Page 34 - Fall_2021

Chapter Design Award in Interior Architecture
Centerbridge at the Seagram Building
New York, NY
LSM

Lighting Design: FMS
Acoustical Engineer: Longman Lindsey
Structural Engineer: Severud Associates Consulting Engineers PC
MEP Engineer: MG Engineering
AV Consultant: Precise AV
Art Consultant: Ameil & Phillips Fine Art Advisory Services
Food Service Consultant: FDS
Project Manager: TKO Project Management
General Contractor: Structure Tone

To call the Seagram Building on New York’s Park Avenue a “landmark”
would be underselling it. Designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe with
Philip Johnson and completed in 1958, the steel-frame, bronze-and-
glass-clad skyscraper became an icon of post-World War II corporate
architecture and a model for countless later commercial buildings
(most of which could not compete with the original). The building was
commissioned by Samuel Bronfman, head of the Seagram distilling
company, but its true patron was Bronfman’s daughter, Phyllis Lambert, a
young artist and future architect who advocated for Mies’s selection and
ensured that he had a virtually unlimited budget for the project.
Hired to expand and reconfigure the existing offices of an
investment firm in the building, LSM sought to enhance collaboration
and promote operational transparency while protecting, but gently
improving upon, key elements of Mies’s design. The renovation’s grand
gesture was the introduction of a double-height volume—the first
anywhere on the office floors of the building—around the reception
area, including a staircase to the floor above. The purposes of this open
space were straightforward: to establish a clear heart for the office space
and to encourage the sorts of casual meetings that often occur at central
circulation points. From a technical standpoint, however, the insertion
of the two-story space was anything but straightforward. The original
structural system included composite steel-and-concrete components and
high-strength bolted connections that required tactical modifications to
preserve structural stability while eliminating a large section of one floor. All photos © Peter Aaron
Hanging above the atrium is a custom sculptural installation of glass New double-height space at the heart of the
Centerbridge offices in the Seagram Building.
planes and colored film by Spencer Finch, the composition of which was
inspired by the famed Zen garden at the temple of Ryōan-ji in Kyoto,
Japan. The sculpture is reflected in mirrored panels lining the edges of
the beams that surround the opening between the two floors, resulting
in a shimmering space that appears different from every angle. Bronze-
toned exposed structural columns, dotted with rounded bolt heads,
contrast with the silvery mirrors and cream-colored travertine flooring.
LSM reorganized the open-plan work areas and optimized
conference spaces while maintaining a relatively high density, with
only 160 rentable square feet per employee. Several subtle but important
improvements involved the existing luminous ceiling at the perimeter
of each floor, which was called out as a contributing element in the
building’s landmark designation. The design team upgraded the light
ballasts and lamps to be more energy efficient and replaced the original
acrylic lenses with an acoustically transparent stretched membrane that
reduces noise and echoes within the space. The distinctive evening glow
of the Seagram Building is thus preserved.

Reception area.
32 CORPORATE IDENTITIES