Commercial
Wells BDDP Offices
Project Information
FdM:Arch’s renovation of Wells BDDP’s offices was inspired by the open team environment and interactivity that revolutionized the global advertising industry in the 1990s. To democratize the block-long space and do away with the existing hierarchical workplace organization, we modeled the offices after the iconic village square.
With this in mind, we had the major circulation arteries extend from a large, central gathering space – the village square – in turn fostering meetings “on the street.” The floor plate is broken down into six discrete studio spaces, one for each of the agency’s departments, that are separated from the principal circulation by a row of meeting rooms. Thick and thin planar elements separate the meeting rooms on one axis, while sandblasted glass walls enclose them in the opposite direction. The sandblasted glass walls transform the row of rooms into large light amplifiers, bringing the illusion of daylight deep into the building’s core. Once-prominent columns were hidden behind thick walls, and each room features groupings of modern furniture by designers such as the Eames and Mies van der Rohe.
The seven-foot long custom designed team desk and its associated mobile pedestals provide an extended work surface and individual workspace for each employee, while also accommodating up to six people in a cluster. The mobile pedestal can be pulled out to create a return work surface and active file storage; additionally, its deployment also creates additional separation between co-workers. When a worker moves to a different project or department, they take their personal pedestal with them. The rows of team desks are connected by a system of smart spines, which provide lighting, electric, data, telephone and storage.
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Project Details
- Place New York, NY
- Date 1996
- Client Wells BDDP North America
- Area 95,000 SF
- Architect Francois deMenil Architect, PC
- Structural Engineer N/A
- MEP Engineer Meyer, Strong & Jones Engineers, PC, New York, NY
- Lighting Fisher Marantz Renfro Stone
- Acoustical Walters-Storyk Design Group, Inc
- Furniture Consultant Jeffrey Osborne Design Consultant
- Construction Managere Bercat Design & Construction Management