WORKac’s design for renowned advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy’s 50,000 sq ft New York office was recently completed. It features a garden cut out of the corner of the building, and a circular “coin stair” that doubles as a seating area.
The design for Wieden+Kennedy New York moves away from the office-as-playground to put work back at the heart of creative work. Because work at Wieden+Kennedy is highly collaborative, WORKac designed the widest possible range of discussion spaces to accommodate meetings and gatherings of varying size, privacy levels, and duration.
Teams can choose to hold quick reviews standing up at 10 foot long “Over-The-Counter” blackened steel tables; have informal discussions in lounges with comfortable furniture and natural wood floors, raised to different levels to create a sense of privacy; or gather in the kitchens for working lunches.
More traditional meetings can be held in conference rooms that range in scale from smaller, intimate “Phonebooths,” to “Picnic-Table” meeting rooms that accommodate up to 10 people to larger, formal “Wide-n-Long” conference rooms.
Glass walls create a sense of lightness and transparency to the space. Clusters of these different meeting spaces are organized around groups of 20-25 people in open offices, featuring polished concrete floors.
Connecting the 6 th & 7 th floors, a circular-shaped, walnut-clad “Coin Stair” features bleacher seating that can accommodate office-wide meetings or informal discussions below a spider-shaped structure that transfers load from a removed column. On the 7th floor, a white-tiled bar provides an opportunity for end-of-day office celebrations. Connecting the 7th and the 8th floors, a perforated metal spiral staircase leads to a generous bamboo-clad, library “den” on the 8th floor.
To bring the outside in, a double-height space on the 6th and 7th floors is combined with the removal of the existing windows and a new interior storefront to create an outdoor park surrounded by blueberry bushes and visible from the street. On the 7th Floor, inside the office, a large, multi-purpose gym offers additional space for interaction and recreation.
all images © BRUCE DAMONTE