Rogers Marvel Architects

Over the weekend, St. John's Bread and Life's new 22,000-square-foot soup kitchen in Bedford-Stuyvesant was featured during the seventh annual openhousenewyork, an event that provides free public access to New York City buildings and spaces of design and/or historical merit. The soup kitchen's new home, which is actually located in a former warehouse, is located at 795 Lexington Avenue in Brooklyn and was completed in 2008 after a $5 million, 10-month renovation that was designed by Rogers Marvel Architects. RMA's design accommodated a tight budget by reorganizing the factory building's interior and connecting individual programming spaces; the Manhattan-based firm earned a 2009 Award of Excellence for the project from AIA's New York chapter. Although it does not appear to be seeking LEED or other third-party certification, the soup kitchen does incorporate various green design features, including a recycling program, natural daylighting, and an efficient industrial-strength kitchen.