Herzog & de Meuron’s Powerhouse Arts restoration opens in Brooklyn

2023-06-06T14:56:00-04:00

A crossover arts and manufacturing project from Herzog & de Meuron opened on May 19 following several years of construction that remade a former brownfield site into the new home of the non-profit Powerhouse Arts in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

Coinciding with the ongoing cleanup of the Gowanus Canal, the project reused a Turbine Hall located at the site of Brooklyn's Rapid Power Transit Station from 1904 while adding new space in the shell of a reinstated Bolier House building that was semi-preserved in the process.

Image © Iwan Baan/Courtesy of Herzog & de Meuron.

Nicknamed “The Batcave” by many of the city’s graffiti taggers after its decommissioning in the 1950s, the site was decontaminated as part of the New York State Brownfield Cleanup program prior to the firm winning the project's commission and then beginning its planning phase at the end of 2016.

Image © Iwan Baan/Courtesy of Herzog & de Meuron.

Herzog & de Meuron says: “The industrial landscape and history of the site play a pivota...

Ghent's new Bijgaardehof complex completes a collaborative vision of social housing and city life

2022-06-27T13:26:00-04:00

A transformed brownfield site in Ghent’s historic central core has been revealed, showcasing BOGDAN & VAN BROECK’s vision for a “world in itself” set amongst industrial ruins and characterized by what it calls “lockdown-compatible” living.

The factory building had sat unoccupied since 1997 before being acquired by developer sogent, who organized an international competition for the redesign project in 2009. The new cohousing project that resulted includes some 59 residential units, a network of landscaped communal gathering areas, and a health center in what is said to match a number of criteria central to the practice’s core mission to “offer a higher quality of life at an affordable cost.”

Per the architects: “The starting point for the design of Bijgaardehof was the triangular footprint of the industrial site. The perimeter walls form a simple and strong figure that defines the boundary between 'the wor...

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Herzog & de Meuron’s Powerhouse Arts restoration opens in Brooklyn

Ghent's new Bijgaardehof complex completes a collaborative vision of social housing and city life