New York Blood Center Blood Processing Facility

Long Island City, NY

For more than 40 years, New York Blood Center has provided the community with leading-edge research, technological and medical care innovation, and education in the field of transfusion medicine.

They identified the need to expand their blood processing capabilities with a new state-of-the-art Blood Processing and Research Facility. They chose an undistinguished beer warehouse in Long Island City to convert into a 75,000 sf, state-of-the-art blood processing facility and research lab. NYBC needed a facility that would support a variety of highly complex functions – including blood production, research and support labs, conference and education programs, and product storage and logistics – and they wanted the building to clearly announce the Blood Center’s presence as a vital resource in the region.

The Center is a striking example of adaptive reuse; EE&K, with NK Architects, maximized the potential of the existing warehouse building. We preserved the former warehouse’s existing structural system – its floor structures, exterior walls, and fenestration – but otherwise updated the 1960s building into a 21st-century, world-class work environment for the researchers, technicians, and staff. The design brings daylight into a large warehouse building; nearly all research and office space in the Center now receive ample controlled daylight and enjoy spectacular views of the Manhattan skyline. Using appropriate scale, selective materials and transparent elements, the Blood Center presents itself as a contemporary civic building to its immediate community.

The Center also takes full advantage of its location a block from the East River to announce its presence to the city at large. New signage and the attendant structure are integrated into building, and together create a new beacon in Long Island City that is in keeping the tradition of roof-top signage. The Center is visible from midtown Manhattan and the Queensborough Bridge.

The project was awarded a Gold Medal for Design from the NJ Chapter of the AIA.