The Women’s Building — a new global hub for the women’s and girls’ rights movements

New York, NY
135,000 square feet
Concept Design
2019
Type: Civic
Theme: Transforming Old Buildings

Following an international competition, we were selected to design The Women’s Building, a new global hub for the women’s and girls’ rights movements. The project would transform the former Bayview Correctional Center, an abandoned women’s prison, into a place of activism and action. It would offer those working on behalf of girls and women the space, resources, and support they need to drive critical change. The project was led by the NoVo Foundation, a social justice foundation.

The original 1930s Art Deco building was designed by the architects of the Empire State Building, Shreve Lamb and Harmon, as a YMCA for sailors and merchant marines. It was converted to a medium security prison for women in 1974. Bayview was a site of pain and confinement that also inspired a spirit of resistance and resilience. The project aims to honor and build on that spirit, and transform a space of women’s incarceration into a space that is dedicated to equality, liberation, and justice for girls and women everywhere.

At the earliest stages of our design process, we spent a year-long period listening, workshopping and building consensus about how best to envision an inclusive, welcoming, and empowering space. We engaged with representatives of the building’s future users ranging from women’s rights activists to formerly incarcerated women, all of whom continue to provide invaluable perspective on the project. This process has enhanced the project’s program and adjacencies, its balance between security and openness, and its treatment of the building’s deep history and discomforting past, but moreover, it has contributed to forming a community of future users with a sense of belonging and ownership.

Breaking Bayview’s darkness, a bold new opening that spans the lower community floors would draw in natural light through the base of the building. We prioritized delight in the new design. Art will be ever present– in flexible gallery spaces and integrated along paths of movement. Storytelling will be closely woven through the spaces to tell the stories of female empowerment and the building’s transformation.

The exterior design responds to the uses within. Spaces for quiet work are pulled inward and sheltered. Spaces for socializing are more open to the street and built-in window seats encourage gathering. The material tones and pronounced verticals of the new facade draw from and respond to features of the historic facade.

Conceptual section drawing and overhead axonometric drawing of The Women's Building.

Key People

Deborah Berke

Marc Leff

Rhoda Kennedy
Project and Design Lead

Arthi Krishnamoorthy
Design Lead

Renee Vanegas
Project Manager

Collaborators

TenBerke
Architect

Silman
Structural Engineer

Arup
MEP/FP Engineer

Scape
Landscape Architect

Thornton Tomasetti
Facade and Restoration Consultant

Steven Winter Associates, Inc.
Sustainability and Universal Design Consultant

Tillotson Design Associates
Lighting Designer

Cerami
Acoustical, Audio Visual, Information Technology and Security Consultant

Theatre Projects
Theater Consultant

Ellana
Cost Estimator

Hopkins Food Service
Food Facilities Consultant

MGMT
Graphic Consultant

Context

1/10

Originally built in 1931 by the commercial docks on Manhattan’s west side, the Seamen’s House was a YMCA which sailors and merchant marines. It was designed by Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, architects of the Empire State Building, in a gracious, understated American art deco style.

The building accommodated 225 single sleeping rooms and spacious common areas and amenities, providing a place for seamen to rest, gather, and socialize.

As Manhattan’s port activity decreased dramatically in the mid-20th century, the empty Seamen’s House was converted to a medium security prison for women in 1974.

This dark, discomforting period of the building’s history saw a welcoming hospitality facility transform into a site of pain and confinement.

The building stood as a women’s prison in the middle of Manhattan for nearly 40 years, when hurricane Sandy hit in 2012. The building was evacuated, and due to extensive flood damage, it was later decommissioned.

In 2015, New York State granted the NoVo Foundation the opportunity to reimagine and transform the empty prison into The Women’s Building, a physical home for the women’s rights movement.

Related Work

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Theme: Transforming Old Buildings