Architect: Gensler
Project Location: Raleigh, NC
Project Completion Date: April, 2016
Short Description: What was once a storage facility for dishes and dining ware has been reimagined as a work and social space for a local investment firm. Located on a hilltop overlooking downtown Raleigh, the 50-year-old building has been fully transformed –a catalyst for the redevelopment of North West Street. To address the lack of interior light, the designers crafted a linear skylight stretching the length of the original single-story volume, and converted a series of 8’x8’ garage doors into large glass openings. By re-envisioning what a headquarters can be, the project team brought new life to a neglected corner of Downtown.
Architect’s Statement: The renovation of 801 N. West Street demonstrates what’s possible when derelict, throwaway buildings are embraced rather than neglected. At only 16,000 square-feet, this small brick and metal-panel-clad warehouse was not an obvious choice for reinvention. But it’s site at the top of a hill just north of Downtown with stunning views of the Raleigh skyline gave the owner and project team a reason to reconsider. The size fit the program needs perfectly and the proximity to Downtown had appeal. Even the gritty, industrial context was appealing. In many ways, the project embodied the values and maverick spirit of a company that invests in start-up restaurant concepts. It seeks risk in the adventure of food as its core business model – risk in assessing its next physical home seemed like a natural next step. The existing building was constructed in the 1950s, serving most of its life as a storage facility for tables, chairs and other rented goods used at parties and events. Over its nearly 70-year history, the building was added onto twice: Once in the early 1980s when its form was extruded by an additional structural bay, and finally in 2010 when a two-story metal panel-clad volume and deep roof overhang was built abutting its shorter brick neighbor. The additions presented the design team with a number of challenges: Three different structural bay dimensions that bore little relationship to each other, deviations in the alignment of materials (finished floor heights that didn’t match, structural steel that didn’t align), three different uninsulated wall systems, and a roof assembly that was little more than a sheet of metal lined with exposed white bag insulation. Adding to the project’s complexity was an extremely tight schedule (design and construction in roughly six months), budget, and myriad code complications. To solve this tangle of issues, the design team chose to celebrate all that’s special about the building, particularly the exposed structural steel, cross bracing, an existing loading dock, and the exposed texture of the existing brick façade. This strategy enabled the team to use the North Carolina Rehabilitation Code to limit elaborate changes to the building’s infrastructure. Such changes could have required extensive and costly retrofits, including additional ramps for egress. To address program distribution, the team used the project site’s remarkable hilltop location and views to inform the floor plan. Instead of placing gathering spaces on the lower level as originally planned, the design team shifted those functions to the second floor and added a large outdoor porch, creating a dynamic outdoor entertaining and breakout space as well as a strong visual connection between the buildings just north of downtown and the city center. The site also played a significant role in the design team’s solution to limited access to natural light. Oriented along a north-to-south axis, the building backs up to a railroad line. Because its back wall sits on a property line, building code prohibits glass on that façade. So to capture natural light, the designers created a linear skylight and clerestory that stretches the length of the original brick-clad, single-story volume, which floods the workspaces with natural light throughout the day, all year long. And further celebrating the existing industrial nature of the building, eight-foot-by-eight-foot roll-up garage doors were replaced with large glass openings along the east façade, creating a direct connection to the outdoors, providing views to downtown, and capturing additional natural daylight. Additional openings in the same dimension were added to capture additional views and daylight and create a rhythm to the street-facing elevation of the building.
Type of Construction: The 16,000 square foot building was an existing prefabricated warehouse made of steel moment frames and a single wythe of utility sized brick. A later, two-story addition was constructed of a similar structural system but featured a profiled metal panel cladding. The challenge for the design team was to convert this mostly uninsulated shell into a modern work space. A new R-30 roof was installed over the existing roof system, featuring 6” of outboard rigid insulation topped with a new standing seam metal roof. Additional purlins were added to support the weight of the new roof and skylight system, which draws natural light deep into the space. Existing exterior walls – both metal panel and brick – were furred out to the inside of the space and new batt insulation and vapor barrier were added to the interior of the wall cavity. All exterior walls were painted with a high-performance exterior coating. Existing concrete slabs were floated and filled to mitigate discrepancies in the finished floor elevations, and all floor slabs were polished to create a finished floor condition. Several modifications were made to both the building’s exterior and interior: Garage doors fronting a loading dock were converted into new insulated storefront glazing, and additional openings were cut into the brick façade to create a rhythm to the street and reference the existing garage door modules. Additional wood panel accents, which match angled walls lining the interior office wall of the workspace, were installed adjacent to the openings to add depth and rhythm to the façade. A new skylight and clerestory were cut into the roof, and the entire street-facing side of the two-story addition was opened up with new insulated storefront glazing. A porch was also added to this façade beneath the existing two-story tall roof overhang, creating new outdoor gathering spaces. The interior of the building was gutted and all new finishes applied, while existing structural steel frames were painted and highlighted as a way to create texture and visual interest to the interior space. The building’s seamless application of new finishes on an existing structure illustrate how a building typology that’s ubiquitous in our industrial landscape can be reinvented for a new service-oriented work culture and rapidly infilling urban context.