New York Public Library
Macomb's Bridge Branch
Michielli + Wyetzner Architects crafted the Macombâs Bridge Library out of an unlikely combination of tiny storefronts. Seven commercial spaces, lined in load-bearing walls, were combined to create this luminous civic center. The architects worked around substantial constraints, gathering extensive utility piping of the building above into dynamic ceiling volumes and carving cleverly-placed openings into structural walls.
The centerpiece of the library is the childrenâs reading room. The design team located the childrenâs area under a setback in the building above, which afforded the opportunity to both raise the ceiling and create a skylight. The resulting space is bright and dynamic, while the adjacent adult reading room is
âmore intimate and calm.
The building hosting the library is part of the Harlem River Houses, the first federally-funded housing complex in New York City and now a city landmark. The architects upgraded and restored the exterior surfacing of the project to reflect its prominent location and to cement the library as a vital community fixture.
Photographed February 2020
Architect: Michielli + Wyetzner Architects
Client: New York Public Library
Builder: Gannon Vitolo Contracting
Lighting Design: Anita Jorgensen Lighting Design
2021 AIANY Chapter Interior Design Merit Award
2020 AIA New York State Adaptive Reuse Design Merit Award
I love the built environment. My photographic practice is anchored by my fascination with design, urbanity and the tactile experience of our surroundings. I believe that our built environment is in tension between intentionality and circumstance, the whole made more powerful by the nature of its duality. My passion is creating photographic representations at the intersection of design, implementation, and context.
I believe in telling stories. Great photography creates narrative strings that enhance our understanding of the built environment. I use my experience to highlight, finesse, contextualize the ideas embedded in each project. My goal is to explore implementations of great design, distilling and connecting photographic vignettes that offer insight into the ideas that shape our world.
I began my career as an architectural designer and refined my focus to the representation of architecture. My interest is in built work - the physical manifestation of design. Through scouting, planning, photographing and all the steps that come after, I refine the representation of each project to best reflect the goals of my clients.
I hold a Bachelor of the Arts in Architecture from Columbia University and a Master of Fine Arts in Photography from the School of Visual Arts. I am based in Manhattan and available for assignments worldwide.
You can reach me at info@alexanderseverin.com