All Family Court Buildings are unhappy in their own way.

Even though it seems like public facilities construction takes forever in Manhattan (I swear that Public Service Administration building on Avenue C and 8th Street was under construction for six years), the renovation of the Family Court Building at 60 Lafayette (just north of Foley Square) is at a unique stage worth taking in. The renovation, which comprises some interior renovations and a new exterior, is at the point where all the existing cladding has been removed, leaving a not smooth, but compelling poured concrete substructure, with tie backs sticking out like a fine fur. I can’t remember the last time I saw this building without some temprorary repair or patch applied, and it always had the dingy air of poorly maintained public facility. Now, its unapologetic brutalist roots are on striking display. It even looks a little like the Diller, Scofidio & Renfro reworking of Alice Tully Hall. Let’s hope that whatever new materials Mitchell/Giurgola specify will have greater longevity, and not work against what is a decent, but not spectacular, form.

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