The client, a New York–based developer with a young family, had a clear goal: a weekend house “as exciting as anything by Neutra and Schindler.”

Brooklyn was the nation’s third-largest city, still a few years away from joining New York City, when the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse opened in 1892.

In designing this courts complex, designers Rafael Viñoly Architects and DMJM Harris paid close attention to the image of the courthouse in society—and the acute meaning it holds in the Bronx.

This newly constructed, 27,000 square-foot diagnostic and treatment facility in rural New York is part of a 350-acre campus that serves children and adults with profound neurological and developmental impairments.

Underground haven lit by airy courtyard.

Simple box envelope modulates seasonal sways.