AIA Day of Service 2020 | BRC Men's Shelter Exterior Upgrade | Brooklyn

Urbahn Architects reached out to Forte-TAP to assist with their AIA Day of Service 2020 project. This included an exterior upgrade of the BRC Men's Shelter in Brooklyn. We were proud to donate labor and materials for this worthy project that will ultimately improve the community.

The project designed by Urbahn in association with Schuler Shook was completed this August and included the installation of exterior light fixtures, planters, custom wooden furniture, shade sails, athletic turf, and a uniquely patterned paint finish.

In 2006, BRC developed an innovative response to the needs of so-called “service resistant” individuals experiencing homelessness, recognizing that the style and size of most shelters were unappealing to those that were not able to meet typical shelter requirements for sobriety and maintaining curfew. In response, BRC created innovative Safe Havens shelters, all of which have fewer than 100 beds and operate under a modified harm reduction philosophy. Today, BRC’s inventive model has been replicated by others, and there are over a dozen Safe Havens throughout the City over 1,200 Safe Haven beds to men and women in need of support, 200 of which are operated by BRC.