The addition follows the legacy of artists’ adaptive re-use of industrial buildings in Greenwich Village. Foregrounding the existing former factory building, the recessed brick façade of the third-floor addition brings symmetry to the structural and programmatic organization of the mixed industrial and residential-use building. The addition and renovation integrate the existing green roof and terrace as an outdoor urban room, central to the informal social and intellectual setting of the program.

The interior transformation of the existing RLS opts for a flexible loose fit approach of underdetermined spaces supporting multiple uses that may evolve over time. Interventions throughout the studios, reading rooms, and lounges moderate between the scales of architecture and furniture to tailor the existing spaces to ISP requirements. Together with new cores and services within the existing shell, the new interiors will be a generous spatial framework allowing different uses and modes of occupation to unfold with each annual cohort. The adaptable spaces will host school-aged art students in the summer months.

The design for the renovation and addition achieved unanimous approval from the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission during its first submission and public hearing.

The future permanent home for the Whitney Independent Study Program (ISP) at Roy Lichtenstein Studio (RLS) will provide a communal setting for post-graduates in art practice, curatorial studies and critical theory. Bequeathed to the Whitney Museum in 2022 by Dorothy Lichtenstein, the 10,000-SF former factory building located in the Greenwich Village Historic District, four blocks south of the Whitney, will be renovated and adapted to accommodate 14 artist studios, a seminar room, and spaces for study and collaboration. A rooftop addition will house a visiting artist studio and apartment.

Johnston Marklee

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Whitney Museum Independent Study Program at Roy Lichtenstein Studio

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Client

Whitney Museum of American Art

Location

New York, NY, US

Years

2022-2023

Floor Area

11,400 SF

Partners

Sharon Johnston, Mark Lee

Project Team

Nicholas Hofstede (Project Director), Andrew Fu (Project Lead), Nelson Byun (Project Lead), Lindsay Erickson, Kyle Winston, Arta Perezic, Jocelyn Chiou, Ali Sherif

Owner’s Representative: Envoie Projects; Structural Engineer + Building Envelope: Silman Associates; MEP, FP, SP, T Engineer: Kohler Ronan; Specifications: Construction Specifications, Inc.; Lighting: Buro Happold; Historic Preservation Consultant: Higgins Quasebarth & Partners; Expeditor: JAM

General Contractor: Riverside Builders

William Jesse Laird, Andrew Fu