FSC Western Red Cedar is the perfect choice for the Greenpoint Library & Environmental Education Center. WRC ages beautifully from yellow to silver without intervention. Naturally resistant to insects, rot, and decay, WRC can withstand decades exposed to the elements. The high variation between soft and hard grain allows for deep, clearly defined texture, emphasizing the natural and raw character of the wood. The material was sourced specifically for the project from a sustainable, responsibly managed forest, and the shavings from the sizing of the boards (120 50 gallon bags!) were donated to LES Ecology Center, part of the NYC Compost Project. 

After hosting a sandblasting workshop for students in a Columbia architecture studio led by Scott Marble, Evan Eisman Company entered into a collaboration with designers at Marble Fairbanks to develop the facade of their new Greenpoint Library & Environmental Education Center. The LEED Gold building was to promote environmental awareness and activism. Through a thorough research and prototyping phase beginning in the early stages of the building’s design, sandblasted sustainably sourced FSC Western Red Cedar was ultimately selected. 

The cedar boards, harvested by an Oregonian sawyer, underwent grain enhancement at our studio in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, a responsive process (a dialogue between artisan and material) that is about emphasizing the natural, varied grain and knotting patterns in the wood. The enhanced boards were integrated into a panelized rainscreen system occupying approximately 2,600sf of facade. Additional blast-weathered boards were used in concrete formwork for another segment of panelized facade that shares the same weathered wood texture expressed through a different material.