WORKac’s design for the Women’s Building addresses the diversity and intersectionality of women’s issues by creating an array of spaces for interaction, organization, and action.

Located in Chelsea, the non-profit hub is designed as a collage of three intertwined elements: the adaptively reused historic Bayview women’s prison building, a new office tower, and the redesigned façade of Bayview’s annex, which acts as a hinge between old and new. Large carved openings create sculptural interiors for circulation and shared activities, from meeting spaces to fabrication labs.

Above a ground floor open to the general public, a series of collective spaces are distributed through the building to serve its core audience and users. These include a large flexible event space , exhibition spaces, a film screening room, performance spaces, a greenhouse (on the roof of the old building), and a fourteenth-floor “viewing bowl” overlooking the river. The more private areas of the lower floors house a clinic and fitness center, while the upper floors provide office space for non-profit tenants.