Brooklyn Dairy Project, USA, NYC industrial building design, New York City, commercial architecture photos

Brooklyn Dairy Project in New York City

July 29, 2025

Architects: Yujin CAO + Xiaofan YE

Location: Brooklyn, New York City, NY, United States of America

Photos by Yujin CAO + Xiaofan YE

Brooklyn Dairy Project, USA

The Brooklyn Dairy Project reimagines South Brooklyn’s historic Industry City as a vibrant and sustainable urban space. By integrating two primary programs—Brooklyn Dairy and Urban Farm—the project addresses segregation and accessibility challenges, while unlocking the potential of this vast industrial site.

Drawing inspiration from the nearby highway, the design extends linear infrastructure, aligning with existing railways to weave the site into the urban fabric. Roads fragment the site into modular, adaptable spaces, transforming the scale of the industrial landscape into a network of connectivity and unity.

The revitalized site features a productive, multi-layered landscape system enriched with nutrient-rich soil to support diverse crops and sustain dairy farming. Repurposed railways facilitate internal logistics and external transport, while warehouses are adapted for hay storage, forming a self-sustaining system. This regenerative design promotes biodiversity, remediates the land, and creates a thriving agricultural hub.

The building’s design emphasizes flexibility and sustainability, featuring movable upper sections that adapt to extreme weather and seasonal variations. Sliding panels and unfolding sheds create a dynamic environment that fosters crop growth and seamlessly integrates landscape elements. The ground floor accommodates sheltered cow gardens and public spaces for cultural and social gatherings, while the upper levels house aquaponic systems and greenhouse production areas, fostering a multi-layered ecosystem.

Transportation and distribution are strategically located along the building’s southern edge, contrasting with the tranquil farmland shared by animals and urban residents on the northern side. This juxtaposition embodies the project’s mission to harmonize urban vibrancy with rural serenity, creating a balanced and inclusive space.

The Brooklyn Dairy Project showcases a holistic vision for urban revitalization, blending industrial, agricultural, and urban systems into a sustainable loop. At its core, the movement of a single triangular module symbolizes evolution and interconnectedness, reflecting the project’s commitment to an adaptive and inclusive future.

About Yujin Cao
Yujin Cao is a multidisciplinary architect, artist, and educator whose work navigates the intersections of built and imagined worlds. With a Master of Architecture in Urban Design from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, she brings spatial and conceptual depth to her practice, seamlessly blending architecture, painting, installation, photography, and film into immersive visual narratives.

Her experiences studying, teaching, and practicing across Asia, North America, and Europe inform her global perspective and multifaceted design approach. Yujin’s work has received multiple international awards, including recognition from the Architizer A+, International Design Awards, and MUSE Design Awards. Her architecture project received the highest honor of “Distinction” from Harvard, and her paintings have been featured in platforms such as KOOZARCH, Harvard Zone 3. She has served as a juror for international design competitions such as the A’Design Award, Apexart, and Archiol, bringing thoughtful, fair, and critically engaged evaluation to each context.

Architects/designers: Yujin CAO + Xiaofan YE – https://yujincao.com/