Box Studios is a photography studio specializing in digital retouching
and production for fashion photographers, magazines, and artists. Their
new headquarters is a renovated 17,500 sf, three story, 19th century building
in New York's Meatpacking District. A crisp interpretation of an industrial
building, the architecture distinguishes the studio's digital technologies
with reminders of previous occupants - butchers, printers, artists - in
the exposed timber construction and the formerly low-tech production spaces
newly coordinated with high-tech needs.
A massive horizontal security door protects the entrance, and folds up
to double as an awning during business hours, complementing the district's
ubiquitous canopies. Six large steel sash windows puncture the new black,
painted brick facade.
A new skylight and atrium illuminate workspaces down to the ground floor,
organizing the building according to the lighting requirements at each
stage of production. On the top floor are north-lit presentation rooms,
the light-filled center, and executive offices. The second floor accommodates
administrative space around the atrium, and a darkened retouching studio
at the rear of the building where highly technical manipulation takes
place. On the ground floor, the light well illuminates the archive, which
is fed prints from developing equipment extending through the darkroom
wall. Open spaces on each floor are designed for both common activities
and photo shoots. |
