Nanotronics Smart Factory

Brooklyn, NY


Mass timber went high tech to turn this historic, Civil War-era warehouse into a ‘smart’ manufacturing facility and headquarters. Over the years, the building, which dates to 1865, had been used to manufacture everything from armor plating for wooden warships to parts for hydrogen fuel cell submarines. Today, it’s used to develop advanced industrial microscopes and optical inspection systems capable of working on a nanometer scale. The design team left the shell of the original building intact, retaining the building’s existing columns and roof trusses, and added four stacked pods inside—formed with CLT walls, floors, and lids. The mass timber pod structures, assembled in just 28 days, serve as enclosures for the various fabrication activities within, and are connected by CLT bridges in the double-height spaces. The innovative decision to construct the CLT pods within the existing structure solved the challenge of creating enclosed workspaces—some of which need to be airtight, soundproof, and climate-controlled—without impeding the flow of collaborative spaces or compromising the beauty of the long, narrow building. 


Watch a short one-minute video of this project, which was selected as a 2023 Wood Design Awards winner. View the full award gallery here.

Version History
  • Project uploaded by WoodWorks Innovation Network (WIN) on 03-09-2023
  • Project last updated by WoodWorks Innovation Network (WIN) on 05-31-2024
Project Details
  • Year Built

    2022

  • Number Of Stories

    2

  • Bldg system

    Mass Timber

  • Sq. Meters

    3,901

  • Construction Type:

    III-A

  • Building Type:

    Factory/Industrial (warehouse, storage, parking, etc.)

  • Material Types:

    Mass Timber
    Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT)

Project Team
Version History
  • Project uploaded by WoodWorks Innovation Network (WIN) on 03-09-2023
  • Project last updated by WoodWorks Innovation Network (WIN) on 05-31-2024
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