Brooklyn Boulders Queensbridge

Brooklyn Boulders Queensbridge (BKB) opened their fourth location in Long Island City, New York, joining their existing locations in Brooklyn, NY; Chicago, IL; and Somerville, MA. BKB Queensbridge has traditional climbing and bouldering walls, personal training facilities, and active collaborative workspace, but takes the use one step further as the first climbing gym to be located in a luxury, high-rise apartment building. At BKB Queensbridge, you can have the ultimate live-work-play experience, just three minutes from Manhattan.

The other BKB gyms are located in warehouses or industrial spaces, so Queensbridge’s developing neighborhood is a departure from their standard location. As stated in Bloomberg News, ideal members of BKBQB “will live in the apartments, found companies in the coworking space, hold meetings while hanging on the walls, and maybe even network over cocktails after hours.”

The project’s success is testament to the idea that even in the confines of a dense urban streetscape, we are able to design a mix of highly compatible and complementary uses. Prior to this project, the requirements of a climbing gym in such a location would seem daunting, but BKB Queensbridge proves that creative design can out-maneuver difficult constraints every time.