A 1958 Airstream Is Recast as a Recording Studio for an NYC Girls Club
Perched on the second floor of the Lower Eastside Girls Club, the Airstream turned studio hosts broadcasting and music production classes.
Perched on the second floor of the Lower Eastside Girls Club, the Airstream turned studio hosts broadcasting and music production classes.
An Airstream wouldn’t have been John Storyk’s first choice for a sound studio. "A Winnebago would have worked better," says the acoustician and architect, who in his 50-year career has designed studios for Alicia Keys, Green Day, and Jimi Hendrix. But the trailer, though poorly tuned for hit making, oozed vintage charm. "There’s a coolness factor—it’s so polished," says Storyk.
John Storyk of Walters-Storyk Design Group transformed a circa-1958 Airstream into a recording and broadcast studio for the Lower Eastside Girls Club in New York.
Courtesy of WSDG
Storyk and his firm Walters-Storyk Design Group recast the 1958 trailer in 2014, and since then it has rested on the second floor of the Lower Eastside Girls Club. There, young women and girls learn to produce internet radio, record performances, and create soundtracks for club presentations or videos. It’s the official home of Where Girl Radio Lives, a radio station and podcast that connects industry professionals with young reporters as they cover stories about community activists, politicians, musicians, and other powerful women.
A crane lifted the Airstream through the club’s second-story windows. To prepare it for the move, the wheels and axel were removed, and the frame had to be reinforced to hold under its own weight as it was lifted into place.
Courtesy of WSDG
John Storyk imagined the inside as an inverse mirror of the outside of the Airstream. The interiors are finished with curved, perforated metal that improves acoustics.
Courtesy of WSDG
See the full story on Dwell.com: A 1958 Airstream Is Recast as a Recording Studio for an NYC Girls Club
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