Local studio Space4Architecture has converted a warehouse in Brooklyn into a residence with a double-height living space and a black-painted facade.
Located on a 2,500-square-foot (232-square-metre) infill parcel in the New York borough's Columbia Street Waterfront District, the 1931 warehouse is now a 4,400-square-foot (409-square-metre) home.
In keeping with the neighbourhood's industrial heritage, Space4Architecture (S4A) retained and restored the building's original brick facade, updating the windows and doors.
The black facade sits further into the sidewalk than its neighbours, with a reflective panelled garage door and a large, leaded glass window in the black brickwork.
Meanwhile, the team added a sloped weathering steel addition at the upper level that slants back into the urban fabric.
"The upper level addition remains clearly legible as a contemporary intervention, creating a dialogue between old and new rather than attempting to replicate the original building fabric," the studio said.
The three-story residence centres around a double-height, central space that serves as a courtyard, living room and organising element for the circulation, kitchen and upstairs rooms.
"What interested us most was the opportunity to strengthen the spatial experience of the house: how people move through it, how spaces connect to one another and how light animates the interior throughout the day," the studio said.
"The central courtyard became the heart of the project, organising daily life around a shared volume of light, openness and connection."
"The result is a home focused inward rather than outward: a private, light-filled environment centered on daily life," S4A continued.
On the ground level, residences flow from the street-front garage, through the courtyard and kitchen to a private rear garden.
Up an open wood and metal staircase to the second level, two bedrooms look out to the street, and an open balcony wraps around to the primary suite. The smaller third floor holds a lounge and home office that bridge a large patio with a skylight to the courtyard below and a small street-front terrace.
"Internally, we sought to maintain the honesty and robustness of the warehouse while introducing a level of comfort and refinement appropriate for domestic life," the studio said.
"The project embraces the building's industrial origins while giving it a new purpose."
Both inside and outside, the team selected materials that were appropriate for the context, incorporating steel, brick, concrete block and plywood panels to create a coherent identity for the home.
"Our approach was to work with the existing industrial character of the building rather than conceal it," the studio said.
"Original brickwork remains exposed throughout the house, providing texture, history and a connection to the building's past. New interventions are expressed through a restrained palette of plywood, plaster, steel, recycled plastics and integrated millwork."
Other recent conversions in Brooklyn include a factory in Dumbo into a self-designed headquarters for Snøhetta, a historic cemetery greenhouse into a welcome centre by ARO and an East Williamsburg warehouse into an automotive social hub by Office of Tangible Space.
The photography is by Angela Hau.
Project credits:
Design architects: S4A | Space4Architecture
Structural engineer: George Cambourakis, Structural Engineering Technologies
MEP engineer: Dmitry Levin, Levin engineering PLLC
General contractor: Michilli inc
Plants consultants: Karl Frederich
Vendors/collaborators: Grow House Grow | Dooor | 3-Form | Fenix Laminates | Floos