As worthy a cause as a recycling facility is, it's hardly the most eye-catching civic project. Until now, that is. The Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility in Brooklyn, which opened its doors this week, sets a new standard in sustainable design - thanks to a masterplan and processing centre created by Selldorf Architects.
Located on an 11-acre pier on the South Brooklyn waterfront, the facility will serve as the principal processing plant for all New York City's curbside plastic, metal and glass; it has the capacity to address 1,000 tons of material a day.
With an investment of $110 million from New York City and Sims Metal Management, the Sunset Park Facility is the largest recycling plant in the United States and keeps in line with Mayor Michael Bloomberg's goal to create a more sustainable Big Apple by 2030. Selldorf's response includes circulation pathways that separate visitor flow from operational and delivery routes, and a new swath of greenspace, which makes up 20 per cent of the site. Surrounding brownfield land has also been replanted with native flora.
The site dates back to the 19th century, when it was developed as a manufacturing and shipping terminal, becoming an NYPD vehicle-impound lot most recently. It now incorporates a 125,500 sq ft recycling facility and a visitor centre that will champion conservation-related programming. For the former, the architects designed a pre-engineered box construction, a design challenge with little wiggle room. The successful result now includes a Tipping Building, which receives material by barge, and a Processing and Bale Storage building.
'The experience of determining what parts in the kit [we used] was really very interesting. These are big-box buildings, and working with a pre-engineered system was something I hadn't done before,' admits Annabelle Selldorf, the founding principal. 'It very quickly turned out that [everyone] was more than willing to rethink how the skin sits to the structure. So we turned the structure to the outside, which gives you this Prouvé kind of memory.'
Selldorf's modern aesthetic is the perfect match for the facility's industrial purpose. The buildings brim over with quiet details: interior structural elements have been placed on the exterior, and the choice of slim corrugated steel allows light to reflect off the walls with greater impact. The sloping roof also cuts an imposing figure. In the visitor centre, due to open in spring 2014, large portrait windows - akin to Selldorf's Chelsea gallery projects - make the most of the facility's waterside location.
The stunning vistas of the Brooklyn coast and the Statue of Liberty in the far distance reinforce the city's commitment to a greener future - what other public project would be granted such prime real estate? With the added bonus of Selldorf's stylish design, Sunset Park will reap rewards for years to come.
Located on an 11-acre pier on the South Brooklyn waterfront, the facility will serve as the principal processing plant for all New York City's curbside plastic, metal and glass; it will have the capacity to address 1,000 tons of material a day. Photography: Marc Lins, Courtesy of Selldorf Architects
With an investment of $110 million from New York City and Sims Metal Management, the Sunset Park Facility is the largest recycling plant in the United States. Photography: Marc Lins, Courtesy of Selldorf Architects
The site dates back to the 19th century, when it was developed as a manufacturing and shipping terminal, becoming an NYPD vehicle-impound lot most recently. It now incorporates a 125,500 sq ft recycling facility and a visitor centre that will champion conservation-related programming. Photography: Marc Lins, Courtesy of Selldorf Architects
The recycling facility, which includes a Tipping Building that receives material by barge, and a Processing and Bale Storage building, inhabits a pre-engineered box construction - a design challenge with little wiggle room that Selldorf Architects successfully embraced. Photography: Marc Lins, Courtesy of Selldorf Architects
Selldorf's modern aesthetic was a perfect match for the facility's industrial purpose. Photography: Marc Lins, Courtesy of Selldorf Architects
The architect was inspired by the project's industrial nature and 'turned the structure to the outside, which gives you this Prouvé kind of memory'. Photography: Jonathan Chesley, Courtesy of Selldorf Architects
ADDRESS
Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility is located at the 30th Street Pier in the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal in Sunset Park, Broo
-
Highlights from the transporting Cruise 2026 showsThe Cruise 2026 season began yesterday with a Chanel show at Lake Como, heralding the start of a series of jet-setting, destination runway shows from fashion’s biggest houses
-
Behind the design of national pavilions in Venice: three studios to knowDesigning the British, Swiss and Mexican national pavilions at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 are three outstanding studios to know before you go
-
Premium patisserie Naya is Mayfair’s latest sweet spotHeritage meets opulence at Naya bakery in Mayfair, London. With interiors by India Hicks and Anna Goulandris, the patisserie looks good enough to eat
-
Los Angeles businesses regroup after the 2025 firesIn the third instalment of our Rebuilding LA series, we zoom in on Los Angeles businesses and the architecture and social fabric around them within the impacted Los Angeles neighbourhoods
-
‘Fall Guy’ director David Leitch takes us inside his breathtaking Los Angeles homeFor movie power couple David Leitch and Kelly McCormick, interior designer Vanessa Alexander crafts a home with the ultimate Hollywood ending
-
The Lighthouse draws on Bauhaus principles to create a new-era workspace campusThe Lighthouse, a Los Angeles office space by Warkentin Associates, brings together Bauhaus, brutalism and contemporary workspace design trends
-
This minimalist Wyoming retreat is the perfect place to unplugThis woodland home that espouses the virtues of simplicity, containing barely any furniture and having used only three materials in its construction
-
Croismare school, Jean Prouvé’s largest demountable structure, could be yoursJean Prouvé’s 1948 Croismare school, the largest demountable structure ever built by the self-taught architect, is up for sale
-
We explore Franklin Israel’s lesser-known, progressive, deconstructivist architectureFranklin Israel, a progressive Californian architect whose life was cut short in 1996 at the age of 50, is celebrated in a new book that examines his work and legacy
-
A new hilltop California home is rooted in the landscape and celebrates views of natureWOJR's California home House of Horns is a meticulously planned modern villa that seeps into its surrounding landscape through a series of sculptural courtyards
-
The Frick Collection's expansion by Selldorf Architects is both surgical and delicateThe New York cultural institution gets a $220 million glow-up
