Donald Judd Home + Studio - ARO Architecture Research Office

Our restoration of Donald Judd’s Home and Studio preserves his permanently installed spaces and enables the public to experience them as he intended.

Judd's bed centered in illuminated blue and red room with works of art

This project involved the comprehensive renovation of 101 Spring Street, the 19th- century cast-iron warehouse where the artist Donald Judd lived and worked from 1968 until his death in 1994. It was here that Judd developed his visionary concept of permanently installed spaces for art, and where he incorporated his own work and that of his friends and contemporaries.

In the years following his death, the building deteriorated and became unsafe for public access. Within tight physical constraints, we installed modern, highly-efficient infrastructure with minimal visual impact to enable the public to directly encounter Judd’s philosophical approach to the creative process.

In addition to the installed spaces on floors 2-5, short-term exhibitions occur on the ground floor, and the Judd Foundation offices occupy the two levels below grade.

The building is notable for its elegant, extensively glazed exterior.

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The cellar and sub-cellar, now offices for Judd Foundation, were originally storage areas, which Judd converted into bedrooms for his children.

people pass above visible through the glass of the sub-cellar

staircase landing on cellar floor reveals historic brick wall

New oiled steel and slate stair between first floor, cellar, and sub-cellar.

The fifth floor includes site-specific work by Dan Flavin, which is wired to the life-safety system, illuminating the exit in the event of an emergency.