Contract - April 2010 - (Page 45)

As one ascends the elevator 44 floors to the reception/conference center of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP’s new midtown Manhattan office, it’s necessary to toss any preconceived notions of what a law firm should look like out the window—a floor-to-ceiling, low-iron glass window with panoramic views of New York City, that is. Butler Rogers Baskett’s striking design for this 235,000-sq.-ft. LEED Gold-certified space occupying 6.5 floors near the top of One Bryant Park, the first high-rise to achieve LEED Platinum certification, is truly eye-opening and breathtaking. Designed by Cook + Fox Architects and developed by the Durst Organization, the 54-story tower bordering Bryant Park was inspired by the context of its site. Constructed of steel, aluminum, and glass, the building references Carstensen & Gildemeister’s Crystal Palace, America’s first glass and metal frame tower, set in Bryant Park in 1853. The crystalline skin with sculptural facets creates a building with movement that also informs the interiors. “There’s a rhythmic quality to the perimeter glass,” explains Barbara Zieve, former associate partner and design director at Butler Rogers Baskett (BRB) and now design director at IA/Interior Architects. “Because of the flowing ribbon curtainwall, we had to approach the floor plan of the interiors differently, and we took a ‘cube approach.’” Since the building does not have regular north, south, east, west orientation, designers enclosed the building core elements in a square shape at center of each floor plate. On attorney floors, translucent and clear glass walls separate private perimeter offices from support spaces that fill the oddly shaped area between attorney offices and the square central core so that daylight penetrates deeper into the space. “In the reception area, we pulled everything off the windows, peeling back elements from the skin,” Zieve explains. “The idea was to create a very open area and a two-floor conference center with a sculptural stair connecting the double-height space.” A caucus room at the top of the stair offers a meeting spot with acoustical privacy but visual openness that remains connected to reception and the floor below with extensive views. With its main headquarters in Washington, D.C., and its lease up on its New York office, Akin Gump took the opportunity to expand into a space that would give the firm a more contemporary aesthetic and a greater New York presence, be true to its commitment to environmental stewardship, and act as a real recruitment tool for young attorneys, says Vincent Bell, director of administration for Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. “We wanted The flowing ribbon curtainwall of One Bryant Park (opposite bottom) informs the interior design of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld’s New York headquarters, occupying 6.5 floors near the top of the tower. Butler Rogers Baskett peeled back elements from the building skin in the two-level conference center (left) to flood interiors with sunlight. The perspective from the caucus room (opposite top) is arguably the best view in the house, offering acoustic privacy but visual connection to reception, the conference center below, and all of New York City. Strategically placed conference rooms (above) facilitate wayfinding. www.contractdesign.com contract april 2010 45 http://www.contractdesign.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Contract - April 2010

Contract - April 2010
Contents
Editor's Note
Industry
Resources: The Green Scene
Focus: Land of Opportunity
Green: Post-Occupancy Green
Practice: Legal Green
Lean & Green
Environmental Extraordinaire
Above the Legal Limit
Informing the Masses
Luxury in the Raw
Designers Rate: Green Products
Process: Science in the Age of the Invisible
Sources
Ad Index
Perspectives

Contract - April 2010