Originally a machine shop for naval equipment, the Brooklyn Navy Yard Building 128, built in 1899, seemed a symbolic fit for modern-day fabrication. Encouraged by historic-restoration grants, loans, and tax credits from government agencies, developer Macro Sea entered into a public-private partnership to convert the building into New Lab, a coworking community with onsite prototyping facilities for frontier-tech entrepreneurs. To bring the structure up to date, Macro Sea tapped New York–based Marvel Architects.