If you crossed the Williamsburg Bridge in recent months, you’ve surely seen the magnificent replica of the original Domino Sugar sign shining bright atop the former Domino Sugar Factory building.
Redesigned to be energy efficient, the new sign towering over the Brooklyn waterfront actually matches the original sign’s dimensions totaling to 43 feet 6.5 inches tall and 65 feet 8 inches wide from top to bottom of the “S.”
Fun fact: the 19th-century complex was once the world’s largest sugar manufacturing producer. However, after the refinery closed operations, the building has since been taken under Two Trees Management and was transformed into a 460,000-square-foot office, better known as The Refinery.
The Domino site houses 460,000 square feet of office space, a 40,000 square foot full-service Equinox fitness club, and eventually over 4,000 residential units. But what may be the most exciting feature, has to be a first-of-its-kind indoor vertical garden.
The same designers behind the waterfront pandemic circles that were painted in Domino Park to promote social distancing are responsible for this living plant installation that will revitalize the historical space.
A total of 17 30-foot trees, each weighing 10,000 lbs, were hoisted up and over the building’s facade and “surgically” situated in between the old brick and new glass from the second to the tenth floor last April.
Specifically, Nathan Bartholomew, Director of Horticulture at Domino Park who has previously worked with the US Botanical Gardens, is the one responsible for the precise selection of plantings to be put up at The Refinery. Managing Director of Two Trees, Dave Lombino, hopes to draw more tenants to the office space with its inventive biophilic design that brings the beauty of the outdoors inside.
You can learn more about The Refinery on their website.