Yesterday Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation and academic partners Pratt Institute and New York City College of Technology (City Tech) announced the Research Yard, an advanced research and applied learning facility based in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The idea began with Pratt Research Yard, a shared research facility between Pratt faculty, Brooklyn Navy Yard, and the community, and evolved into a public/private partnership with both Pratt Institute and City Tech, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The open-plan space will house new lab and office space to help develop solutions for real-world problems locally and globally.
“In bringing two renowned academic institutions to a major job hub, the Research Yard will open doors for students by offering a hands-on learning environment,” said David Ehrenberg, president and CEO of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation. “This unique partnership is an extension of the Yard’s mission to create a pipeline of quality jobs, while also providing the experiential learning and skill building that make these jobs accessible to the local community. We look forward to starting work on this exciting project and welcoming a new generation to the Navy Yard.”
The Research Yard will occupy a 27,000-square-foot space in Building 3, an 11-story structure originally built in 1918 in the Navy Yard. Architectural firm Smith-Miller + Hawkinson will transform the warehouse space used as a fulfillment center into an education research model supporting the creative economy. With Pratt relocating all its research centers to the Research Yard, the new facility will include fabrication labs as well as research areas for the study of robotics, information visualization, sustainability, community development, environmental sensing, design incubation in rural areas, and digital archeology. The space will also house a facility where City Tech students and faculty can collaborate with industry professionals from the Yard’s ecosystem of more than 500 businesses, along with their peers from Pratt. Students and industry professionals will be able to work together on research projects, sharing technology and equipment, and allowing students to build their professional networks.
“Nearly half of our students live and work in Brooklyn and over 90 percent of our students reside in New York City. The Research Yard will provide a seamless and braided experience for our students and faculty to work alongside local workforce talent and tech industries,” said Dr. Gerarda Shields, City Tech’s Dean of the School of Technology & Design. “Funding for the Research Yard is a testament to the NY City Council’s commitment of forwarding City Tech as a national engine of economic mobility in Downtown Brooklyn.”
The Research Yard received $6 million in funding, including $4.2 million from the New York City Council and $1.8 million from Pratt, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the Brooklyn Borough President’s Office, and the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York.
Construction is expected to be complete by early 2022.
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Can we research how construction can be announced today and finished by “early 2022” ?
I’m homeless
Perhaps transforming a fulfillment center into the research facility is less work than turning a Kmart into a Wegmans?