250south Adaptive Re-use

Rochester, New York
250 South Development

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Winner of 2010 AIA New York State Adaptive Reuse Citation for Design
World Architecture Festival 2010 - Barcelona, Spain - Participant & Featured Project
Winner of 2009 AIA Rochester Design Excellence Award
Winner of 2009 NAOIP Upstate New York Commercial Development Excellence Award
Winner of 2013 Arts & Cultural Council for Greater Rochester - Architectural Design Showcase - Excellence Award 

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Located on the south edge of Rochester's Center City, a one-hundred-year-old, three-story brick storage building stood in a grouping of other underutilized warehouses. The last existing component in the City's former public natatorium complex, it was relegated to being a base for a large billboard, and had become a forgotten building in the central business district.

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Contributing to the Center City Master Plan to bring additional housing into Downtown, the building was converted into mixed-use with commercial space on the first and second floors, loft apartments on the third floor, and a new fourth floor penthouse apartment addition.

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The capacity of the existing structure allowed the fourth floor addition. This standing seam metal-clad wedge opens up to the western views of the Genesee River and the new Douglass-Anthony Bridge. It also serves as a crowning element consistent with Downtown's landmark buildings. The new concrete masonry stair tower addition was strategically located on the northeast corner to maintain open floor plates and preserve important views.

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The patina of the existing brick warehouse remains, telling the story of its first century, while the juxtaposition of the new additions reinforces the balanced contrast between old and new. The use of honest materials - concrete, masonry, galvanized steel, aluminum, and glass, is consistent with the palate of the city skyline.