Developer Youngwoo and Associates hired ORE to charrette (1 week-long design workshop) a design entry for the Empire Stores, Economic Development Corporation of New York City’s RFP.

The Empire Stores were originally built in 1868 to serve as storage and packing warehouses for the US’ entire coffee supply.  The element of the existing Empire Stores Building that immediately stood out to us was the forest of 2 foot x 2 foot Douglas fir columns spaced at on a 10 foot grid.

The main design feature was activating the roof as a large venue space.  We repeated the existing 2 foot x 2 foot lumber module of the base building and created 40 foot spanning structural arches made from cross laminated timber units.

To bring daylight to the lower floors, we incorporated light pipes into the new structural piers.  Where columns created darkness in the original building, they now deliver sunlight.