Powerhouse Arts Workshop
Architect: Herzog & DeMuron; PBDW
Type: historic preservation and restoration, new construction
Location: Gowanus, Brooklyn, New York
Arts production facility and creative hub with 170,000 sqft of multidisciplinary workshop space including ceramics, woodworking, metalworking, printmaking, and textile arts. Structural scope involved extensive restoration to the deteriorated, century old brick masonry, steel framing, and concrete arch historic structure, as well as design of the new reinforced concrete structure directly adjacent. In keeping with the original historic construction, the restored existing component and new construction were integrated into a single structure, a challenge requiring in-depth detailing at the interface between volumes, materials, and typologies. Below grade, re-use of the existing 6ft thick concrete foundation mat with hundreds of timber piles required close collaboration with the geotechnical engineers for unprecedented testing methodology approval from the DOB. Hermona served the role of Senior Engineer and assistant project manager on the Silman structural engineering team.
