Main Street Broadcast Studios is the adaptive reuse of a late-19th-century building in downtown Smithville, Missouri, directly across from the town’s historic square. Over time, the building served as a horse stable, fire station, movie theater, and woodworking shop before being transformed into its current use as a state-of-the-art broadcast studio. That layered history gives the project a narrative of continuity and reinvention, showing how an older building can accommodate new forms of use while maintaining its civic presence.

The main façade of the building was completely restored back to the original masonry, removing multiple layers of paint and applied decoration in the process. Sensitive insertions of aluminum curtain wall and trim reinforce the depth of the load-bearing masonry façade and materially connect the exterior and interior.

All of the private and systems related programs are housed in two wood paneled volumes on the 1st and 2nd floor. The volumes ground the open floor plan spaces on both floors and organize circulation. The primary stair and façade are treated as applied / inserted objects within the overall space.

To accommodate the technical demands of the new use, much of the interior construction was selectively removed to create clear-span space between the existing brick party walls. Following demolition, the remaining shell was digitally scanned and modeled so that new construction could be precisely coordinated within the historic structure.