Morris Adjmi Architects

The Grand Mulberry Apartments

The Grand Mulberry Apartments
© Selvon Ramsawak

The Grand Mulberry Apartments

Morris Adjmi Architects

YEAR
2022

LOCATION
Brooklyn, United States

MANUFACTURERS
Glen-gery, Windloch

AREA
36000 Ft²

CATEGORY
Apartments

EXPEDITOR
Jm Zoning

CONTRACTOR
Empire State Contractors

CIVIL
Sullivan Group Design Llc

MEP
Abs Engineers

PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Brittany Macomber

STRUCTURAL
Rcm/bga Engineering

DESIGN PRINCIPAL
Morris Adjmi

MANAGING DIRECTOR
Michael Zweck-bronner

PROJECT ARCHITECT
Paul Tierman

SENIOR DESIGNER
Thomas Wensing

INTERIOR DESIGN LEAD
Melissa Shalloway

Located at the intersection of Grand and Mulberry Streets in the heart of Little Italy, MA’s design of The Grand Mulberry draws inspiration from the rich heritage of historic Italianate tenements found throughout the neighborhood. The custom-profiled brick that clads the contemporary condominium building creates a spectral reference to this heritage.

The Grand Mulberry Apartments
© Selvon Ramsawak
The Grand Mulberry Apartments
© Selvon Ramsawak

While MA frequently takes inspiration from nearby buildings, the firm’s designs rarely replicate specific structures. The Grand Mulberry is somewhat of an exception—the facade is an abstraction of a literal copy.

The classically inspired, irregular grouping of “ghost windows” creates tension with the regular cadence of the building’s real windows as a way to juxtapose past and present.

The Grand Mulberry Apartments
© Selvon Ramsawak
The Grand Mulberry Apartments
© Selvon Ramsawak

Traditionally, Italianate tenement buildings featured a tripartite façade that consisted of a base, middle, and top with differing details and brickwork used for each portion.

Emulating this tradition, The Grand Mulberry’s façade pattern consists of banding at the building’s base on floors 1-2, pediment windows in the middle on floors 3-5, and arched windows and a cornice at the top portion on floor 6.

The Grand Mulberry Apartments
© Glen-Gery
The Grand Mulberry Apartments
© Glen-Gery

Quoining details define the bays. Given the project’s setting, the objective from the onset was to design a building that was contextual yet unmistakably contemporary.

While the facade pattern is traditional, the application of the hand-molded domed bricks is very modern—each brick was carefully positioned within the double-stacked running bond coursing to present the illusion of a traditional Italianate façade.

The Grand Mulberry Apartments
© Selvon Ramsawak
The Grand Mulberry Apartments
© Glen-Gery
The Grand Mulberry Apartments
© Glen-Gery

The custom bricks come in roughly thirty different shapes to execute the pattern, including double bricks with double domes (the most prevalent), double bricks with a single dome, curved bricks, lipped bricks, and simple shapes without domes.

All have a uniform red-orange clay color that pays further homage to the red brick buildings found in the neighborhood.

The Grand Mulberry Apartments
© Glen-Gery
The Grand Mulberry Apartments
© Glen-Gery

At the rear of the building, the 7th floor steps back to create a gracious terrace for the penthouse unit that faces both Grand and Mulberry Streets.

The penthouse and the building’s bulkhead are wrapped in medium gray standing seam metal panels that create a subtle contrast of material and color. This allows these elements to stand alone but not detract from the brick façade below.

The Grand Mulberry Apartments
© Glen-Gery


The Grand Mulberry Apartments
Bricks


The Grand Mulberry Apartments
Elevation
The Grand Mulberry Apartments
Elevation

Morris Adjmi Architects
T +1 212 9822020
Morris Adjmi Architects
60 Broad St 32nd floor, New York, NY 10004, United States