Visit:

When a marble and stone yard abandoned its yard and cutting facility for a more prestigious location, a self storage company saw the potential in redefining this property's purpose. This realignment of uses permits part of the existing multi-storied factory building to remain, while a new addition is constructed to envelope the old structure with new. Extensive structural and architectural detailing were required to join the existing structure with the new, an undertaking that was further complicated due to the irregular shape of the trapezoidal lot. The structure of the building was modified to allow for sufficient clearance and turning radius for truck access in, out and through the building. A superstructure was constructed to acts much like a suspension bridge, bearing on existing reinforced side walls to allow for a relatively unobstructed, flexible interior. The usability and operation of the building is critical to the success of the project as the much as the exterior look that it flaunts. For this reason, the design was approached much like a master plan for a little city, with its own interior roads, parking areas, loading, service, offices and support systems. Creating a "looping" road way pattern with user-friendly parking and loading berths has once again proved to be successful in this, our tenth self-storage facility with this company. The final touch - Stop & Stor's signature red tile entryway and blue and yellow stepped stripping -- ensures the consistency and recognition required in the competitive arena of self storage.

Visit:

Located in the high bridge section of the Bronx, this project explores new ideas for storage buildings. The concept of a big box has been used on this type of building before, but very often without the same visual richness. The overall composition consists of two main volumes of differing height and shape that intersect each other developing a dynamic composition augmented by the sloped configuration of the site. The aesthetics of the structure although less important realize a balance between form and function. This building is located within a residential district and is conceived as a blank sculpture that calls the attention of the passing traffic with a somber and serene presence in the neighborhood. Built at a cost of only fifty dollars per square foot, using a prefabricated structural system, the design was able to break the barriers of price for a building of this type.