The multi-disciplinary marketing firm Pixels + Ink Studio approached us to redevelop an historic, late 19th-century railway café and rooming house in the Northside neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. Envisioned as a creative coworking hub, the mixed-use project would allow for two residential units integrated with shared studio spaces for the production of both physical and digital design.  The 6848 SF Depot now houses a studio apartment, one-bedroom apartment, various coworking spaces, screen printing studio, photography darkroom, meeting room, breakroom, and an outdoor roof terrace. The light-filled, 1292 SF one-bedroom apartment spans two levels and features an open plan kitchen, living room, and powder room on the second floor and a spacious bedroom, bathroom, and laundry in the third floor attic. The studio apartment is used for an artist-in-residence program and maximizes the compact plan to create three distinct zones for kitchen/laundry, living/dining, and sleeping/bath in 447 SF.

Most recently used as a lumberyard, the building’s original cast iron storefront was bricked-in and overhead doors replaced windows on the south elevation. The storefront was restored and the door openings were updated with translucent garage doors, filling the previously dark spaces with natural light.  An elevated walkway, inserted along the south elevation, provides access to the overhead doors creating an outdoor extension to the space during exhibit openings. A previous garage addition at the west was renovated and conditioned to house the screen printing studio. The roof of the one-story addition provides a terrace accessed from the second floor shared office. The third floor was opened above the shared office to visually connect the two floors and provide additional work spaces on the mezzanine. Located in a National Register Historic District, the project received both Federal and State historic tax credits and incentives.