Crossway Studio

Originally designed to accommodate Grammy award winning recording artists Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown, Crossway was designed for tracking, overdubs and mixing. Decommissioned in 2012 after Whitney’s untimely death, this new iteration pays homage to the original design. It utilizes natural light in both the control room and studio space and hosts a wide array of finishes including hardwoods, stone, slate, stretched fabrics, plaster board walls and laminated glass.

The new owner Hal Cohen hired the original designer, Russ Berger Design Group, to restore and replace the decorative and acoustical finishes, replace and upgrade acoustical core materials, rebuild and replace all the millwork items: LMTs, credenza, patch bay garage, adjust and redesign the acoustical treatments to accommodate a new Dolby Atmos monitoring system and rework floor troughs to restore access to underfloor technical wire management system. Sweetwater Integration handled the A/V integration.

There are unique architectural features everywhere you look that serve critical acoustical functions: like sintered aluminum acoustical elements, 13’ wide 7’ high 3/4” sloped sound rated laminated glass that disappears into the isolated wood-finished floating concrete floor between the control room and studio. Everything was functional and deliberate, with attractive architectural events being employed in creative ways to serve the rooms intended acoustical purpose. For example, there was a need for bass trapping in the upper volume at the rear of the control room. A large diagonal millwork beam was fashioned to serve this purpose that transects the control room and extends into the studio, where it divides the piano room from the main studio.