This oldie-but-goodie project was the conversion of a 1940s munitions plant into our own offices. The Bomb Factory — located in the historic and colorful Deep Ellum neighborhood of Dallas — had a colorful history including munitions production, reggae dance hall, and move set (including the original RoboCop movie).

The structure was largely derelict, with a basic shell of a stout foundation, masonry walls, oil-pipe roof trusses, and not much else. DSGN came in with a determination to honor the industrial heritage of the original building while creating highly flexible, highly functional space for our growing practice, at low cost.

The design solution was to maintain the dramatic central “naves” for common areas, including a gallery/lobby a “war room” for collective work efforts, and materials library. Open studios were located adjacent to the naves, and service areas were collected to one side behind a raw CMU wall. Original concrete floors were stained and sealed, new MEP systems were added (fully exposed) and a new, insulated metal roof was installed.

Three practice “bombs” (actually drop gas tanks) were located in a nearby army/navy store and featured in our lobby.