The 3333 building is a hub of creative organizations and companies in line with the Kranzberg Arts Foundation’s mission to promote the creative arts and culture in St. Louis. As part of rebuilding the Grand Center Arts District, the project is a renovation of an existing 36,000sf brick industrial building shell into a series of spaces for Mike Martin Media, Shakespeare Festival STL, Fashion Fund, Open Studios Jazz, Scene event space, Paige Avenue photography, Mark Buckhiet picture framing, Sophie’s Artist Lounge, Kranzberg Arts Foundation offices, and Elasticity. Common spaces such as the wide corridors double as an art gallery and extension of Sophie’s Artist Lounge, providing additional programmable space.

Preserving as much of the history as possible by maintaining the patina built up over the many lives of the building was balanced with the need for all new infrastructure. The patchwork of brick was tuckpointed inside and left exposed while the underslung trusses and wood roof were repaired and painted. Layers of concrete floor were cleaned and polished while the floor tile from a previous car showroom was cleaned, polished and preserved. The south façade maintains the historic character of the brick and stone along the primary street while the north façade integrates a new fire stair and canopy with two story murals.

Client: Kranzberg Arts Foundation
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
Planning: 2020
Construction: 2021

Architect: OSA, LLC
Design Team: Chandler Ahrens, Shiyao Li
Associate Designer: Creative Exchange Lab
Civil Engineering: Frontenac Engineering
Structural Engineer: Frontenac Engineering
General Contractor: Lockwood Construction and Development

Size: 36,000 s.f./  3,344m2
Cost: $5,000,000