Smart Design engaged KGA to design a new and expansive studio workplace located in the historic Brooklyn Navy Yard’s Building 127, the last of the Yard’s historic buildings to be restored. Built in 1904, this building originally housed makers of wooden boats, as a United States Navy shipbuilding facility, and in a sense, it is returning to its roots as a location for makers. Incorporating and not modifying existing construction materials into the new design adheres to the preservation and adaptive reuse approach. Defining a design aesthetic that draws on both the historic industrial context and new construction technologies creates a space that is timeless.
Smart Design’s new studio workspace will address how employees collaborate in a new hybrid-working world with colleagues and clients. This agile new workplace will bridge the divide between remote and in-office interactions to optimize collaboration and connectivity. Rather than reducing their footprint, Smart Design’s new space will offer a variety of meeting, collaboration and maker spaces as well as a host of s