The void visually connects the upper and lower floors and helps visitors get oriented. In the conference center, the heart of the space, “We carved out a three-story cube to create a dynamic and forward-thinking first impression appropriate for this client,” Lehman Smith says. “The biggest effort was trying to get natural light all the way to the core and expressing volume within the rigid framework,” Morphy continues. They brought the same technique to the conference center, heightening the ceiling wherever possible to create more breathing room and add alcoves illuminated by LEDs.Īll of LSM’s interventions came back to the same directive from the client: light, bright, and voluminous. Adds partner Terese Wilson, “It reflected the exterior and the light and made everything feel brighter.” The team also carved out the drywall between the ceiling beams, going to the underside of the slab to gain over 2 feet of height. “The idea was that you could dematerialize the perimeter and make it feel like a new curtain wall,” Morphy notes. So LSM covered the columns in mirror, a technique the firm has used in new-builds like 55 Hudson Yards. Though lined with banded windows, the perimeter could feel cramped, with 8-foot ceilings, baseboard heaters, and steel columns every 20 feet. The client also sought circulation at the perimeter, rather than private offices, so employees could have access to natural light and take in views of the city as they walked to get coffee. At one such intersection, for instance, a terrace-furnished with Richard Schultz’s 1966 table and chairs-meets a pantry with seating by Space Copenhagen and Foster + Partners. The client envisioned various hubs spread across the office, forcing people to take different routes throughout the day and meet colleagues from other teams. LSM conceived a plan that encourages employees to move around, connect, and collaborate. In reception of a financial firm’s Midtown office by LSM, a 14-foot-long sofa and a marble-topped table, both custom, join a pair of leather-covered Charlotte Perriand LC7 chairs, surrounded by walls and flooring of Italian marble. Our design for this project embraces the complexity of simplicity,” Lehman Smith says. Led by Interior Design Hall of Fame member Debra Lehman Smith and James McLeish, the firm has shown that with a clever use of material and volume, older buildings can become an asset for clients. LSM was familiar with the challenges of mid-century structures, having transformed offices in the Seagram Building and Lever House. The goal was to promote interaction among staffers and give them a light, bright environment-both of which would be difficult given the 50,000- to 100,000-square-foot floor plates. The client engaged LSM to conceive a workplace and a conference center across several levels of an International Style building. Recently, LSM did just that at the ’60’s office space of a financial firm, creatively updating the interiors so they rival those in any skyscraper of today. “There are a lot of things you can’t get rid of, but there’s also a lot you can react to and embrace.” He knows this first-hand. “They have great expressions of steel and strong organizational templates,” he says. Yet for Donnie Morphy, senior director at LSM, these 60-year-old buildings have their charm. (Even Skidmore, Owings & Merrill’s 270 Park Avenue has met the wrecking ball.) Low ceilings and large floor plates make for dark interiors, while frequent columns and clunky mechanical systems constrict layouts. From the MetLife Building to Black Rock, they make up much of the commercial real estate in Midtown but are woefully out of date and ripe for demolition. Mid-century office towers are fixtures of the New York skyline. LSM Modernizes a Multilevel Workplace in Midtown for a Financial Firm
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