Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron is set to turn a derelict power station on the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn into a manufacturing centre for designers and makers.
Hoping to repeat its success with London's Tate Modern, Herzog & de Meuron plans to overhaul the 113-year-old industrial building that has laid empty since the 1950s.
The Powerhouse Warehouse will provide fabrication facilities for metal, wood, ceramics, textiles and printmaking inside the former Brooklyn Rapid Transit Power Station.
The red-brick building was designed by Thomas E Murray and completed in 1904 to serve the newly electrified Brooklyn Rapid Transit lines.
After it was decommissioned, sections including the Boiler House were demolished, while the walls of the remaining structure became a canvas for graffiti artists ? who nicknamed it the Batcave in the early 2000s.
Herzog & de Meuron plans to renovate the large Turbine Hall and reconstruct the Boiler House, creating spaces for flexible workshop configurations to serve Brooklyn's growing number of creatives, as well as events and exhibitions.
"By preserving, restoring and reconstructing essential elements of the original Power Station ? some still intact and some long-ago demolished ? this design strengthens its relationship to the immediate urban context," said Ascan Mergenthaler, senior partner at the firm.
"The aim is to demonstrate sensitivity to the program by integrating existing layers seamlessly into a functional, modern m...