Oculus - Fall 2016 - 39

veryone wants to be part of the innovation economy. But with six million square feet of industrial loft space housing more than 400 tenants in 16 buildings, Industry City is endeavoring to create what its CEO Andrew Kimball calls an "innovation ecosystem." For architects, this is an opportunity to link the city's industrial past to its smallscale, but often high-tech manufacturing future by reworking spaces that have innate amenity, such as robust "bones," high ceilings, extraordinary light, and a waterfront location. Spread across a 30-acre campus in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, Industry City is but a portion of a once-larger complex: Bush Terminal. Built by Irving T. Bush over the first half of the 20th century, the Bush Terminal complex was a trendsetter for the integration of manufacturing and warehousing with direct rail and port terminal connections. The story of its creation is itself a tale of innovation. Observing the inefficiencies of commerce in New York, Bush wrote in his 1928 memoir Working With The World, "The ships were on one shore, the railways on another, and the factories were scattered about the city on any old street without any relation to either kind of transportation. Why not bring them to one place, and tie the ship, the railroad, the warehouse, and the factory together with ties of railroad tracks?" This synergistic act of "co-location" set the stage for the success of Bush Terminal and the emergence of the greater South Brooklyn industrial waterfront. "Major anchor" Today, the ownership of Industry City, led since 2013 by managing partners Authenticity + Innovation: Architecture Repurposed Belvedere Capital and Jamestown Properties, has ambitious plans to reimagine the site as a "major anchor" within a longer chain of innovation hubs stretching from the Brooklyn Navy Yard to the Brooklyn Army Terminal. Leading the projected $1 billion overhaul of the complex, Kimball calls this "an extraordinary opportunity to build on the rapid growth of the innovation economy in New York City and, in particular, Brooklyn." Innovation economy businesses - described by Industry City ownership as "making a physical, digital, or engineered product, from initial research and development, to engineering and design to manufacturing and production" - are increasingly found clustering within former industrial districts. According to Bruce Katz and Julie Wagner of the Brookings Institution, this type of adaptive reuse fits what they label as a "reimagined urban area" often found "near or along historic waterfronts, where industrial or warehouse districts are undergoing a physical and economic transformation to chart a new path of innovative growth." These changes, they claim in their paper, "The ©Courtesy of Industry City E "Incredible Bones" With its open, regularly structured floorplates, high ceilings, and large windows, Industry City buildings have, as Kimball puts it, "incredible bones." This allows the flexibility to subdivide and adapt to accommodate a wide variety of tenants and uses. Additionally, several tenants note that the specificity of Industry City's character and sense of place are key to its attraction. Last year, the venerable Time Inc. chose to set up shop at Industry City to ©Courtesy of Industry City ©Courtesy of Industry City Rise of Innovation Districts," are "powered, in part, by transit access, a historic building stock, and their proximity to downtowns in high-rent cities." Industry City fits this general profile, but what specifically about it supports innovation? (top) Aerial view of Industry City's 30-acre campus. (above and left) Time Inc.'s two-floor "The Foundry," designed by TPG Architects, is organized around a central stairwell with integrated stadium seating. Fall 2016 Oculus 39

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Oculus - Fall 2016