1920s Brooklyn warehouse renovated into workspace by Worrell Yeung
A new workspace near Brooklyn Navy Yard in NYC stays true to its early 20th century identity as a factory, with industrial materials, minimal design details and custom furniture made of salvaged wood

Naho Kubota - Photography
New York City-based architecture studio Worrell Yeung has renovated and redesigned a 1920s factory building on the corner of Washington Avenue and Park Avenue near the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The new flexible workspace, 77 Washington, features an artist studio and a photography studio.
The project is an adaptive reuse success story, aimed to celebrate the neighbourhood's history and the design typologies of early 20th century masonry New York warehouses. Preserving the historical character of the six-storey masonry building, and a cluster of surrounding one-story buildings, was key to the commission for co-principal Max Worrell: ‘The existing buildings were so rich with history and layered with texture that we wanted our design to highlight these found conditions while also updating to accommodate new uses and new programmes.'
Careful tweaks helped to uplift the workspace and equip it for its new creative community. A verdant courtyard space was carved out by removing a roof, and a garage to the left of the factory was removed to make space for another lush garden, designed by Michael van Valkenburgh Associates. Original storefront openings were restored to create a visual presence of activity at street level, and bringing in more natural light to the buildings.
Rough, durable, unrefined materials fall into sync with the Brooklyn factory's history. The core material palette of diamond plate floors, unfinished steel railings and doors, and concrete floors. Benches in the garden were built from salvaged oak logs collected by a shipbuilder after storms. The architects collaborated with Navy Yard-based woodworker, Bien Hecho to use salvaged materials from the building to make a custom conference room table and lobby bench.
Minimal design interventions inspired by the history of the buildings uplift and enhance the space for its new use. A large glass block clerestory window diffuses light into the corner artist studio. To cover the elevator shaft openings, a lattice motif was layered upon steel grids which can be seen from the building's exterior. Brick walls were cleaned and sealed to preserve layers of old paint, to contrast with the clean concrete floors and white walls.
‘These interventions are a nod to the aesthetics of storied factory buildings and Navy Yard warehouses, which historically featured grids in their sash windows, fencing, and ship docks,' says co-principal Jejon Yeung.
INFORMATION
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Harriet Thorpe is a writer, journalist and editor covering architecture, design and culture, with particular interest in sustainability, 20th-century architecture and community. After studying History of Art at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and Journalism at City University in London, she developed her interest in architecture working at Wallpaper* magazine and today contributes to Wallpaper*, The World of Interiors and Icon magazine, amongst other titles. She is author of The Sustainable City (2022, Hoxton Mini Press), a book about sustainable architecture in London, and the Modern Cambridge Map (2023, Blue Crow Media), a map of 20th-century architecture in Cambridge, the city where she grew up.
-
Highlights from the transporting Cruise 2026 shows
The Cruise 2026 season began yesterday with a Chanel show at Lake Como, heralding the start of a series of jet-setting, destination runway shows from fashion’s biggest houses
-
Behind the design of national pavilions in Venice: three studios to know
Designing the British, Swiss and Mexican national pavilions at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 are three outstanding studios to know before you go
-
Premium patisserie Naya is Mayfair’s latest sweet spot
Heritage meets opulence at Naya bakery in Mayfair, London. With interiors by India Hicks and Anna Goulandris, the patisserie looks good enough to eat
-
Los Angeles businesses regroup after the 2025 fires
In the third instalment of our Rebuilding LA series, we zoom in on Los Angeles businesses and the architecture and social fabric around them within the impacted Los Angeles neighbourhoods
-
‘Fall Guy’ director David Leitch takes us inside his breathtaking Los Angeles home
For movie power couple David Leitch and Kelly McCormick, interior designer Vanessa Alexander crafts a home with the ultimate Hollywood ending
-
The Lighthouse draws on Bauhaus principles to create a new-era workspace campus
The Lighthouse, a Los Angeles office space by Warkentin Associates, brings together Bauhaus, brutalism and contemporary workspace design trends
-
This minimalist Wyoming retreat is the perfect place to unplug
This woodland home that espouses the virtues of simplicity, containing barely any furniture and having used only three materials in its construction
-
We explore Franklin Israel’s lesser-known, progressive, deconstructivist architecture
Franklin Israel, a progressive Californian architect whose life was cut short in 1996 at the age of 50, is celebrated in a new book that examines his work and legacy
-
A new hilltop California home is rooted in the landscape and celebrates views of nature
WOJR's California home House of Horns is a meticulously planned modern villa that seeps into its surrounding landscape through a series of sculptural courtyards
-
The Frick Collection's expansion by Selldorf Architects is both surgical and delicate
The New York cultural institution gets a $220 million glow-up
-
Remembering architect David M Childs (1941-2025) and his New York skyline legacy
David M Childs, a former chairman of architectural powerhouse SOM, has passed away. We celebrate his professional achievements