Founders of Public Records to open event space in historic Brooklyn building
The creative studio arm of Brooklyn community hub Public Records, Public Service, has announced a partnership with a New York City development agency to open an event space along the Brooklyn waterfront.
Public Service has partnered with the non-profit New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC) to create a ground-level, 1,000-capacity venue at MADE Bush Terminal in Sunset Park, a historical cluster of buildings EDC is slowly converting into studios and other creative spaces.
The masterplan for MADE (Manufacturers, Artisans, Designers, and Entrepreneurs) Bush Terminal was released on 24 November, and it includes the transformation of four maritime brick buildings into studios and other creative maker spaces, designed by nArchitects.
It also includes the conversion of an adjacent 5-acre pier into a linear park that will stretch its length.
Currently, the buildings have been restored, although they remain to be fully programmed.
Shane Davis and Francis Harris' creative studio Public Service, is set to fill a large, open space in Building A, the largest of the four, with an event space that will host both music, art and community programs.
As for its design, acoustics consultant Arup, speaker and sound system design studios NNNN and Ojas and lighting designer Ben Kreukniet are slated to work on the space.
The partners note that it will be a departure from Public Records, the pair's sprawling, cultural hub in Gowanus, which spreads out through the structural bones of a former ASPCA centre, and will operate under a different name.
"There will never be another Public Records," said Davis.
"But we're interested in building other projects that are ambitious and challenging. There was a lot of intrigue and excitement about engaging with this similarly historic building and injecting our own interests and explorations into it, in a similar way as we approach Public Records."
While the space won't be associated directly with Public Records, it will similarly be informed by its surrounding historical structure, and "live in the same conversation" as nearby Brooklyn art institutions such as Pioneer Works, which is housed in a converted 1800s brick factory.
The event space is due to break ground in the "next couple of months", while design studio Pelle, packaging company Aripack, and sustainable lighting studio MushLume have also recently booked spaces in the MADE complex.
"I don't think you could find a lot of buildings like this in New York, and you can't find a lot of partners that have aspirations like NYCEDC, that are not purely commercial," Davis told Dezeen.
"So that combined is very interesting to us."
Harris and Davis had added onto Public Records over the years, in part informed by Harris's experience in DIY spaces of the Midwest. Most recently, they added an outdoor space, while an upstairs lounge and a vegan cafe were also built out.
The photography is by Max Kütz
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