Draft:CO Adaptive

CO Adaptive is a Design-Build firm based in the Brooklyn Navy Yard founded by Ruth Mandl and Bobby Johnston.   Known for their commitment to sustainable design and construction practices, energy efficient building, and working with existing building stock, CO Adaptive is a vocal advocate for rethinking design and construction norms to reduce carbon emissions from the building sector. 

CO Adaptive’s notable works include several passive house projects in Brooklyn.  A 2019 NYTimes article covers the design and passive house renovation of the founders’ own home in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn.  In 2024, their design for passive house renovation in Astoria, Queens was also featured in the New York Times.

CO Adaptive has designed performing arts facilities including the Mercury Store in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Completed in 2021, this community theater space is an adaptive reuse of a historic metal foundry built in 1902.  The new design combines cross-laminated timber (CLT) with the original timber beams from the 100+ year old structure, and is among the first commercial buildings in New York City to utilize CLT in an adaptive reuse project.  CO Adaptive’s design for Mercury Store was featured in the 2023 MOMA Show ‘Architecture Now: New York, New Publics’, highlighting public architecture throughout the city.

In 2013, CO Adaptive designed an experimental dance space in a former industrial building for Triskelion in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. This adaptive reuse project created affordable and accessible performance space for the general public, and allows Triskelion more opportunities to showcase new work from emerging artists.

The studio’s first published project was a competition-winning entry for the Architects for Animals competition in 2011, organized by the non-profit Mayor’s Alliance for New York City’s Animals. Architects were challenged to design an animal rescue shelter for outdoor cats aimed at protecting them from cold weather conditions. In collaboration with architect Kathryn Walton, founder of the nonprofit The American Street Cat, Inc., CO Adaptive created a shelter out of recycled and donated materials, and featured a data-monitoring component that transmits information such as the duration of a cat’s stay and its weight to a base station in real time.

CO Adaptive’s design-build approach aims for high quality, efficient design solutions with minimal intervention in built projects.  By overseeing the whole design and construction process, CO Adaptive is able to efficiently reuse existing building material on-site by designing it into the project.  They opt for deconstruction over demolition when possible and work with a network of appraisers, donation centers and recycling companies to prevent sending construction and demolition waste to landfill.

Ruth Mandl and Bobby Johnston met while they were studying for their Masters Degree in Architecture at Columbia University in New York.  Ruth holds a Bachelors in Interior Architecture from Kingston University in London, and Bobby holds a Bachelors Degree in Architecture from UC Berkeley.