![]() Artisanal pieces by 2 of West Elm’s global craftsmen at the top and bottom of a staircase Brett’s ethos for the brand is CHOICE, COMMUNITY, CONSCIOUSNESS thus his brief for Murashige and Vorderwuelbecke was to recreate the Empire Stores as corporate offices and laboratory for West Elm’s design experimentation in a way that would reflect the company’s mission. Jim Brett, President of West Elm, lives in DUMBO and made the decision to move not only West Elm’s corporate offices there but also their flagship store. At the top of the dramatic sweeping staircase, visitors are greeted by West Elm’s company ethos ‘Choice, Community, Consciousness’ The masterful scale and detail of the finished building make the three years total of planning, design, and construction seem a surprisingly short time in which to have achieved such quality. There followed a year of design and just a year and a half of construction, until August 2016, when West Elm moved in. West Elm had obtained the lease for the building and was to be the major tenant. VMAD had been approached by West Elm during the RFP phase. It was mind-boggling to make the mechanical system appear seamless and invisible, not letting the exposed wood joist ceilings be a cluttered mess of wiring and ducts. Says Murashige, “Nobody but us is aware of many of our design interventions. To convert the abandoned edifice to working office space with modern codes, restaurants, and retail was an immense undertaking.Ī before and after of a space within West Elm’s corporate headquarters. The landlord, Midtown Equities, had extensive work to do on the building which had never had plumbing or electricity. The Empire Stores, in contrast, have a red brick exterior marked with signature rows of large arched windows and iron shutters. ![]() The early 2oth century brought about the technique of reinforcing concrete with iron rods which went up faster and protected against fire, a style which is employed in many of the surrounding buildings. Planks slanted up to the windows to load in cargo, mounted on wheels kept inside the building. Ships would come directly up from the river to the building, which is just 20 feet from the water. During the 19th century, the original warehousemen used huge gallon drums to light warming fires in the building for warmth. There were very sturdy old schist course firewalls between the seven linked brick buildings. ![]() These seven newly linked warehouses and commercial buildings, which have the appearance of a single immense fortress, replaced earlier residential buildings as the waterfront gave way to its expanding industry. It represents a decisive move away from the Greek Revival style, shifting towards simple facades, rhythmic window openings and large ground level openings for vehicles. The building is a perfect reflection of the interior architecture of the post-Civil War period in New York. Nevertheless, as industries shifted, the Stores stood empty for sixty years. The 300,000 square foot Empire Stores, completed in 1879, and the waterfront property it occupies have been described as ‘the jewel of the Brooklyn waterfront’, ‘the most desirable waterfront property in all of Brooklyn’ and ‘the most iconic structure on the Brooklyn waterfront after the Brooklyn Bridge’. ![]() When Mark Murashige and Kay Vorderwuelbecke of VM Architecture and Design (VMAD) began redesigning the Empire Stores on the docks of the East River in DUMBO for West Elm in 2013, a high water mark from Hurricane Sandy was still visible, eight feet up the brick walls of the nearly 140-year-old structure, rich with history… Empire Stores from Water Street in 1936
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |