Contract - June 2014 - 117

metal / wood / laminate
In San Francisco, Boor Bridges Architecture
creates a cozy world for programmers

office

+ADD crafts a New York
office using tools created
by its client
By James Russell, FAIA
Photography by
Matthew Williams

With daylight pouring through tall windows onto planes of warm
brown walnut, the offices of FiftyThree, Inc., in Manhattan's Tribeca
neighborhood, exude a suave calm. On her iPad, Laura González
Fierro, founder of the design firm +ADD, flips through the handsomely
calligraphic sketches she used to design the space-digital drawings
with an appealingly human quality rarely found in the soulless
photo-realistic world of computer renderings. In a neat turnaround of
services, the sketches were produced with FiftyThree, Inc. products.
Architects and designers are an important market for FiftyThree's
Pencil, the electronic stylus she used, and Paper, the tablet app that
converts the stylus strokes to electronic drawings. Since the company
was founded in 2011, its carefully crafted identity came to maturity
at pretty much the same time as the 6,600-square-foot space
FiftyThree inhabits.
The company name refers to the distance in centimeters that
"links the head, heart, and arm," explains Georg Petschnigg, one of
FiftyThree's co-founders-the part of the body "where creativity
happens." One model of the stylus, which looks like an "analog" flat
charcoal pencil, comes in solid walnut, matching the wood extensively
used in FiftyThree's office interior. Its brand-mate is called Graphite,
and its extruded-aluminum elegance inspired the blackened-steel
custom workbenches and framing for glass-enclosed meeting rooms.
This congruence is intentional. FiftyThree aspires to keep its
brand image tightly focused in a very cluttered marketplace. "We have
visualized a system of values and we express them in product design
and marketing, as well as with this space," Petschnigg says.

A blue wall near the reception
desk is embellished with a jute
rope piece designed by Jeremy
Waterman. The architects
called for paint to be stripped
from the beams to reveal the
heavy timber construction of
the building. The engineered
oak floor, finished to look
hand-hewn, is also a nod to
the history of the building.
90

fiftythree, inc.

By Lydia Lee
floors totaling 28,000 square feet and fills a majority of the historic
Photography by
building, the company's founders selected Boor Bridges Architecture,
Bruce Damonte
a local firm that had recently designed the offices for tech startups
Dropbox and StumbleUpon.
Boor Bridges has also completed several coffehouses in San
Francisco, including ones the coffee-addicted founders of Stripe had
Stripe is a tech startup that is completely of the moment: A competitor
admired before knowing who was responsible. "We really liked their
to PayPal, it is a software company that enables online credit card
aesthetic," says Orla McHenry, who works on the people operations
payments. However, its new, laid-back office, populated with young
team at Stripe, where there are no formal titles. "Boor Bridges had also
programmers coding away with their headphones on, occupies
done a lot of residential work, and we wanted the office to feel like home.
a building from another era.
They really encapsulated what we were looking for."
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the 1902
The founding team at Stripe had fond memories of their first
Pioneer Trunk Factory in San Francisco's Mission District has clapboard office in Palo Alto, California, where they would hunker down and pull
siding, double-hung windows, and an Italianate roof with brackets
all-nighters. They wanted to retain the camaraderie of coding together
under the eaves. To design Stripe's office, which occupies three
in that neighborly environment, even as the company grew rapidly.

office

contractdesign.com

June 2014

contract

Refining a raw space
González Fierro, whose firm has offices in Brooklyn, New York, and
Mexico City, came to the attention of FiftyThree's founders through
96

Steel-framed, glass-enclosed
small meeting rooms have
curtains for privacy.
contractdesign.com

june 2014

Stripe (page 90)

FiftyThree, Inc. (page 96)

who Architect and designer:
Boor Bridges Architecture.
Architecture project team:
Bonnie Bridges, AIA; Anand
Sheth, Assoc. AIA. Contractor:
Peacock Construction. Lighting:
Revolver Design. Engineering:
Structural Design Engineers.
Kitchen: Christensen
Consultants. Landscape:
Flora Grubb Gardens.
what Paint: Benjamin Moore.
Hard flooring: Galleher. Carpet:
PacifiCrest. Lighting: Halo; Juno;
FLOS; Bartco; Schoolhouse
Electric; John Beck Metal;
Restoration Hardware. Hardware:
Schlage. Door: Oregon; Arcadia.
Glass: Eclipse. Seating: Herman
Miller; CB2; EQ3; HD Buttercup;
Crate & Barrel. Tables: MASH
Studios; CB2; West Elm; Crate &
Barrel. Shelving: Blu Dot. Custom
woodworking: New Century.
Planters: Green Genes. Signage:
SF Landmark. Plumbing: Kohler.

who Architect and interior
designer: +ADD/Laura González
Fierro. Collaborator: Carolina
Rivera. Architect of record:
Andrew Mikhael Architect.
Contractor: Northern Bay
Contractors, Inc. Structural
Engineer: Anthony Gennaro
PE. Electrical contractors: Inner
City Electrical Contractors, Inc.
Mechanical: Jaco Mechanical,
Inc. Plumbing: United
Plumbing and Mechanical, Inc.
Plumbing and sprinkler: Carl
Guinta Associates. Fire alarm
systems: Cross Fire &
Security. Kitchen: Henry Built.
Glass: Checker Glass Corp.
Steelwork: AGL Industries, Inc.
Metal workstations: Mario Metals.
Millwork: RCP Builders/Robert
Phelps. Stonework: Cathedral
Stone and Tile Co., Inc.
Landscape: PlantUS NYC.
Graphics: FiftyThree, Inc.
Acoustician: Spectra Audio
Design Group.
what Wallcoverings: Walnut
panels by RCP Builders. Paint:
Benjamin Moore. Area rug:
Restoration Hardware. Acoustic
ceiling panels: Wall Technology.
Track lighting: TechLighting.
Task lighting: FLOS. Fluorescent/
industrial: Zaneen. Floor/table
lamps: FLOS. Pendants/
chandeliers: Tom Dixon.
Hardware: BLUM Hardware.
Architectural glass/glazing:
Checker Glass Corp.
Workstations: Mario Metals;
RCP Builders. Workstation/
task seating: Herman Miller.
Conference seating: Herman
Miller. Lounge/reception seating:
Flexform. Cafeteria/dining
seating: Design Within Reach.
Other seating: Knoll.
Upholstery: Knoll; Flexform.
Tables: RCP Builders; Herman
Miller; Flexform. Storage: RCP
Builders. Planters: PlantUS NYC.
Signage: FiftyThree, Inc.
Plumbing: Blanco; Franke.

contract

A massive collection
of design materials.
Here: Chemetal 909 Satin
Silver Anodized Aluminum
as column covers. Call
or visit to see them all.

800 807-7341 chemetal.com
Select No. 49 at ContractDesign.com/readerservice

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Contract - June 2014

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