Bench Architecture converts Brooklyn steel mill into spa and artists studios

Local studio Bench Architecture has completed the renovation of a multi-storey Brooklyn warehouse into artist studios and a member's club with a rooftop pool.

Located at 154 Scott in East Williamsburg, the project included updates to a former steel mill building by adding several volumes to its roof, which contain a covered pool and the member's club SAA.

Developed by hospitality brand Happier People Management (Happier), the building contains a mixture of creative and social programming, including the Bench Architecture offices, spread out over a total of eight floors.

A club, theatre, and event spaces are located on the lowest level, music and fabrication studios fill the second and third, fashion and art-related spaces are located on the fourth and SAA programming, a spa, and the rooftop pool deck take up the remaining floors.

According to Bench Architecture founder David Bench, the design was divided into "two distinct aesthetics" to match the building's "two distinct lives" as a hub for artists' production and an upscale members' club, but overall, it aimed to reflect the materiality and language of the original mill building.

"They're both respectful of the qualities of the existing structure, but in different ways: the studios are an extension or update of the industrial character, while SAA is a juxtaposition," Bench told Dezeen.

The lower floors are divided into long rows of studios, enclosed by CMU blocks, or cinder blocks, which Bench Architecture used to infill the original grid of structural columns.

On these levels, the remaining original floors, ceilings and walls are largely unclad. Windows sit on either end of the long hallways, while the new cinder block walls create a darkened centre.

Moving upwards through the buildings, more and larger windows are exposed, eventually culminating in the walls of glazing that wrap around the pool roof deck.

In the spa, a dark green marble clads the floors, walls and built-in seating, and a sandy red travertine runs along the hallways.

Happier, a local developer that manages a number of creative hubs throughout the city, including Manhattan studio and gallery space WSA, outfitted the social club areas with relaxed seating, built-in planters and neutral tones.

An area dedicated to a year-long pop-up by Habibi The Restaurant is also attached to the space, but is currently undergoing its second transition after the restaurant closed.

Located in the industrial area of East Williamsburg, Bench notes that 154 Scott and several other nearby buildings the studio is working on are part of a larger creative development strategy.

"The project goal and that of the broader network of buildings we're working on in Brooklyn is to bring elements of work, recreation, leisure, and wellness together in a way that isn't currently done well or on a proper scale," Bench told Dezeen.

"Which means that in our conventionally less-than-desirable location, the qualities of the building and the experience have to be compelling enough to make it a destination."

Sandwiched between Williamsburg and western Maspeth, East Williamsburg wraps around the bottom of Newtown Creek, a branch of the East River. The area is largely industrial, but in recent years, cultural hubs such as the museum Amant and the event complex Avant Gardner have begun to crop up.

Bench Architecture recently completed a pizzeria in the area, and alternative design fair Object & Thing launched at 99 Scott in 2019, another industrial event space managed by Happier.

The photography is by Nicholas Venezia

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