Vacant Brooklyn warehouse gets ultra-thin, cutting-edge facade

Motorized door technology adapted from airplane hangars and factory buildings, plus recycled materials from two abandoned warehouses have been used to create a dramatic, industrial-inspired facade for the Wyckoff Exchange in the Bushwick section Brooklyn, New York. The 100-foot-long, eighteen-foot-tall facade is only two inches deep, a feat achieved by architecture and design firm Andre Kikoski Architect (AKA) through innovative technology and construction processes.

Andre Kikoski calls it "a prototype of adaptive reuse" – low-impact architecture that can spread, easily and gracefully, throughout the neighborhood, an up-and-coming center of art and creativity.

There are five retail bays, each with its own motorized panel or "gate". During the day they fold up to create awnings for the stores and to shelter pedestrians; by night, they secure the shops behind them, while an abstract gradient of laser-cut perforations over semi-concealed LED lights makes the panels appear to glow from within.

“We chose materials for this facade that are both industrial and artistic,” said Kikoski.

“Our use of two restrained materials references the urban textures, surfaces, and character of the neighborhood. The surface quality of the raw, unfinished COR-TEN steel is elegantly transformed into a Rothko-like canvas by the setting sun, and the shimmering layer of perforated factory-grade stainless steel just two inches behind it forms a perfect complement.”

The Wyckoff Exchange will reopen in Spring 2011 as a live music and performance venue, Radio Bushwick, as well as an organic market and a boutique wine shop.