This morning I borrowed a friend's car and drove around Queens, checking out a handful of buildings that have been recently completed or are under construction. First in this short "Queens Builds" series is Perkins+Will's New York City Police Academy in College Point.

College Point sits on an peninsula of sorts east of LaGuardia Airport and cut off from Flushing and other parts to the south and east by the Whitestone Expressway. The neighborhood's northern half is mainly residential, but to the south, toward the once-notorious Willets Point, it is primarily industrial. Until the Police Academy, College Point's most architecturally significant building was the New York Times Printing Plant by Polshek/Ennead. The 730,000-sf first phase of the New York City Police Academy ? designed by Perkins+Will with Michael Fieldman Architects and completed last year ? sits on a large, 35-acre triangular parcel at area's southern tip. [Map]
The building fronts 28th Street on the north and is made up of two main components: the Recruit Academic Building on the west and the Physical Training Building on the east (left and right, respectively, in the top photo). The two parts are linked by a glass bridge that traverses a storm water canal that cuts an "L" in front of the Academic Building and leads to, I believe, Flushing Creek to the south. The water feature was the biggest surprise upon seeing the building.

Visitors must traverse a bridge, just visible in the ph...