The Powerhouse Arts facility is located on Lenape land in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn. We reimagined a 117-year-old power plant as a creative production center to meet the multidisciplinary needs of artists we serve. The facility allows for flexible workshop configurations, spaces dedicated to teaching and learning, as well as space for community gathering and exchange.
design overview
Recognized for its experience designing spaces for the arts and for its innovative approach to adaptive reuse, Herzog & de Meuron in collaboration with PBDW Architects has created a design for the Powerhouse Arts facility that re-imagines the historic power plant as a new art center that meets the multidisciplinary needs of the contemporary arts ecosystem. The project is situated along the Gowanus Canal between the neighborhoods of Red Hook, Carroll Gardens, and Park Slope.
In 1904, the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Power Station, designed by Thomas Edward Murray, was completed on the site to serve the expanding transit system of Brooklyn. Decommissioned in the 1950s, half of the original structure – the Boiler House – was demolished, leaving the Turbine Hall as a standalone structure. In the late twentieth century, the remaining structure became a squat, a home for displaced youth, and also a destination for local graffiti artists, where it earned the nickname of “the Batcave.”
The industrial landscape and history of the site play a pivotal role in the rehabilitated facility. The design reinterprets the historic Boiler House and re-establishes its mass and relationship with the existing Turbine Hall. The Turbine Hall is in turn stabilized and strategically preserved. Its historic layers are integrated into one cohesive new manufacturing facility.
The design juxtaposes historic details – concrete vaults, brick chases, and glazed tilework – with residual graffiti and new architectural elements. Visual cohesion is achieved and the integrity of the buildings’ historic past is maintained through the use of industrial concrete and other materials consistent with the original construction.
key building features
Art Fabrication Shops
Powerhouse Arts features 170,000 square feet of fabrication shops supporting print, ceramics, and public art production. These shops offer a range of equipment and capabilities in each material and facilitate collaboration across materials. Adhering to the best practices of industrial hygiene and the needs of working artists served by the organization, the fabrication shops are stacked vertically in the reconstructed Boiler House. The disciplines that require the highest ceilings and best access to the loading areas are located on the ground floor, while the disciplines with the most stringent exhaust requirements — are located closer to rooftop extraction units.
Multifunctional Staging & Public Programming Spaces
Powerhouse Arts includes multiple venue spaces of different sizes and settings for large scale events, public programs, and community gatherings, and operates a Private Event and Corporate Rental program that directly supports the creative mission of the organization. Each space was designed with a range of production needs in mind, resulting in a series of inviting spaces that collectively reimagine the building’s rich history.
Health, Safety, and Accessibility
Throughout the design process, Powerhouse Arts, Gemini Arts Initiative, and the wider design team took care to implement a new, unprecedented standard of health, safety, and hygiene for the artists working in the fabrication shops. Extensive consultation with an industrial hygienist, artists, and fabricators was undertaken during the design phase. State-of-the-art fume extraction, dust collection, and particle extraction infrastructure were incorporated into the design of the facility. Compressed air is pumped in and recirculated at a constant rate across the Boiler House structure, which houses the fabrication activities for the organization. Provisions were made to offer multiple eye-wash stations, emergency shower stations, and other contingency resources.
Accessibility played an important role in the acquisition of shop equipment and the development of facility infrastructure. An accessible hydraulic elevator connects the Lobby to the main elevator bay and ADA restrooms are located on each floor. In the shops themselves, several throwing wheels, hand-building tables, and other equipment are wheelchair accessible.
capital project team
Recognized for its experience designing spaces for the arts and for its innovative approach to adaptive reuse, Herzog & de Meuron collaborated with PBDW Architects and the rest of the Capital Project Team to create the Powerhouse Arts facility.
- A. Liss
- ACTS
- Advanced Scaffolding
- AEL
- Air Purifiers, Inc.
- Alba Demolition
- Alumtec
- Breeze National Inc.
- Building Skills NY
- Bunlin
- Buro Happold
- Centrifugal
- Charcoalblue
- CMG
- Cole Technologies
- Colliers
- Cosentini
- Currie & Brown
- Darcon
- Davies Toews Architecture
- Delta Connects
- Domani
- Donato Plumbing
- DRPilla
- Dura
- Eastern Air
- Eckersley O’Callaghan
- Entro
- Eugene Architecture
- Fire & Building Code Services
- Gane
- Garden State Surveying, Engineering, and Planning
- GB Geotechnics
- Global Security Solutions
- Glumac
- Gray Fox
- Green Partners
- Herzog & DeMeuron
- ICR – ICC
- JEG
- JGL
- JM3 Construction
- Kencal
- Ken Smith Workshop
- KNS Building Restoration
- Land & Sea
- Langan
- Level 5
- Long & DeLosa
- Long Island Fireproof Door
- Longman Lindsey
- Managed Air Systems
- Metropolis
- Michael N. Gussis & Co
- Nordest
- Northeast Energy Services
- PBDW
- Peace of Mind Technologies
- Pinnacle
- Plan B
- POM Technologies
- Public Housing Communities
- Punch List Plus
- Reg Hough
- Rock Group
- Roux
- Shen Milsom & Wilke
- Signarts
- Silman
- Sissco
- Spartan Electrical of NY
- TEI Group
- Thread Collective
- Tillotson
- TruTeam
- United Spinal Association
- VDA
- Walden Environmental
- William Vitacco Associates
- Workspace 11
- Yale Stone
Gemini Arts Initiative
Gemini Arts Initiative, a subsidiary of Powerhouse Arts, oversaw the development of the project.
- Paul Parkhill, CEO
- Peter Iovanella, Project Executive
- Morgan Willey, Program Assistant
building history
The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Power Station was completed in 1904 to serve the expanding transit system of Brooklyn. Designed by Thomas E. Murray, the power station reflected the Romanesque Revival style popular at the time, with arched windows, steel lattice columns, and masonry exterior walls. The original structure consisted of a Turbine Hall, which housed a dynamo and eight 4,000 horsepower steam engines, and a Boiler House, where coal was delivered on conveyors from barges along the Gowanus Canal to feed the 32 steam furnaces.
Decommissioned in the 1950s, half of the original structure – the Boiler House – was demolished, leaving the Turbine Hall as a standalone structure. In the late twentieth century, the remaining structure became a squat, a home for displaced youth, and a destination for local graffiti artists, where it earned the nickname of “the Batcave.”
The industrial landscape and history of the site play a pivotal role in the rehabilitated facility. The design reinterprets the historic Boiler House and re-establishes its mass and relationship with the existing Turbine Hall. The Turbine Hall is in turn stabilized and strategically preserved. Its historic layers are integrated into one cohesive new manufacturing facility.
Timeline
1650s – 1680s — Lenni-Lennape land was colonized by the Dutch in the 1600s, followed by the British in 1685.
1760 – 1783 — Gowanus was the site of the historic Battle of Brooklyn during the American Revolution.
1840 – 1900s — The stretch of waterfront neighborhoods from Red Hook to Greenpoint emerged as the epicenter of American industrial activity.
1850s — The Gowanus Creek was built into the Gowanus Canal, making the waterway a major transportation hub. The area became known for the industrial arts of printing, pottery, glass, oil refining, and ironworking. Following the development of the canal, the current Powerhouse site was occupied by warehouses and a sulfur works facility.
1890s — The site was sold to a railroad company that would become part of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit (BRT) Company.
1903 — The Brooklyn Rapid Transit (BRT) Power Station was constructed to supply electricity to the newly consolidated local steam railroad, elevated railroad, and streetcar system. The power station, along with a network of sub-stations around Brooklyn, generated power through Direct Current (DC) and Alternating Current (AC) generators to a coordinated system of steam railroads, elevated railroads, and streetcars.
1930s – 1970s — In the mid-twentieth century, Brooklyn’s dominance as a center of industrial production waned due to technological changes, new transportation methods, and the rise of mass production. The steam furnaces of the Boiler House were decommissioned in 1938, and the Boiler House itself was torn down in the 1950s. In the late 1970s, the building became a cardboard incinerating facility.
1980s – 1990s — Over the next two decades, Gowanus became home to many artists. Major exhibitions took place, including The Monumental Show, an outdoor and indoor exhibition organized by artists and curators Michael Keene, Frank Shifreen, and George Moore in 1981. A second exhibition, The Monument Redefined, was mounted in 1982. Both featured monumental sculptures along the Gowanus Canal, drawing thousands of visitors.
2000s — The building earned the colloquial nickname “The Batcave.” It became a destination for explorers and graffiti writers, whose work remains on its walls today.
2012 — Powerhouse Arts acquired the site of the former Brooklyn Rapid Transit Power Station.
2016 — Powerhouse commissioned the Pritzker-Prize-winning architecture practice Herzog & deMeuron to reimagine the power plant and create facilities for fabrication.
2017 — Powerhouse completed a voluntary remediation process under the NYS Brownfield Cleanup Program as part of its commitment to environmental stewardship and the revitalization of Gowanus.
2018 – 2019 — Major site work and construction milestones were completed to lay foundational groundwork for the structure’s future as a fabrication facility and multi-use arts center. Highlights include completion of a “load test” to determine if the building’s existing, historical piles could support the weight of the turbine hall and new boiler house, undertaking mockups to test red concrete techniques, and commencement of the boiler house’s foundations.
2020 — Construction continued, including installation of building systems (mechanical, electrical, plumbing, sprinklers), turbine hall facade improvements, and the topping out of the new boiler house. The boiler house’s red concrete walls were also completed in 2020.
2022 — Powerhouse Arts unites its operations in its new facility, bringing a historic, long-abandoned property back to life as a platform for artists and the public.