All photos © Corey Gaffer Photography
2022
263,200 SF
Certified LEED-NC v.4 Gold
R3A was Associate Architect to MSR Design
A Box Within a Shell
The design peels away the mill’s deteriorated skin to reveal its monumental steel skeleton. Inside, a series of speculative office, lab, and manufacturing buildings stand in deliberate contrast, old and new in dialogue. This bold adaptive reuse strategy creates a powerful interplay between industrial scale and human experience.
The Post-Industrial Promenade
At the heart of Mill 19, a quarter-mile public corridor unfolds between the preserved superstructure and new buildings. Walkways, balconies, and stairways activate the space, while salvaged steel and concrete blocks anchor the landscape. Sunlight streams through the country’s largest single-slope bifacial glass PV array, illuminating rain gardens, native plantings, and contemplative gathering areas.
Design for Well-Being
Mill 19 transforms a traditionally insular building type into an open, community-oriented environment. Along its west façade, a continuous loggia threads together terraces, platforms, sun decks, and furnished gathering spaces. Bright yellow bridges and stairs weave into the steel exoskeleton, offering sweeping views of downtown Pittsburgh and the Monongahela River. Visitors are invited to climb, cross, pause, and explore, turning circulation into an active, engaging experience.
Ecological Performance
Sustainability is embedded throughout. The PV roof array generates clean energy while a 12-foot-wide, 400-foot-long water channel filters stormwater through retention basins and infiltration gardens. Native plant species, including pollinator-friendly serviceberry, sumac, and little bluestem, create resilient habitats that improve biodiversity, sequester carbon, and support birds, amphibians, and insects. These landscapes deliver high ecological value with low maintenance cost.