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Timber Adaptive Reuse Theater
The project exemplifies low carbon design thinking in three major ways—First, in the evolution of our existing building stock to support an innovative new use, simultaneously reducing demolition waste and engaging with the history of the site. Second, in leveraging low-carbon alternatives to standard construction practices in the required structural insertions. And finally, in repurposing removed building materials to create architectural features, while minimizing the use of virgin materials. Wood becomes the dominant feature both in the introduction of new, and in the restoration and re-introduction of old.
Originally a heavy industrial site housing a metal foundry from the early 1900s, this double truss, heavy timber and brick building was once a part of a compound of three connected buildings which formed the Royal Metal Furniture Company. Upon its closure, it was used for many years as warehouse and storage facilities, and most recently as small art studios and office space before the Mercury Store’s retrofit into a new developmental space for theater artists.
The previously clear symmetry of the building’s exterior form was restored, and the existing floor was removed on one side, to create a double height assembly space. It was both important to celebrate and retain the building’s existing heavy timber classification, and to keep the embodied carbon of new structural work to a minimum. As such, the decision was made to use Mass Timber for required new structural insertions.
The retrofit opens up previously subdivided spaces, allowing sunlight to reach all corners of the large square footprint, and penetrate into the cellar level. The building's existing material palette becomes a primary part of the interior. In addition to the trusses—which were left exposed in their original finish, the existing industrial doors were all salvaged, to be used within the existing layout. The building was insulated from the exterior to allow the existing brick to become a primary feature on the interior.
This project represents the first use of CLT on a fully commercial adaptive reuse building in NYC. Installing it in an existing building, with the existing roof trusses remaining in-place, meant the existing timber structure was used to support a gantry crane, allowing the new CLT slabs to be slid into place through an opening in the masonry walls.
CLT Slabs and Glulam beams and columns were installed in one half of the building. The material allowed large column spans and therefore an open layout that worked well with the project’s programmatic requirements. Further, it allowed the existing heavy timber trusses to remain unaltered and exposed.
One can clearly read the CLT slab edge above the newly inserted glulam beams around the opening, which was purposely exposed in detailing the glass railing. Two new skylights were inserted above this space, to bring natural light into the heart of the building. The bleachers connect four rehearsal studios and serve as the market square—fostering unintended conversations and creative collisions.
All structural lumber in the building is longleaf pine. This tree once covered 90 million acres of the US, from southeastern Virginia to eastern Texas. Some of the trees were three centuries old when felled—dense, durable and saturated with resin; making them resistant to rot and insects. In the decades before steel began to dominate, longleaf pine was the strongest building material available. Clear-cutting of the vast southern forests in the late 1800s wiped out the entire range of original growth heart pine, so today, this material is a rare sunken treasure.
Ensuring none of this valuable material went to waste, removed timber joists were adapted into guardrail posts framing the central atrium and acoustic panel partitions in the main studios. Any of it not used on site was donated to Sawkill, a local salvaged lumber supplier.
While the existing building remains as an artifact of a Brooklyn manufacturing neighborhood, it has been transformed into an interconnected, daylit environment that is now an important community hub. Since the project’s completion in 2021, it has housed countless presentations, community meetings, gatherings and celebrations alongside being an inspiring place to think, create, and rehearse.
Featured in:
- CO Adaptive Architecture converts Gowanus foundry into flexible theatre spaces, Dezeen
- The Mercury Store in New York by CO Adaptive Architecture, DETAIL
- The Mercury Store, Divisare
- Adaptive Reuse: Rethinking Carbon, Sustainability and Social Justice, ArchDaily
- Old Brooklyn Metal Foundry Becomes Theatre Incubator, ICON
- Adaptive Reuse Transforms Metal Foundry into Theatre Space, Think Wood
Awards:
- 2024 Society of American Registered Architects, Design Award of Excellence
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2023 MASterworks Awards, Best Adaptive Reuse Winner
- 2022 AZ Awards, Adaptive Reuse People’s Choice
Architecture: CO Adaptive
MEP Engineering: ABS Engineering
Structural Engineering: ADOF Structural Engineers
Acoustic Design: Charcoal Blue
Lighting Consultant: SDA Lighting
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Type: Arts & Cultural, Public
Values: Creative Reuse, Low Carbon, Healthy Materials, Energy Efficiency
Finished Photographs: Naho Kubota
Video: Hudson Lines, Pilcrow Studio