ARCHITECTURE

Viewing Room

ARCHITECTURE

Viewing Room

The owner of a beautiful old warehouse building in Hunters Point, Long Island City renovated the exterior façade of his much sought after studio building with roof terrace and spectacular panoramic views of New York’s skyline.

In the process he realized that a little terrace annex facing Manhattan, and adjacent to the building’s service stair, could be reinvented as a common area for the building.

EJD introduced the idea of a Viewing room, to celebrate the special location, and to experience New York’s skyline and beautiful views West with ever changing light and scenery.

It would also offer people a place to go, protected from the elements, to enjoy the views, and to use the space as a meeting room, communal kitchen, dining room and exhibition space. The building is located in an area with light industry, and old warehouses, only a couple of blocks from Silvercup Studios. It is a creative space with a number of small businesses, artists, photographers, artisans and workshops. Many of which relocated to Long Island City (LIC), over the past two decades from Manhattan’s SoHo and Chelsea neighborhoods. The studio warehouse concept is not new, and began long before the more “trendy” Co-Working spaces appeared and amassed over the more recent years.

Warehouse spaces are often unique and raw with high ceiling heights and large windows, however these structures, tend to, lack common areas with kitchen and meeting rooms. We proposed that the Viewing room could fill this gap, while also being utilized to generate additional income for the building owner through renting out the renovated space to 3rd parties for special events and meetings.

The space is proposed both as a single and double height space, with one large and continuous horizontal window that frames the urban landscape and panoramic views. This large opening is detailed with a built-in wooden bar counter, and opposite from the kitchen niche located by the entry.

The double height scheme in addition accommodates for a dining and meeting room on the mezzanine floor. The walls are detailed with a wooden picture rail for showcasing changing exhibitions, while the bare walls can be used for film and presentation projections. The skyline view is reserved to be experienced through the horizontal window band.

The single height space is a paired down version of the double height space, however both schematic design proposals take cues from the existing asymmetrical roof structure above the service stair with skylights to one side.

Location: Long Island City, NY
Size: N/A
Services: Architecture, Schematic Design proposal – Unbuilt
Photography: Eva Christine Jensen