Torpedo Factory Art Center – Rooftop Renovation

Summary

Students were asked to redesign the rooftop of the Torpedo Factory Art Center, a former munitions plant in Alexandria, VA originally built in 1918. This structure has been home to a large collection of galleries, workshops, and open art studios since 1974. This project aims to include themes of food, water, shelter, art, and change in the proposed renovation designs. 

Design technical objectives include:

• A new enclosed restaurant that opens to outdoor, terrace seating
• An agricultural garden with potential to expand to an adjacent rooftop via bridge
• A greenhouse designed for year-round growing
• A cistern, with a diagram of water supply, use, and collection
• A skylight expansion from the rooftop down to the atrium
• Extend the man passenger elevator to roof level
• Add a new freight elevator connected with the loading dock to access each floor and extend up to the roof level