Size

Site: 1,600 acres
Build: 27,080 sq. ft.;

Year

In Progress

Client

Hudson Valley Farm Hub

Portrait of Chris Kroner
Chris Kroner
Principal
CK Mass Headshot 1

Chris Kroner

Principal — Poughkeepsie

Chris joined MASS to co-found the Hudson Valley Design Lab in Poughkeepsie NY in 2017. As a committed architecture and urban design educator, he moved to the Hudson Valley to convert his teaching into practice as a revolutionary and immersive model of listening and engagement. The design lab has become a thinktank for pioneering community design practice in American "Fringe Cities.” He sees architecture and design as a daily practice of outreach, showcasing adaptive reuse and new buildings both as coalition building methods to boundary span across multiple interests and regenerate city fabric. In addition to directing design projects, he leads all Poughkeepsie based community outreach work, serves as a design consultant to the Poughkeepsie Planning Board, and volunteers on a number of community and regional coalitions.

Prior to working at MASS Design Group's Hudson Valley Office, Chris has a career in award-winning architectural design practice, spending a decade as an associate partner with Dean/Wolf Architects where he conducted a series of award-winning projects in all stages of design and construction. “Restless Response: Emergency Medical Station 50” at Queens Hospital garnered the American Architecture Prize Gold Medal in Institutional Architecture in 2016, and the station was featured in Architectural Record in March 2017. Additionally, “Ephemeral Edge House,” a rural retreat home south of Albany won a Progressive Architecture Award in 2012 and a New York City AIA Honor Award in 2019.

Chris holds his Master of Architecture degree from Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) where he received the Lucille Smyser Lowenfish Memorial Prize, and his Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Virginia, where he received the Sean Steele-Nicholson Memorial Award. He teaches studios and seminars regularly at Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture, Preservation and Planning, as well as in the Pratt Institute’s Graduate Architecture and Urban Design programs, and has held lecture positions at institutions worldwide.

Design Team

Justin Brown, Chris Kroner, Michael Murphy, Ashley Marsh, Evelina Knodel, Caitlin Taylor, Regina Yang, Gabriel Hernández Solano

Landscape Team

Sierra Bainbridge, Vrinda Sharma, Nadia Perlepe

Collaborators

MEP: Mazzetti, Leapstep Design LLC, Jade Stone Engineering
Civil: Brinnier & Larios
Structural Engineering: Chazen Companies
Sprinkler: Ninebobbs
Sustainability Consulting: Leapstep Design, LLC
Jade Stone Engineering - MEP Engineering
Cost Estimating Consulting: Stuart Lynn
Anne Bloomfield: Farmscape Ecology Program Manager, HVFH
Conrad and Claudia

Located on 1,600 acres of prime agricultural land in Hurley, New York, the Hudson Valley Farm Hub has recently transitioned from a sweet corn farm to a diverse organic nonprofit farm.

Hudson Valley Farm Hub

The Farm Hub is positioned to become a regional hub for diverse agricultural education, striving to provide fresh food to local communities, enhance the regional food economy, train the next generation of farmers, and advance research in agroecology.

Hudson Valley Farm Hub engagement

During this transition for the organization, MASS is working with the Farm Hub to develop a campus site plan that balances immediate spatial needs with the long-term organizational vision.

Hudson Valley Farm Hub

Beginning with an intensive immersion process, MASS worked with the Farm Hub to assess the organization’s assets and created a phased plan and strategic vision for the design and construction of a new mission-driven campus.

Hudson Valley Farm Hub immersion

The first building phase includes the new shop and operations center, located at the heart of the new campus. Construction of the shop building began in 2020.