As an architectural solution to the problem of how to turn a disused power station along Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal into a set of art-fabrication studios, Powerhouse Arts is an impressive feat. Designed by Herzog & de Meuron with New York–based PBDW Architects, the 170,000-square-foot complex ties together the existing century-old Romanesque building’s vast and formerly decrepit turbine hall, which has been divided vertically into two floors topped by a double-height “grand hall,” with a new six-story structure built atop the adjacent foundations of the station’s long-ago-demolished boiler house.

Powerhouse Arts sits on Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal (1 and top of page). Extraction equipment is visible by the entrance (2). Photos © Iwan Baan (1) and Albert Vecerka/Esto (2), click to enlarge.