Manhattan Neighborhood Network’s El Barrio Firehouse Community Media Center

Aesthetic

In transforming one of New York’s historic firehouses into a public access television station - Manhattan Neighborhood Network’s El Barrio Firehouse Community Media Center - Kostow Greenwood rose to the challenge of designing a facility to support training and access to new technologies, and played an integral role in the revitalization effort of East Harlem and upper Manhattan. Additionally, we designed a stand-alone Youth Media Center that houses recreation and community events. The El Barrio Firehouse Community Media Center resides in a former firehouse designed by Napoleon LeBrun & Sons in the late 1800s. As a public access television station, the center offers free training and access to new technologies on an open and uncensored basis and plays an integral role in the revitalization effort of East Harlem and upper Manhattan.

Statistics

  • 10,700 square feet
  • Stand-alone Youth Media Center
  • Large studio and smaller express studios
  • Control room
  • Editing stations
  • Classroom

Function

We incorporated new digital infrastructure into the converted firehouse to support the needs of this important new media arts center.