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ArchDC Winter 2017.qxp_Fall 2017 11/17/17 5:49 PM Page 42

Exterior of the building Photo courtesy of STUDIOS Lobby before renovation. Photo courtesy of STUDIOS
before renovation. Architecture Architecture
Commercial
Commercial

Successes
Successes

Fresh Ideas for Offices,

a Restaurant, and a Shop

by G. Martin Moeller, Jr., Assoc. AIA

Merit Award in Interior Architecture the ceiling of a shallow porch that shelters arriving
pedestrians from the elements. The perforations in the
1500 Broadway metal panels were carefully modulated to create subtle
New York, NY gradations in transparency and to accommodate the
complex curvature of the lower panels.
STUDIOS Architecture The side walls of the porch, made of white Corian,
Lighting Designers: Kugler Ning Lighting continue into the lobby, whose boomerang-shaped plan
Structural Engineers: Thornton Tomasetti complements the curve of the perforated metal plane in
MEP Engineers: Jack Green Associates cross-section. The exterior and interior Corian panels are
General Contractor: American Signcrafters arranged in horizontal bands, sections of which are canted,
yielding a profile somewhat reminiscent of traditional
clapboard siding—an effect heightened by cove lighting
People eager for a dose of visual overload in New York
along the edges of the ceiling, which produces distinct
City flock to Times Square, where they can find a chaotic
shadows under the undulating bands. Most of the panels
array of electronic and printed billboards, a cross-section
are parallelograms, with sharply angled joints that lend a
of the nation’s major chain stores, and one (nearly)
dynamic directionality to the space. Custom panels lining
Naked Cowboy. Until recently, however, they would
the curved wall surfaces in the lobby were produced
have had trouble finding the entrance to 1500 Broadway,
using thermal forming techniques in the Corian factory.
a block-long, 34-story skyscraper containing roughly half
STUDIOS’ design is an object lesson in how to stand
a million square feet of commercial space. For years, the
out in a crowd. In a milieu characterized by what architects
building’s office tenants and visitors had scurried in
Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown called “messy
through nondescript revolving doors—easily unnoticed
vitality,” the new portal demands attention by virtue of
among the cacophony of signage—before passing through
its pristine whiteness, nuanced geometries, and precise
an oddly spacious lobby occupying valuable ground-floor
execution. Meanwhile, the reconfiguration of the lobby
space at the corner of Broadway and 43rd Street.
allowed for an additional tenant space at the very corner
The renovation of the entrance and lobby, led by the
of the ground floor—a change that, given the prevailing
DC office of STUDIOS Architecture, yielded a stunning—
rents for retail space in the area, may well pay for the
if modestly scaled—piece of architecture that looks nothing
entire renovation in short order. The project exemplifies
like anything else in the area. The new entry portal, now
the added value that thoughtful redesign can bring even
compressed into a relatively narrow slot facing 43rd
when only a small portion of a building is updated.
Street, is introduced by a multi-story vertical plane of
perforated white aluminum that swoops inward to form
42 COMMERCIAL SUCCESSES