Design Highlights: LMCC’s Arts Center at Governors Island

*This event is occurring as a live webinar. Registrants will be emailed a link to access the program.*

Organized by the AIANY Interiors Committee, this series of presentations explores the honorees of the 2021 AIANY Design Awards in the Interiors category. Project presentations will be led by the architectural design firm and will be followed by a Q&A.

Presented by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, 2021 AIANY Design Awards Winner for LMCC’s Arts Center at Governors Island

Designed entirely pro bono, this project is part of the ongoing transformation of New York’s Governors Island from a former military base to a vibrant cultural destination. The goal of the project was to create gallery, studio, and administrative space for an arts non-profit that has served artists and the community for almost half a century. An 1870s munitions warehouse on the island’s northern edge lent itself perfectly to this mission, offering an iconic waterfront location in a structure well suited to adaptive reuse. The 40,000-square-foot interior renovation makes the most of the building’s unique features and historic character. The long and narrow windowed expanse that once stored materiel now houses light-filled galleries and studios for art and dance. The original truss structure was exposed and restored, creating a loft-like, luminous main gallery on the upper level, with an adjoining reception area set behind a clear glass wall that preserves the expansive quality of the space. Smaller rooms for performance, rehearsal, and exhibition, along with art studios on both levels, enjoy abundant natural light. A new stair and elevator allow for integrated, accessible programming, and a café on the lower level, framed by an exposed-brick wall, offers views of Lower Manhattan and the surrounding harbor.

Speakers:
Katherine Bojsza, AIA, WELL AP, LEED GA, Associate Partner, Pei Cobb Freed & Partners

An associate partner at Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, Kate Bojsza has served in project management and design roles on many of the firm’s most significant projects of the past decade. In addition to her work on LMCC’s Arts Center, she oversaw the recently completed recladding and repositioning of 1271 Avenue of the Americas—the former Time & Life Building—including restoration and renovation of its landmarked lobby. As co-lead of PCF&P’s carbon retrofit team, Kate studies the interrelationship of asset value, design quality, energy efficiency, and carbon footprint. She holds a BArch and BS from Carnegie Mellon and a certificate in commercial real estate from Cornell. 

Christopher Jend, Senior Associate, Pei Cobb Freed & Partners

Chris Jend, a senior associate at Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, is one of the firm’s leading designers and has played a major role on much of its recent work in Europe, India, and the United States. In New York, he was instrumental in the design of LMCC’s Arts Center as well as the recladding and repositioning of 1271 Avenue of the Americas, a project drawing on his strong background in building envelope and knowledge of historic preservation. Other recent projects include the India headquarters of Goldman Sachs, a LEED Platinum and WELL Gold–designed office campus. He holds a BArch from the University of Detroit Mercy.