Located at 502 Union Street in the heart of the historical district of Hudson, NY is a two-story, mid-century, solid triple-wythe masonry building that originally served as a warehouse for a tobacco and confectionery company. My clients purchased it in 2020 with the intention of turning it into the headquarters for a new educational non-profit they were founding called “The Spark of Hudson.” The original brief called for a relatively light touch: a space for co-working and community organizing on the ground floor and a few bedrooms on the second floor. As the ambitions of the fledgling organization grew, so too did scope of what this building was to provide. Conversations with the clients and various community stakeholders throughout the design process resulted in a densely packed program including a cafe, classroom, learning lab, office space and phone booths, bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms for artist/educator residencies, a commercial demonstration kitchen and residents' lounge, design library with wood-burning fireplace, solarium, terrace and green roof.

A central concern in this renovation was making the building feel more welcoming. To make this introverted building more extroverted, we elongated the clerestory windows on the ground floor facing 5th street downward & introduced a large picture window and set of sliding doors on the south façade facing Union St., all with the goal of letting in more light and air, and creating more visual connectivity with the surrounding neighborhood. Zoning review revealed we could also build another two stories above the existing roof plane, so we added a set back solarium and re-designed the exterior egress stair to be an expressive square spiral.