BIG | Bjarke Ingels Group

Wildflower Studios is a 760,000 square foot commercial film studio situated in the Ditmars-Steinway neighborhood of New York City. It is located on an industrial five acre lot bound by the Steinway Creek and Steinway Pianos manufacturing warehouse. Wildflower Studios contains a total of eleven 18,000 square foot large span stages with the dimensions of 150 feet long x 120 feet long x 60 feet high. The limited area of the site combined with generous height limitations inspired the idea to create a vertical film studio with two levels of sound stages, a first of its kind. The program is organized around eleven basic studio modules. Each module consists of the large span stage, vertical transportation, and production support spaces such as scene shops and dressing rooms. The modules are organized into two story rows contained within a single volume. A central spine between the two rows becomes the bustling heart of activity between the stages. In addition, one entire floor provides office space for the production teams. The entire building is lifted out of the flood plain enabling the oppurtunity to bring parking and loading beneath the studio. The program fuses creative production with utilitarian practicality and provides a few moments for comfort and respite all within one big warehouse. Large openings in the warehouse bring daylight into the central street and create a communal terrace for the actors, production crews, producers, screenwriters etc. The two toned precast facade is pleated to animate large blank facades and to transition between sharp and curved corners. Fiber cement panels on the interior provide a refined yet utilitatirian complement to the exterior precast. The combination of these elements turn the stages into a self contained creative village with all the logistical, technical, and social necessities to satisfy the needs of the film making industry.