MFTA /
Salvaged Material Artist Studio
In alignment with MFTA’s mission, and CO Adaptive’s commitment to reducing the carbon impact of the building sector, COA set out to design and build a new art space in MFTA’s Queens warehouse made entirely from reused, donated and salvaged materials. Working with the mandate of designing with used materials, CO Adaptive had the opportunity to explore a design process that differs from the norm. Whereas more habitually, we may design before we go searching for how and with what to manifest an idea, working with solely re-used material necessitates an understanding of what is available before the commencing of the creative process.
We developed a scheme to enclose the new studio with the lightest touch on the existing space, discovering hidden moments within what was already present, such as a window from the storage area into the studio; which is now reactivated and reconnects the two previously disconnected spaces.
The final material palette is comprised of theater flats—lightweight, flat pieces of scenery used in stage production—of varying shapes and sizes; scaffolding posts from a nearby scaffolding business, and reclaimed wood and cork tiles from CO Adaptive’s construction material archive, which we accumulate from other ongoing building projects.
To anchor the structure and define the space’s form, our team punctured the warehouse’s existing hung ceiling at calibrated moments, and designed an armature for the theater flats to become a curved wall. The wall connects two existing concrete columns, and divides private space for the studio artist separate from the adjacent public space, which will be used for exhibitions and workshops within MFTA’s large and wonderful warehouse of donated materials. Two of the flats are operable, and serve as doors should the artists need to transfer large items between the spaces, or want to open their studio up for viewers.
Architecture: CO Adaptive
Fabrication: CO Adaptive
Reclaimed Flat Panels: Materials for the Arts
Reclaimed Scaffolding Posts: Swing Staging
Location: Long Island City, NY
Type: Arts & Cultural, Public, Commercial
Values: Creative Reuse, Low Carbon, Design for Disassembly