404 Fitness

MAD was initially retained to renovate three floors of a landmark historic factory building on Lafayette Street to provide a new athletic facility space for NYU. Our preliminary assessment of the property found numerous structural and envelope deficiencies that resulted in a rigorous evaluation of the entire building, and its future proposed conversion and potential expansion to the adjacent lot. The assessment report strategized various options for multiple future uses, and the report was subsequently the driving model to rectify the structural and water mitigation issues at the lowest three floors with the imperative to solve these deficiencies for the future expansion of the entire building.

As an existing through-lot open from Lafayette Street to Broadway, we studied and documented alternatives for the zoning/massing and its architectural connectivity to the neighboring property. Conceptual MEP systems strategies were provided for budgetary evaluation and their implications on city agency approvals. Structural scope included the analysis of the existing primary structure, researching, testing and providing remediation for the undersized columns, footings and foundations, allowing for potential architectural and MEP proposals. The zoning studies and the feasibility report produced by MAD and the project alternatives provided the University with necessary information informing a project capital improvements strategy. This report led to a construction project, where the entire structure was upgraded to meet future structural requirements, starting at the cellar level.

The lowest three floors were subsequently renovated to provide a new athletic facility space for NYU. The first and second floors were renovated so new finishes and lighting could be installed, brightening up the deep floor plate. The cellar floor was gutted and a new concrete slab poured to mitigate longstanding moisture infiltration. The new gym provides 31,500 square feet of exercise areas, locker rooms, and athletics department office space. Workout equipment is spread out across two floors, creating a visual and functional continuity for the space’s users. A dance and multipurpose yoga room in the cellar round out the amenities of the facility known as 404Fitness. Activity returns to this old manufacturing building, and the sweat of a strenuous work out now supersedes the sweat of factory workers past.