A loose-fit approach to the planning allows
clients to work in fully wired interstitial spaces as well as in the enclosed
and controlled environments. By
consolidating the support facilities,
the significant components of the program are organized around a
“canyon” and a “bunker”. The faceted
"canyon" walls are of tinted plaster that orient one to views of
lower Manhattan. Behind the south canyon
wall are the sound stage and shops; behind the north are the machine room and
mechanical equipment.
The private offices and art department form an
articulated “bunker” that bends around existing columns and provides a layer of
privacy for the workstations. The
“bunker” is clad with MDF panels on a sliding modular grid allowing cubic Lexan
window boxes to extrude through the wall.
The sheet
metal-clad machine room slides out from behind the canyon walls and forms a
point of detachment for the discreet volumes of the digital-editing
facilities. Accessed from a perimeter
“street”, these rooms have been acoustically “shaped” while meeting
specific equipment requirements and user
sight-lines. Finish materials include
maple and cherry boards, perforated stainless steel panels, linoleum and maple
flooring and stone.
By pulling all volumes away for the windows, we
were able to create a buffer from light, noise and vibration transmission while
creating a continuous perimeter promenade and a democratic allocation of the
windows. All non-programmatic space is
viewed as an “asset”. Delineated by
surface treatment, it creates a “common” or internal landscape of dedicated
open space, organizing the various elements of the program. Communal spaces are marked with painted
"puddles" on the ceiling.
Controlled views, shafts of reflected light and discreet program blocks
all recall the distorted grid of the city.
From first moment of
arrival in the heavy timbered, steel mesh-wrapped, “bombproof” reception cage,
custom lighting, artful duct and conduit placement and reflective planes of
varied materials, invite clients and
employees to stroll in the perpetual twilight.
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