219 West/Subcat Studios

The three story masonry building at 219 West was redeveloped as a multi-use cultural facility that complements the adjacent Redhouse Theater, enhances the local arts scene and revitalizes this small but significant corner of the city.  The site, a glorified traffic island bordered by high-speed thoroughfares and a cacophonous freight rail line, sits at a pivotal juncture between the historic Armory Square District and burgeoning development on the city’s Near West Side. 

The program grew out of a grass roots initiative that engaged local creative, educational and business communities, and includes the primary tenant SubCat Studios, a shared cafe/lobby, music instruction and rehearsal spaces, a dance studio, offices for creative industry tenants and three residential units to accommodate visiting artists.

The new intervention distinguishes itself from the historic fabric and reorients the building towards downtown. The stair tower, re-clad in perforated metal panels, subtly references the area’s industrial past and along with the ribbon of colored glass at the expanded lobby entrance, establishes a clear sense of arrival.

The design of Subcat Studios overcame daunting acoustic challenges including isolation from exterior sound and vibration, interior room isolation, and the acoustic ‘tailoring’ of each studio space.  Existing ground floor framing was replaced with a floating concrete slab sitting atop a new structural slab.  Partitions built onto these floating platforms create a ‘box within a box’ configuration that insures proper isolation.  Studio walls were developed as a vertically striated ribbon, akin to a DNA strip.  This motif continues into the exterior storefront glazing and allows a variety of treatments including panels for diffusion, absorption and reflection, to be incorporated within a single unifying theme.  The result is a series of integrated spaces, each clearly expressing its unique acoustic signature.

Email interview conducted by John Hill.