A new arts center for Bozeman’s Brewery District, conceived as an “inhabitable wall” that carries forward the memory of the former Lehrkind Brewery.
The Brewery District in Bozeman, Montana was once defined by the Lehrkind Brewery complex and the Northwestern train station, serving as a center of industrial production and transportation. Over time, the district has lost its original functions, yet the remnants of its industrial past have given rise to an informal arts community.
This project proposes an arts center adjacent to the existing Tinworks Art Center, inheriting formal and spatial qualities from the historic context while acting as a contemporary cultural anchor. The building is conceived as a reminder of the district’s industrial memory, supporting new artistic programs while acknowledging the layered history of the site.
The project’s central concept is informed by the former Lehrkind Brewery wall, which stood for years as a fragment of the original factory and a physical trace of what once occupied the site. Reduced to a single brick façade supported by timber bracing, the wall functioned as both structure and memory until its removal in the 2010s.
The concept model abstracts this condition, reinterpreting the idea of the crumbling wall as a generative framework. In the project, the wall becomes a conceptual and structural device — an architectural remnant that supports new programs and sustains the spirit of the Brewery District’s evolving arts community.
The architectural organization of the Brewery District Arts Center is directly informed by the concept of the wall as a generative base. This idea is translated into an elongated, thin, yet inhabitable form that runs along the length of the site, functioning as a spatial and organizational spine for the building. Conceived as an “inhabitable wall,” this element accommodates the administrative and service programs while establishing a sequenced progression through the building.
Movement through the wall unfolds as a gradual transition of spaces, beginning at the reception area, which serves as an entry point and visual anchor to the historic context, including views toward the former train station. As one moves along the wall, support functions — mechanical spaces and restrooms — are integrated into the thickened structure, operating as the infrastructural core of the building. The administrative offices are positioned toward the midpoint of this sequence, maintaining proximity to both public and production spaces.
This linear condition is interrupted by a larger, more fluid volume shaped by site conditions and defined by curved walls that contrast with the rigidity of the wall element. This space forms the center of the arts workshop program, where vertical circulation rises along the curved surface to connect workshop spaces on the second level and the visiting artist studio above. Throughout the project, the spatial atmospheres and organizational logic are derived from the formal and conceptual qualities of the wall, translating a fragment of industrial memory into a new architectural framework that supports contemporary artistic production.