Donald Judd Home & Studio

Sciame was the Construction Manager responsible for the comprehensive and thorough restoration of 101 Spring Street, a 19th Century cast-iron building that is the residence of the late artist Donald Judd. The project is significant for the space it occupies in both the art and architecture worlds. It was here that Judd first developed his conceptions of permanently installed art. Similarly, as the only remaining single use building in SoHo, the 1871 building has often been referred to as the “crown-jewel” of New York’s cast iron architecture.

The restoration consisted of a meticulous removal of each of the 1,300 pieces of cast iron for off-site refurbishment at one of the few remaining cast iron specialists in North America. The entire structure was sequentially and temporarily braced while critical waterproofing elements were installed. Subsequently the refurbished cast iron pieces, along with new historically accurate windows, were installed then sealed and painted to match the iconic battleship grey color.

The interior preservation and renovation included new foundation walls and steel structure in the cellar to create the offices for the Judd Foundation. New structure was added throughout the project to stabilize existing conditions. Sciame worked collaboratively with the curators and conservators throughout the course of construction as new MEP/FP systems were carefully threaded through the historic interior. A chiller, generator, and emergency exhaust fans were added to the newly reinforced roof. The project was substantially completed in December 2012 and the original artifacts and artwork were reinstalled in the Spring of 2013.