Arts and Letters

Situated in Shockoe Bottom, this project transforms the 1930’s Lucky Strike Tobacco power plant into a vibrant, day-lit headquarters for Arts & Letters Creative Co., a branding and marketing agency based in Richmond. Arts & Letters has an open, collaborative working method and they do much of their design and production work in house. Our approach respects the existing building by removing all existing non-useable elements and creating a pair of white volumes to shape additional working and making spaces. The top of each new volume is utilized as an open office space and amphitheater while the areas below contain quieter collaboration spaces. The lower level spaces were repurposed for dark rooms, sound booths, digital production studios, and projection/screening rooms. With an emphasis on the reuse and protection of a historic building, this project anchors Arts & Letters in their hometown through a simple and discrete design intervention.