Pioneer Works sits cross from the Pier 12 cruise terminal in Red Hook, Brooklyn. You may run right into it if you arrive by ferry, but otherwise your arrival will snake you through a maze of active industrial warehouses, fabrication suites, and garages, as well as a few time-honored watering holes like Sunny’s and Red Hook Tavern. But in the midst of all this lies one of the city’s premier cultural hubs for practitioners and patrons alike, bridging both art and science. Since 2012, Pioneer Works (PW) has been housed in a historic brick warehouse complete with a heavy timber-beamed roof, loft spaces, and punched windows. The arts organization seeks to “transcend disciplinary silos” by creating a welcoming environment for audiences to engage with artistic and scientific processes through exhibitions, performances, lectures, and even food. Accessibility and integration are core tenets of the nonprofit’s mission, and now, after eight months of renovation, the space will reopen to the public this month newly ADA accessible courtesy of design work by Peterson Rich Office.
The highlights of this renovation include an elevator, a wood-planked garden egress, more bathrooms, and HVAC throughout the building—a necessity for year-round programming when record-high temperatures are becoming the norm. This redesign marks the completion of the second construction phase under the organization’s capital campaign, an ambitious five-year fundraiser with a goal of $30 million to upgrade the 19th-century building. A previous round of renovations closed the space from December 2021 to August 2022.
With high ceilings, wooden trusses and gantries, and masonry walls, it’s easy to imagine the space operating as it did in its youth: as an ironworks factory. Originally constructed in 1866, the red-brick building was rebuilt in 1881 after a fire and remained an active facility through World War II. Gabriel Florenz, PW’s founding artistic director and vice president, told AN the building and its history has been a guide for the organization. Drawing on the manufacturing legacy of the iron workers who cast parts for railroad tracks in that very space decades ago, Florenz said PW thinks of its current work as “cultural production.”
Brooklyn-based architecture firm Peterson Rich Office (PRO) handled the renovation, beginning work on the project in 2022. The firm is no stranger to preserving a structure’s historic integrity while updating it to fit a current occupant’s needs and vision and present-day building codes. PRO recently led the revamp of The Shepherd, a former church turned art center in Detroit, evolving the 1912 building to hold a gallery and performance space. Founding partner Nathan Rich told AN that with the PW project, his team worked to preserve the historic elements of the space and minimize visual impact on the main hall by hiding the HVAC system under the mezzanines and tucking it into parts of chase wall. “This phase was really crucial work to make the building function as well as it could for its audience,” Rich said.
A Synthesis
Rich himself is a frequent patron of PW, drawn to the organization’s integration of disciplines following in the tradition of places like Black Mountain College, a now-shuttered liberal arts school whose alumni include artists like Cy Twombly and Dorothea Rockburne. Indeed this idea of synthesis was central to the renovation, specifically looking for ways patrons could easily flow between the indoors and outdoors. Rich pointed to the accessible pathway in the garden, which allows people of all abilities to experience that asset, as an example.
Since it was founded, PW has hosted great artists, scientists, and thinkers—from musician Miho Hatori to senior project scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope John Mather. This renovation ushers in an exciting new era of community engagement for the arts center, offering the possibility of expanded programming and greater capacity. “I think a lot about where people congregate,” Florenz said. “Art and culture come together in this liturgic-like space.”
In some ways, PW is reminiscent of a cathedral. Soaring ceilings, an oculus window on the south-facing wall, and a nave-like hall evoke a place of worship. I certainly felt spiritual awe when I saw the Italian musician Caterina Barbieri perform her otherworldly synth compositions there in March 2023. Rich, too, has felt the compulsion of PW as a gathering place. “I like to say it’s like my synagogue sometimes,” he said. “Everybody there is a believer in the cause.” PRO’s redesign ensures PW remains a welcoming community hub, a space more capable now than ever for the curious to congregate.
More Planned for Pioneer Works
Though this year’s renovation is finished, PW and PRO aren’t done yet. Plans for an observatory atop the north hull of the building are already in progress. Vertical steel infrastructure intended to support the roof deck was implemented this year. The observatory dome will house a 19th-century antique telescope, as well as modern astronomy equipment that those who have attended PW’s stargazing events may be familiar with. While an observatory will create exciting new opportunities for programming, for now PW remains firmly rooted on the Red Hook ground.
PW will welcome patrons back with solo exhibitions by Alejandro García Contreras and Le’Andra LeSeur on September 6, as well as a new performance commission by Narcissister on September 14 and 15.
Amelia Langas is a freelance art and culture writer based in Brooklyn.
