Literacy is our Legacy

“LITERACY IS OUR LEGACY”

- Melinda Perkins, District Manager for Brooklyn Community Board 5

MASS has partnered with Marble Fairbanks Architects and the Brooklyn Public Library to design the new 25,000-square-foot New Lots Public Library in East New York, a civic space that expands access to educational and cultural resources while honoring the history of the land on which it stands. To revitalize the previous library building—which was discovered to have been built adjacent to a historic African burial ground—MASS, Marble Fairbanks, and the Brooklyn Public Library engaged descendant communities to create a place to honor buried ancestors, positioning the new library as a foundational driver of social cohesion and community equity.

Inspired by the West African "palaver" community gathering concept the exterior features a woven basket-like façade. Engraved into the screen are words from Sankofa, a poem commissioned for the public unveiling of the design and written by Brooklyn resident and 2025 NYC Youth Poet Laureate Kai Diata Giovanni.

It has been a privilege to work alongside an incredible team of designers and artists all working to bring this project to life: TYLin, Setty, AKRF, Tillotson Design Associates, Cosentini Associates, Longman Lindsey, Front, Elizabeth Kennedy Landscape Architect, Jordan Weber, WeShouldDoItAll, Atelier Ten, Milrose Consultants, Bird Control Advisory, Nasco Construction Services, Studio Kër, and the Gilbane Building Company.

“THESE GROUNDS CARRY A HISTORY THAT PREDATES US ALL”

- Council Member Chris Banks

A Ground Blessing for the library took place on October 29th in Brooklyn, offering an opportunity to honor the ancestors buried on this land and affirm the community’s enduring relationship with the site.

Watch here for CBS coverage of the event, or read here .

The ceremony brought together the designers, community members, the library team, and civic leaders for practices of remembrance, spiritual connection, and collective intention. Participants took part in a symbolic cleansing through hand washing, followed by an ancestral altar, libation, and invocation through drumming, song, and movement.

A particularly meaningful part of the ceremony was a signing of ceremonial blocks made from the same timber that will be used to build the library. Participants were invited to leave flowers, sign the blocks, and share their visions for the future—connecting the act of remembrance to the physical materials of the building to come.

“The building we're beginning construction on today will bring more library space and free educational opportunities to East New York than ever before.”

- Linda Johnson, CEO and President of the

Brooklyn Public Library

THE FUTURE OF CONSTRUCTION

The new branch uses mass timber construction to bring warmth, texture, and a sense of connection to the natural world into a major civic building. The building is part of the first cohort in New York City’s Mass Timber Studio Initiative ; the project advances a lower-carbon approach to construction.