The Enclosed Forest at the Brooklyn Navy Yard

Presenter: Mac Carbonell, Founder/Creative Director, VERDANT

Overview: Mac Carbonell, founder and creative director of Verdant, presents a case study of The Enclosed Forest, a recently completed 4,800-sq. ft. interior landscape and post-industrial atrium at Crye Precision’s New York headquarters in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The Enclosed Forest reimagines the atrium as an immersive horticultural intervention inspired by the characteristics of Northeastern forests. Verdant’s design reinterprets the experience of wandering through those outdoor spaces – variable topography, cascading light, diverse vegetation – and adapts it to the industrial workspace. The talk highlights potential avenues of collaboration between landscape designers and architects, focusing on unexpected ways landscape can enrich architectural projects.

Verdant is a critically acclaimed landscape design studio based in Brooklyn, New York. Founder and artist Mac Carbonell leads the studio in redefining the role of landscape design in an urban setting and reconsidering opportunities to improve the well-being of office workers and homeowners alike. Since the firm’s inception 15 years ago, Verdant has endeavored to shift the design process toward a workflow that more thoughtfully explores what landscape can offer.

Verdant has created numerous signature projects highlighting the dynamic relationship between landscape and architecture, including: The Flower Box Building in the East Village, The Enclosed Forest at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and Skymeadow at Flavor Paper’s headquarters in Brooklyn.

This lecture is accredited for: two AIA Continuing Education LU/HSW credits.