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Metropolis Editors, Natural Habitat, sustainability, sustainable architecture

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A symmetrical view of a paved outdoor courtyard featuring three young trees and flanked by dark metal spiral staircases on both the left and right. In the background, a large wooden gate with a grid of circular cutouts stands between wooden columns.
Frame 122’s interior courtyard, located in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. All images courtesy of Frame Home and Brent Buck Architects. Courtesy Christopher Sturman

February 5, 2026

Natural Habitat: Brooklyn’s New Mass Timber Community

Designed by Brent Buck Architects, Frame 122 uses mass timber, passive house standards, and shared outdoor space to rethink multifamily living

By: Metropolis Editors

On a tree-lined residential block in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, a former parking garage has been transformed into Frame 122, a modestly scaled apartment building that quietly advances the future of urban housing in New York City. Developed by Frame Home and designed by Brent Buck Architects, the project is the first mass timber multifamily building approved and constructed under the city’s 2022 Building Code—an essential milestone for sustainable construction in dense urban contexts, and a great example of design practices for policy advocacy.

From the street, the building adopts a rational architectural language that visually aligns with its brownstone neighbors but contrasts with its modest, industrial materiality of corrugated metal sheet. Carefully proportioned window openings establish a familiar rhythm, while the ground-floor entry introduces a tactile contrast. Carved Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) panels, embedded with round Prouvé-esque cast glass blocks, form a semi-transparent entry screen, offering a preview of the wooden structure and courtyard beyond, and developing an expanded typological solution for the building lobby.

A low-angle shot looking up from the courtyard, capturing the open-air walkways bridging the building's wings. Large, glowing spherical lights hang from cables above, while lush green plants fill the foreground.
Courtesy Christopher Sturman

Courtyard as Threshold

“One of the real first concepts of this project was to walk through a wood entry gate and feel the wood structure,” says architect Brent Buck. “We’re trying to bring nature to New York and give people a more organic living experience.”

Rather than treating circulation as a purely functional necessity, Frame 122 organizes daily movement around a shared exterior courtyard. Apartments line the perimeter of the site, enclosing an open-air communal space that residents pass through before reaching their units. Dual curving staircases rise from the courtyard to open walkways, creating moments of pause and encounter along the way.

“We have these incredibly noisy and complex city lives, and the courtyard became this moment of pause,” Buck explains. “These sculptural staircases became a joyful way to move through the building—and a place where people run into each other in unscripted ways.”

Each apartment benefits from three solar exposures, maximizing daylight and reinforcing visual connections between the courtyard and the interiors throughout the day.

Mass timber was selected as the building’s primary structural system for its environmental, experiential, and logistical benefits. CLT panels support the floor and roof assemblies, while glulam beams define interior spaces, leaving the structure exposed throughout the apartments. The result is a warm, biophilic interior environment that contrasts sharply with conventional multifamily construction.

An aerial drone shot of the rectangular mid-rise building showing its central open courtyard. The building is situated in a dense urban neighborhood with a city skyline visible in the distance.
Courtesy Christopher Sturman

Living with Timber

“Because we have an exterior lobby space, it allowed us to create these wood entry gates that hint to occupants and passersby that this is a mass timber structure.”

Prefabrication reduced on-site assembly time and construction impacts on the surrounding neighborhood. As Buck notes, the site remained unusually quiet during installation, with the scent of spruce, pine, and fir lingering after rainfall.

For developer Joanne Wilson, sustainability was the project’s central driver rather than a secondary ambition. Frame 122 meets passive housing standards, with blower door testing conducted on every apartment and Energy Recovery Ventilators delivering continuous fresh air. Triple-glazed windows enhance both thermal performance and acoustic comfort.

“It all came down to doing the right thing for the environment,” Wilson says. “As we continue to grow housing, it’s our responsibility as citizens to do better—and cross laminated timber was where we chose to start.”

A close-up view of the building's exterior showing vertical grey corrugated siding and a row of tall, narrow rectangular windows. Green tree branches partially obscure the view.
Courtesy Christopher Sturman
A construction photo displaying the building's exposed mass timber structural skeleton, with wooden beams and columns clearly visible before the exterior cladding was applied.
Courtesy Christopher Sturman
A view inside the courtyard during the construction phase, showing the steel framework for the spiral staircases and elevator shaft rising amidst the timber building structure.
Mass timber construction photos. All images courtesy of Frame Home and Brent Buck Architects. Courtesy Christopher Sturman

Community, Made Visible

The courtyard has quickly become a social anchor for residents, hosting informal gatherings and reinforcing a sense of shared ownership.

“Having the interior courtyard and the stairs really creates a sense of community,” says tenant Alex O’Daily. “Tenants organize monthly potlucks—it really challenges the idea that New Yorkers are cold or unfriendly.”

Subtle details reinforce this ethos: reclaimed barn beams repurposed as benches, fifteen recessed bricks marking each apartment, and custom uplighting that casts a warm glow through the timber structure at night.

While Frame 122 is intentionally modest in scale, its implications are significant. By combining mass timber construction, passive performance, and community-oriented design, the project offers a compelling prototype for future multifamily housing in New York City.

“It’s incredibly difficult to build here,” Buck reflects. “But hopefully this building inspires other architects and developers to keep pushing this type of development forward.”

A ground-level view inside the building's paved central courtyard. Several young trees are planted directly into the light grey stone pavers. The space is defined by large, exposed mass timber columns that support the upper stories, which are clad in corrugated metal. A grey metal spiral staircase winds up to the open-air balconies above, and white globe lights are suspended overhead.
Courtesy Christopher Sturman
A view of the building's exterior featuring grey corrugated metal siding with a regular grid of rectangular windows, sitting above a light-colored brick base. In the foreground, a landscaped patio area includes modern dark green picnic tables and benches, along with lounge chairs situated near raised brick planters filled with trees and shrubs.
Courtesy Christopher Sturman

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