Cooling Station Project

Weeksville Heritage Center is proud to announce that we are partnering with Creative Urban Alchemy and the Beam Center to build a new shade structure! This modular onsite pavilion will provide shade, seating, and gathering space for programs and visitors, coming summer 2026.

Weeksville’s new shade structure responds directly to the growing need for refuge and cover during the extreme heat of the summer months. While climate change ushers in heatwaves that grow in frequency and intensity each year, the need to adapt to ensure the safety of our community is ongoing across our city. This need is even greater in neighborhoods such as ours, Northern Crown Heights, where factors such as a lack of tree coverage, fewer green spaces, and urban density contribute to environmental racism, creating pockets that are significantly hotter and more dangerous than other areas.

This project expands on our work as an official New York City cooling site during periods of extreme heat and affirms our commitment to creating a safe space for our community to enjoy all year round. It also creates an exciting new space on site for more art, learning, joy, and connection as a place to sit and enjoy the grounds, rest during outdoor events, and cool down during tours of the Historic Hunterfly Road Houses.

Central to this project is the community informed design process which will bring it to life. From January to May, we invite you to join us at Weeksville for a series of workshops facilitated by Creative Urban Alchemy to inform our shade structure design process. During each workshop, we will gather in community to break bread, build connection, and partake in a creative process to shape the shade station’s design together.

Additionally, thanks to our partners at the Beam Center, we are excited to partner with youth from the Kingsborough NYCHA Houses community, located in historic Weeksville just steps away from the heritage center, to construct the shade structure itself. Over the course of several months, youth partaking in this project will receive mentorship, hands-on carpentry experience, and a deeper connection to Weeksville. Students will receive compensation for their work, develop new skills, and build a beautiful piece that makes an important impact on their community.

We hope you will join us for this hands-on, collaborative process to create a lasting space for climate resiliency, creativity, and community here at Weeksville!

Upcoming Community Design Activations include:
March 27st, 2026 | 6-8 pm: Community Design and Oyster Mobile Workshop