MILL 19

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

5 acres, 2015-2022

Mill 19 is a living emblem of Pittsburgh’s transformation from its industrial steel-making past to a future of sustainable advanced manufacturing. Through a bold approach to adaptive reuse, the project viscerally interweaves new spaces for the Hazelwood Green community and the city’s robotics industry within the ruins of a decommissioned steel mill. The project welcomes the public through a series of linked exterior experiences framed between the 1,360-foot-long superstructure and three multi-tenant buildings sited within it. The visionary landscape celebrates experiential sustainable design strategies that support both ecological and social functions. Features made from reclaimed materials support public gathering, play, and reflection.

Through deep collaboration and a transdisciplinary approach to the design from the initial competition stage through construction oversight, the design for the project set out to investigate, embody, and honor the mill’s industrial legacy across the landscape and architecture. The original metal walls and roof were stripped away, intentionally revealing its underlying steel superstructure. The preserved and deconstructed exoskeleton reinterprets the former volume of the mill, honoring the ghost of what was, while positioning the structure as part of the landscape.
The team identified opportunities for deconstruction and preservation of the exoskeleton, scaling interventions in the landscape to celebrate the tectonics of the structure, while weaving together vertical circulation features and new opportunities to gather, explore, and relax amidst wild disturbance-adapted gardens.

The closure of the last operating steel mill in Pittsburgh left a wake of uncertainty about the future for the community’s residents. Mill 19’s design approach was to provide a community-facing space that engages and welcomes the residents who have felt excluded from progress happening in recent years. The design integrates human-scaled moments in a monumental setting, honoring industrial legacy while providing playful, immersive, and performative landscapes that offer a cleaner, safer environment for play and inhabitation. Through a community-engaged public art selection process, the design team listened to the struggles caused by changing economic conditions and provided art installations that uplifted communal ownership, healing, and pride in their community heritage at Mill 19.

PROJECT DETAILS

Location Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Client Regional Industrial Development Corporation (RIDC)

Team TEN x TEN, MSR Design, D.I.R.T. studio, Atelier Ten, Lennon Smith Souleret Engineering (LSSE), R3A Architecture, Bala Consulting Engineers, Alderson Engineering, PCS

Area 5 acres

Status Completed in 2023

Project Type Adaptive Reuse

Photos Gaffer Photography

AWARDS

2024 Landezine International Landscape Awards Shortlist
2024 WLA Professional Merit Award for Built – Large Landscape Design
2023 AIA Minnesota Honor Award for Excellence in Design for Energy, Economy, Water, Change, Discovery, Integration, Well-being, and Ecosystems
2023 Metropolis Magazine Planet Positive Award in Innovation for Best Adaptive Reuse 2023 ULI Americas Awards for Excellence Finalist
2023 AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) Top Ten Award
2022 AIA Minnesota Commendation for Excellence in Design for Change
2022 ASLA Minnesota Merit Award for General Design
2021 PA DEP Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence
2020 AN Best of Design Award for Landscape
2020 NAIOP Pittsburgh Green Building of the Year Award
2020 ENR MidAtlantic Best Project in Office/Retail/Mixed-Use Category
2020 Engineers' Society of Western Pennsylvania Project of the Year for Modernization
2019 ULI Pittsburgh Placemaking Award for Excellence as a Visionary Place
2016 WAN Future Projects Commercial Award Shortlist

TREETOP TRAIL AT THE MINNESOTA ZOO