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Mancini Duffy Wins Accolade for Community Center

The center occupies 28,000 square feet over four floors in a new, 30-story residential tower.

Nicholas Tamarin -- Interior Design, 8/12/2008 12:00:00 AM

It’s an upbeat accolade for a downtown project: New York-based architecture firm Mancini Duffy has snagged the 2008 Outstanding Project Award from the Greater New York Construction User Council for its Downtown Community Center, which was constructed for the non-profit Manhattan Youth organization.

The civic-minded firm's 28,000-square-foot center occupies four floors in a new, 30-story residential tower in the historic TriBeCa neighborhood. Opened in April, the center includes a large multi-purpose space and an aquatic center featuring a sky-lit, 75-foot swimming pool beneath a garden. It also features rooms for art, music, and games, a recording studio, a theater, a multimedia library, administration space, and classrooms. The center represents the first dedicated community center in Manhattan Youth's 20-year history of providing childcare, as well as academic, recreational, and cultural activities, to residents of lower Manhattan.

In addition to designing the center, Mancini Duffy worked closely with the NYC Economic Development Corporation to secure public and private funding sources for the project.