanded based on a design by Future Green Studio and Toshiko Mori. This allows outdoor activities and events to take place under the “three-season open-air canopy”—as Mori describes her work. The building otherwise remained unchanged and continues to be aesthetically flawless.
Viñoly (who passed away in März 2023) was very proud that the building was long the only LEED-certified green museum. While LEED certification has a great deal to do with the museum’s low energy consumption, the durable exterior facade is also a key factor in meeting this sustainability standard. Ceramic is durable and maintenance-free, and time leaves no trace on it. The Children’s Museum is the best example of this.
The slightly bulbous shape of the upper part of the museum’s façade is clad in bright yellow tiles from architectural ceramics specialist AGROB BUCHTAL. At the corner of Brooklyn and St. Mark’s Avenue, red and green ceramic walls frame the museum entrance.
The yellow, red, and green stand out against Brooklyn’s urban landscape and highlight the museum’s specific target audience: children who visit the museum to explore, play, and learn. It is common to design architecture for children in a colorful way; Viñoly had recognized this correctly. Yet the Children’s Museum is no exception in the context of his work, which captivates with its unconventional boldness. Many of Viñoly’s projects have become true eye-catchers thanks to their form and the use of striking colors. Seen in this light, a clear continuity is evident between his early projects for the Bank of the City of Buenos Aires—which he designed in his twenties in the late 1960s in Argentina—the Children’s Museum, and his more recent works, such as the controversial Walkie-Talkie skyscraper in downtown London with its concave facade and the super-slim residential tower at 432 Park Avenue in Manhattan.
Almost every building by Viñoly broke new ground. This also applies to the Children’s Museum, which stands out from all his other designs. Even if it may seem paradoxical: it is this uniqueness that makes the museum in Brooklyn a quintessential Viñoly. And its enduring, unaltered existence is proof of the stability and resilience of its ceramic façade: a promise that the Children’s Museum will remain forever young.
