Page 50 - ArchDC_Summer2021
P. 50

forth, with an emphasis on transparency, which serves   the stringer of the stair dematerialize the surrounding
        both to connect the firm in a literal sense (because the   space and provide fractured views of the different
        employees can see each other) and to bring light and   colors and treatments of the sides of the columns. As is
        views in from the perimeter.                     often the case with minimalist art, the experience shifts
            LSM is also known for projects that integrate art   unexpectedly as the viewer moves around the space.
        into the workplace. At Cleary Gottlieb, there was a   Overlaying the visual effect of the columns is that
        desire that the art represent both the international   of the skylights, with checkerboards of translucent gels
        stature of the firm and its local presence and roots.   of the same colors and striped pattern as the sides of
        Toward this end, two art consultants were engaged:   the columns. As the sun shifts, the projected bright and
        DC local Jean Efron, who has advised Cleary Gottlieb   colored spots move around the space, at times reflected
        for many years, and Miami-based Lisa Austin, who,   in the mirrors. At night, the skylights as viewed from
        among other collaborations, assisted with art selections   the adjacent roof terrace become their
        for LSM’s own Georgetown studio. The Cleary      own art feature—a glowing surprise amid the
        Gottlieb offices have their share of single and grouped   jumble of mechanical penthouses that characterizes
        works, framed and hung on walls in strategic places   Washington roofscapes.
        throughout the suite, but what sets the space apart is   The second major commissioned work is a mural
        the integration of commissioned, site-specific works   by DC artist Adrienne Gaither, located in the dining
        into the interior architecture.                  area opposite the window wall overlooking the roof
            When the design and consultant group saw     terrace. Gaither developed several possible designs, all
        international artist Daniel Buren’s proposal for three   in her signature boldly-colored geometrical style; the
        colored columns in the reception space, “we liked it   selected scheme, according to Bilski, “talked to” the
        immediately,” said Rick Bilski, AIA, a partner at LSM   columns in the reception area most directly. (Although
        and project executive for the Cleary Gottlieb offices   the spaces are not adjacent, from a certain point it
        along with partner James McLeish, AIA. The work   is possible to see simultaneously two segments of
        “gives an iconic first impression,” noted Morphy. There   Gaither’s mural and the tops of Buren’s columns.) The
        is, perhaps, an initial perception that the columns are   patterns in Gaither’s work complement the angular
        actually part of the structure of the building, but as   forms of the adjacent dining booths.
        the eye wanders upward, one sees that they stop short   “The Buren” and “the Gaither,” as Morphy and
        of the ceiling. Mirrors on an actual structural column,   Bilski referred to the columns and dining area murals,
        on the horizontal spandrel of the tall windows, and on   are in spaces that were under LSM’s direct control as










































                                                                  Reflections in the mirrors lining the diagonal stringer of this
                                                                  staircase and parts of the surrounding opening in the floor
        48                     ART FOR WORK’S SAKE                slab evoke compositions of the Cubist era in painting.
   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55