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AA Studio

AA Studio

AA Studio works out of a converted mechanics garage in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It is the type of space you would expect for a firm that transforms old, industrial buildings into sleek, modern spaces. The 10-person firm was founded a year-and-a-half ago by Italian architect Aldo Andreoli and has a growing body of work that is clustered in two different New York City neighborhoods: Red Hook, Brooklyn, and Tribeca. AA Studio is currently working on multiple projects with Morris Adjmi Architects under the moniker Adjmi & Andreoli.

In Brooklyn, AA Studio is turning warehouses into lofts and cultural spaces, and designing ground-up townhouses. In Manhattan, alongside Adjmi, the firm is producing high-end residential projects and mixed-use cultural spaces. Andreoli’s Italian background is infused throughout his firm’s work. With a minimalist approach, and a muted color palette of whites, grays, and blacks, AA Studio showcases high-end, often-times Italian-made fixtures and finishes. It helps that Andreoli knows Italian fabricators and manufacturers, and that, given Italy’s economy, they are eager to work abroad.


 

11 North Moore
New York, New York

Working alongside Morris Adjmi, AA Studio designed 11 North Moore, a 10-story, loft-style building in Tribeca. The building, currently under construction, is clad primarily in brushed limestone and has expansive window panels. The result is a grid-like façade that has been compared to Vinoly’s super-tall 432 Park Avenue, albeit on a much smaller scale. Eleven North Moore’s exterior is broken up with a two-story base made of black steel beams and dark gray granite that runs up the building on its Varick Street side. A significant setback on the sixth floor creates spacious terraces for the apartments, which are fittingly decked out with high-end Italian finishes.


   

Spring Studios at 50 Varick
New York, New York

Just a few feet from 11 North Moore is 50 Varick, another Adjmi & Andreoli project. The team transformed the upper floors of a Verizon telephone center into an event space worthy of a Fashion Week runway. The revamped 130,000-square-foot space has become the New York outpost of Spring Studios, a London-based design company. The project includes studios, greenrooms, a restaurant and café, a gallery, cinema, library, offices, post-production facilities, event space, and a green roof terrace. Many of these spaces are connected with a dramatic, jagged staircase that is intended to evoke M.C. Escher’s iconic “Relativity” print. The black steel structure was realized with a digital 3D model, fabricated in Italy, shipped over in pieces, and welded into place on site.

The focal point of Spring Studios is the multi-story, glass wall that is cut into the structure’s facade. From the street, the massive expanse of glass allows the public to peer inside, and from within Spring Studios, it provides dramatic views to the West.


160 Imlay
Brooklyn, New York

For decades, this massive, century-old warehouse has been a hulking, decaying shell on the Red Hook waterfront. But by 2016, the 230,000-square-foot structure, first known as the New York Dock Building, will be filled-in with million-dollar lofts. Set against floor-to-ceiling windows, these well-dressed spaces have exposed concrete ceilings and columns, and modern, Italian-made kitchens and baths. When starting on this project, Andreoli said he first decided to preserve and expose as much of the original structure as possible. Accordingly, there are no major design gestures added to the building’s exterior; instead, concrete is repaired and new windows are slotted into place. Andreoli said one of the main challenges with converting such a long building was dividing it up into homes that were both sellable and livable. The firm decided to separate the building into individual lofts that span the width of the building—offering views of Manhattan from the living rooms and of Brooklyn from the bedrooms.


 

AA Studio Offices
Brooklyn, New York

Behind a rolling glass and steel gate, framed by an elegant dark-brick facade, is the Italian-crafted, workspace of AA Studio. Completed in 2013, the 2,500-square-foot office is defined by gray, symmetric volumes that contain storage, bathrooms, and kitchen facilities. These forms are angled to create an illusion of added depth between the meeting area upfront and the workspace in the back. The office’s rectangular conference table was crafted by the Italian company Boffi and sits just feet from the sidewalk. Further back are the office’s workstations, which are separated into two rows and set against exposed brick walls. Running between those stations is a 24-foot-long table that was designed by AA studio and fabricated by Molteni & C, another Italian furniture company. Beyond the workstations, towards the back of the office, is a floor-to-ceiling oak bookshelf, and sliding glass doors by Lualdi that open up to another meeting room and office.

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