Commercial

We were invited to participate in an international design competition for the interiors of a new office building for the Serbian company Delta Holdings. Our designs focused on the ground floor entrance lobby, the office floors, and the chairman’s penthouse office.

The lobby design features a sinuous bronze mesh that creates an iconic architectural gesture—a metaphor of the Sava and Danube Rivers. In counterpoint to the fluidity of the bronze railings and parapet walls, the full-height marble wall serves as the focal point to display large-scale art. At the perimeter of the space, the mirrored and translucent light “columns” change the impact of the glass curtain wall at the street while their oval forms recall the fins on the exterior of the building.

Thirty-centimeter-deep bronze “portals” lead to the sanctuary-like chairman’s office. Here, each magnificent panoramic city view is framed by bronze surrounds. A silver, grey and green palette reflects the colors of nature.

Our renovation for the international advertising agency TBWA/Chiat Day offices created a “virtual” office environment that departed from the typical open office plan. We introduced organic forms as a counterpoint to the orthogonal rigidity of Frank Gehry’s original 1988 renovation of the offices.

We completely restructured the offices with reception area, cafe/bar, and open meeting areas. By using 3M film graphics on the street-level windows, we afforded privacy from the street traffic while simultaneously expressing the creative energy of the agency.

During a time of budget restraints, we were given the challenge of reconstructing the twenty-second floor’s key architectural elements while maintaining large portions of the original plan. We provided a complete redesign of the lobby and major conference rooms. In the workstation areas, we resurfaced desks, redesigned the lighting, selected and installed new carpeting and repainted incorporating bold colors. Through selective strategic design interventions, we achieved a total architectural transformation of the floor.

Situated on the eighth and ninth floors of the industrial Starrett-Lehigh building, this project for internet content provider Screaming Media departs from traditional notions of the hierarchical office environment. Rather than doors, corner offices and cubicles, we created a series of dynamic volumes that provide private workspace within an open plan. Supple geometry and fluid sculptural spaces act in counterpoint to the ordered grid of columns in the large floor plates.

Our design intent was to reveal the dominant architectural details such as the columns and the continuous window wall. The entire exposed infrastructure, including the HVAC ductwork, was carefully designed as a sculptural element on the ceiling. Working with Vitra design, we designed custom workstations with translucent acrylic desktops.

We designed the executive suite for Leonard Riggio, chairman of Barnes and Noble, to showcase his extensive personal collection of contemporary art, and to provide operational space for Mr. Riggio, his director of marketing, and his chief financial officer. In addition, the program required a 10-seat library/dining space, a boardroom with seating for 16, pantry, private restrooms and workstations for support staff.

The material palette—travertine, brass, walnut, and glass—is intentionally “high modern,” while the layering of the ceiling planes and soffits (which help enclose and distribute the a/c ductwork) is intentionally more fragmented and energized. Floor-to-ceiling etched bronze glass walls bring natural light into the interior while providing visual privacy to the occupant. We added a skylight over the library/dining room to illuminate the windowless room.

Our client, the sixth largest software company in the world, wanted to create a new US headquarters that would consolidate the company’s various New York City offices in one location characterized by an open office environment conducive to collaboration and interaction between different departments.

Starting with raw, open floor plate over three floors, our design challenge was to provide the employees with a sense of place. We responded by creating a series of major “roads” that divided each floor into “neighborhoods” with distinct identities. We connected the sixth, seventh and eighth floors with a large, open central staircase featuring extra-wide treads that functioned as open seating for casual meetings.

Numerous small conference rooms and casual furniture located throughout the floors promote informal interaction between employees. Each floor has a “library,” or quiet room, where employees can work without the interruption of phones.