New York City, New York
In 2014, a leading financial institution made the decision to renovate its large headquarters complex in the heart of Manhattan Island in New York City. The architecture firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill was tasked with combining two existing, adjacent properties into a single 2.6-million-square-foot renovated facility. Building work included an updated facade and a revamped public plaza along Greenwich Street. For the interiors, the firm of Gensler was retained. The combined structure includes four 98,000-square-foot trading floors connected by an internal staircase plus a new lobby and open, collaborative workspaces. There is a similar grand staircase linking two “client center” floors with an executive office floor.
The first challenge addressed was successfully combining a 39-story office tower with a nine-story printing plant to become one cohesive workspace that met the company’s needs. The structural engineer for the project proposed replacing a solid wall with a row of columns which was ultimately done on the first three floors. From there, the architects sought to extend that idea all the way up to the roof to create a 14-floor atrium, but the client ultimately didn’t agree to that plan based on expense and the resulting disruption to workers. The client also wanted to assign 20-30% more people per floor than they wanted to provide workspaces for, since roughly a third of the employees would not be working in the office on any given day.
The renovated design included a new entrance area and a three story “town square” where workers can meet and socialize at couches and tables. This was achieved by removing some portions of floors and substituting the wall between the two buildings with columns at the town square floors. The two upper mezzanine floors include elevator lobbies and open meeting areas. Amenities in this area include an art gallery, in-house cafe, and mounted television monitors; and now adjacent to the area is an auditorium and new cafeteria with multiple food stations.
Above this common area, 19 additional floors were created where shared workspaces provide employees the opportunity to choose any desk to work from while storing their belongings in lockers nearby. The global headquarter's site president was quoted saying, “We went to a 20% over-subscribed model, where we have 230 seats on the floor and we put 325 people assigned to the floor.” This model seems to be working well, particularly since each of the floors has its own small kitchen and seating area where workers can socialize and eat lunch.
SOM wanted a material that would provide a continuous look around each area. Cascade's Fabricoil® architectural mesh was selected because it offered the ability to splice the material together on-site to create one seamless panel that ultimately achieved the design appearance SOM was seeking in these areas – a feat that many coiled wire fabric manufacturers cannot achieve. In particular, they wanted to cover an elliptical-shaped area in the "town square" in a way that was flexible and controllable. In order to maintain a pleated look while still alleviating the potential for someone to manipulate the material by pulling it up from the bottom, Cascade's architectural mesh was installed using bolts along both a top and bottom mounting track – each custom curved in an elliptical design that complements the space beautifully.
The renovated building is more functional, more practical, and offers a much better design presence than the prior arrangement.
Leverage our experience by sharing your project details with Cascade's in-house team of technical experts and engineers before specifying a coiled wire fabric system. We collaborate with architects, designers, and contractors every day to bring their vision to life, and will partner with you throughout the lifespan of your project to help ensure optimal system specification, shorter lead times, lower costs, and reliable project delivery every time. We welcome you to schedule a meeting with a Cascade Architectural specialist today, or reach out by phone, email, or live chat to talk design details, material specs, finishes, attachment hardware, custom engineering, budget, shipping or installation considerations, and more.
The near limitless versatility of our innovative Fabricoil® coiled wire fabric systems make Fabricoil suitable for a wide range of decorative and functional applications. Your specified system's resulting technical properties, performance benefits, and budgetary considerations will vary based on the material attributes selected and complexity of pre-engineered or custom attachment system used, so don't hesitate to lean on our near 40 years experience developing innovative architectural mesh systems to ensure you’re meeting all your aesthetic, technical, performance, and budget requirements without straying from your design vision.
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Our coiled wire fabric systems are engineered and manufactured to specification with American-made craftsmanship quality supported by Cascade's experienced technical assistance and architectural mesh design experts from concept to completion ensuring successful project delivery every time.
We take pride in providing expert technical assistance to architects and designers like you to help ensure the success of your project at every stage, so whether you're researching design options, writing a specification, requesting samples, looking for budgetary pricing, or just looking for inspiration, our experienced staff can quickly assist you and your team in identifying the best weave size, material, gauge, finish, fullness, and pre-engineered or custom attachment system to meet your specific needs, and ultimately bring your vision to life. Get connected with one of technical product specialists today by calling 1-800-999-2645 or emailing inquires@cascade-architectural.com.
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