The Film Factory

COMPLETED: 2021

PROGRAM: The Film Factory is a mixed use, mostly industrial building in Ridgewood, Queens, NY, that provides space for various activities related to the growing NYC film industry as well as for local manufacturing. The primary occupant is Picture Cars Specialists (PCS), a provider of prop automobiles and other vehicles to movie producers. The Film Factory houses PCS’s inventory of nearly 400 prop cars along with related customization shops. Factory workshops for a variety of light manufacturing uses as well as office, retail and restaurant spaces fill out the building.

OVERVIEW: The Film Factory is located in an industrial zone that was first developed as such around the time of WW1. There is a mix of old masonry buildings and newer metal-clad buildings in the area. Diagonally opposite The Film Factory is a c.1922 red brick industrial building, which houses The Specialists, a movie prop company that is the “sister” company of Picture Cars Specialists. The design goal for the exterior of The Film Factory was to related to both the old red brick and fenestration of The Specialists’ building, and other similar structures in the neighborhood, as well as to the numerous metal-clad buildings, also nearby. The exterior metal panels, specified in a rich, deep, red color works very well to relate to both types of contextual structures. Other goals of the design team were to keep the building as lightweight as possible while still being fireproof and energy-efficient and to keep the construction schedule as short as possible. The Thermal Safe panels, which provide the exterior finish surface, the interior finish surface for many spaces, the fire rating, and the energy code rating all in one panel, was just the right product to meet these goals.

At the interior a sturdy, washable wall finish capable of being hosed down, was needed in the prop car areas. Corrugated metal, in a siliconized polyester finish, used as a “wainscot” with a matching top rail serves the purpose well and looks good besides.