Terminal Warehouse transforms a full-block 1891 freight warehouse into a 1.3-million-square-foot, biophilic workplace that celebrates New York’s industrial heritage while meeting contemporary performance goals. The design preserves the building’s defining elements—3.2 acres of brick masonry, 756 windows, iron shutters, and a rare heavy-timber structure dated to 1512—revealing the craft and material intelligence embedded in the original architecture. Program requirements focused on daylight, wellness, and flexible, high-performance workspace within a deep historic volume. To achieve this, we removed 130,000 square feet from the building’s center to create a planted courtyard that draws sunlight deep into the floorplate and anchors a network of terraces, loggias, and social spaces. That area is reintroduced as a six-story, light-framed overbuild on the Hudson-facing west side, whose glass and metal modules contrast with the masonry below and echo the site’s industrial lineage. The preserved 670-foot rail tunnel becomes a public circulation spine and market hall, enhancing porosity and community engagement. Through adaptive reuse, the project sequesters nearly 100,000 metric tons of carbon while targeting LEED Platinum and WELL Gold—demonstrating that sustainability, wellness, and heritage can be integrated within a true 21st-century workplace.
