Vera Wang’s Sleek HQ Redefines Fashion With Minimalist Elegance

While other septuagenarians who have had long, successful careers are packing it in, Vera Wang, 75, is making a fresh start. The fashion designer recently sold her namesake company to brand management firm WHP Global in an arrangement that allows her to continue as chief creative officer while being a shareholder in her label as well as in the larger company. Additionally, she and her team have relocated to a polished New York headquarters from which she can oversee the company she founded 35 years ago. What began as bridal wear has grown into a lifestyle brand with licenses for jewelry, home goods, and more, along with designing annual ready-to-wear lines as well as red-carpet looks for the likes of Ariana Grande and Lady Gaga. “It’s a new chapter,” Wang begins. 

Her previous office was on 26th Street, but changes planned for the building she was renting in prompted her to look elsewhere. It was time to move anyway. Her business had evolved from one devoted to producing clothes to one focused on licensing, so she no longer needed thousands of square feet for functions like shipping and receiving. What she needed, instead, was a flexible workplace where she could shoot content to support licensees with a voracious appetite for Instagram posts. An avowed minimalist, Wang was also ready to graduate from a space that was so stripped down as to be “severe” to “something more glamorous,” she continues. Interestingly, to help bring this evolution to fruition, Wang turned to BMA Architects, a firm more defined by luxury residential than workplace. 

Inside Vera Wang’s Luxe Manhattan HQ

The real estate search led Wang to a building that had its own whiff of glamour: the Mad Men–era Pepsi-Cola Building, an aluminum-and-glass landmark on 59th Street completed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in 1960. She took 17,000 square feet on the fifth and seventh floors, the former devoted to workplace, the latter for bridal sales, alterations, and VIP fittings. For Wang, a native New Yorker whose first bridal salon was in the Carlyle hotel, moving back uptown was “a full-circle moment,” she notes.

Concepting the interiors was a journey as well. Creating a new workplace “was as personal as building a home,” Wang recalls, so it was perhaps not surprising that she found herself drawn to photos of modernist houses—and their proportion, mix of materials, and warmth—by BMA founder Blaze Makoid. Even though he’d only designed a handful of commercial offices, she arranged to meet him, and they hit it off. Makoid immediately got Wang’s spare, black-and-white aesthetic. They talked about rooting the project in the four elements of Chinese philosophy: water, wood, steel, and fire (Wang’s parents had immigrated from China in the 1940’s). It also helped that a staff member pulled Makoid aside and gave him a tip: “Vera hates anything round.” 

A Black-And-White Palette For Vera Wang

That’s clear the moment visitors enter reception today and encounter a rectilinear jet black–stone fountain, its water generating a soft hush that makes the street traffic fade away. The design of the feature came easily to Makoid, who has done countless infinity pools for his residential clients, but there were plumbing challenges: “We knew the detailing required to make the water flow over the edge in a way that almost had no movement,” Makoid explains. “But what was complicated was to determine how to get the water there and out.” Behind the fountain is a video wall composed of dozens of screens: On a normal workday, the Vera Wang logo is lit up in a sea of black, but, during an event, the wall can project mood-setting imagery. A luminous desk of backlit Cristallo quartzite and frost-white large-format porcelain floor tile yield a sort of chiaroscuro effect to the entry space.

The center of the workplace is the design and photo studio, where there is a video wall even larger than the one in reception. Composed of more than 125 screens attached to 10 subframes, it can be programmed to function as a digital version of the mood boards designers have made for decades by pinning polaroids to bulletin boards, or project all the items in a collection, or provide a backdrop for a photo shoot. “That space was probably more important to Vera than her actual office,” Makoid says. 

It’s All About Fashion At This Minimalist Office

But her corner office is no slouch either, encompassing the clean-lined profiles and contrasting-color theme found throughout the project. A crisp white sofa by Vincent Van Duysen, a low coffee table in black-tinted glass, and ecru woven-leather chairs by Gordon Guillaumier that Wang had in her Los Angeles home all stand on ebony nylon broadloom. “The furniture kept getting boiled down to the most minimal geometric,” Makoid says with a laugh. Elsewhere, sleek task seating by Burkhard Vogtherr and Antonio Citterio in the studio and open office area are on castors for flexibility; chairs in the waiting area off reception “appear almost like stick drawings of furniture,” Makoid adds. 

They reappear in the café, its intimate size and sculptural backlit bar—“I’ve never built a bar in an office before,” Wang marvels—emitting both residential and hospitality notes. It’s also geared toward flexibility and multifunction: able to host a cocktail party, a one-on-one meeting, or just an employee wanting to take a pause. Instead of doors, the café is fitted with tall pivoting panels in black-stained white oak that can open “the whole reception area into one big show space for an event,” Makoid says.

The panels were too large to fit in the freight elevator and had to be carried up five flights. But the effort has paid off. The office “aesthetically speaks to what Vera values,” Makoid says. Wang concurs: “It reflects the mood we’re trying to iterate with the brand,” she concludes. “I feel an energy we didn’t have before,” sounding ready for years more of creative effort herself.

Vera Wang’s Office Makes A Bold Statement

An Office With A Style That Turns Heads

BMA ARCHITECTS: MATTHEW LABRAKE; CHARLOTTE KALARIS; ELIRA CONDE. SPECTORGROUP: ARCHITECT OF RECORD. ALLERTONFOX CONSTRUCTION: GENERAL CONTRACTOR. 

FROM FRONT MOLTENI&C: SOFA (WANG OFFICE). ACERBIS: TABLE. CAPPELLINI: CHAIRS (RECEPTION, CAFÉ). PEDRALI: TABLE (RECEPTION). DAVIS FURNITURE: CHAIRS (PHOTO STUDIO). HERMAN MILLER: TABLES. VITRA: CHAIRS (EXECUTIVE OFFICE, OPEN OFFICE). ROOM & BOARD: STOOLS (CAFÉ). ANDREU WORLD: TABLES. INNOVANT: WORKSTATIONS (OPEN OFFICE). THROUGHOUT COMMODITILE: FLOOR TILE. PATCRAFT: CARPET. BENJAMIN MOORE & CO.: PAINT.

How A 19th-Century Princeton Building Looks To The Future

By the time senior administrators at Princeton University decided to renovate Prospect House, an 1852 Italianate mansion used for meetings and events, it was dark, dated, and dysfunctional. The recessed front door was cloaked in shadows and inaccessible to anyone in a wheelchair. Inside, paint colors were gloomy, furniture was tired. Kitchen facilities struggled to keep up with catering demands, and the audiovisual equipment might consist of an antiquated projector and screen. It was time to “press the restart button,” recalls university architect Ron McCoy, who oversees changes to the campus.

The university had general guidance for the project from a master plan it adopted in 2017 that calls for the entire 700-acre New Jersey campus to be converted to geo-exchange technology for heating and cooling. As existing buildings are being renovated and new ones built, the plan also calls for them to be welcoming and foster a sense of belonging for a student population that has grown increasingly diverse.

Princeton University’s Prospect House Undergoes A Shining Revamp

To tackle Prospect House, McCoy and the reno­vation committee selected Irina Verona and Jennifer Carpenter of New York firm Verona Carpenter Architects, which focuses on inclusive design, striving to ensure spaces accommodate the broadest range of bodies and minds, with particular attention to sensory and physical disabilities. Verona and Carpenter were completing another project on campus, so their team was already steeped in the school’s priorities for its built environment. Also helping to tip the scale in their favor is that Verona is a Princeton undergrad alum, providing her with an intimate feel for the campus, which features an eclectic assortment of buildings, Prospect House, a National Historic Landmark, among the older structures.

Built by Philadelphia architect John Notman as a single-family home, the brownstone building was donated to the school in 1878 and for decades served as the official residence of university presidents, among them Woodrow Wilson. Pietro Belluschi and Warren Platner were hired to loosen it up when it became a faculty club in 1968, adding a glass-walled restaurant at the rear and bringing a bachelor-pad vibe to the interiors, complete with shag rugs. Robert Venturi turned back the clock and restored formality to Prospect House when he got involved in 1988. Verona Carpenter sought to capture aspects of this long and varied heritage—“a layering,” Verona calls it—in an overhaul of the 28,270-square-foot, three-story structure that involved restoring the exterior, opening up interior walls while preserving architectural features, installing state-of-the-art MEP and technology systems, and generally enlivening what had “felt frozen” in time, Carpenter notes.

How Verona Carpenter Breathes New Life Into This Princeton Building

For a sense of the changes the firm has wrought, consider the entry, where Verona and Carpenter moved the port cochere and front steps outward so they could tuck gently sloping brick ramps on either side. “Everyone goes in the same way now,” Carpenter adds. “That’s really important.” The front door itself was also pushed outward, with glass replacing solid wood, bringing transparency to the facade; now there are views all the way through the building to the greenery at the back. 

The interior that visitors encounter upon entering still feels historic—the rotunda has retained its stained-glass dome, two-story chandelier, and black-and-white marble floor, all centuries old and restored by Verona Carpenter. But wall colors are fresh: Verona and Carpenter discovered a robin’s-egg blue on the walls of a third-floor storage space and mimicked it for the rotunda, while other colors came from the dome’s stained glass, such as the celadon green in the Magnolia Common Room, where the backs of a pair of streamlined sofas are upholstered in an exuberant floral velvet. But there are deeper tones, too, like aubergine in the Dogwood Room. Inclusive design, according to Verona Carpenter, includes a range of hues so that people can find a space that works for them. Furnishings throughout, too, offer choice: Chairs are high- or low-backed or without backs at all; rockers suit those who are wired to keep moving, even while sitting. Verona and Carpenter also sought out pieces by women and people of color; the pendant fixture in the Cedar Room, for example, is from 54kibo, a company founded by Ghanaian-born Nana Quagraine.

Prospect Hall Embraces The Diversity of Today & Tomorrow

And if the house was once decorated with framed portraits of former university presidents, it’s now filled with varied contemporary art. Verona and Carpenter identified places where pieces could go, and the Princeton University Art Museum called for submissions from students, staff, faculty, and alumni, then selected paintings, sculptures, and photography. Even room names were changed to eliminate any whiff of exclusivity. The Presidential Dining Room, for one, became the Rose Room. “Renaming was part of the objective of making the building more inclusive,” Verona explains.

Diversity in seating options—wide, narrow, lounge—also characterizes Prospect Hall’s faculty restaurant, the 1968 addition dubbed the Garden Room, so called because it’s wrapped in glass visually merging it with the landscape; Verona Carpenter’s choice of carpet tile in a swirl of verdant greens further blurs the line between inside and out. Its famous crabcakes are still on the menu. But after Verona and Carpenter added acoustical insulation to the coffered ceiling, to aid the hard of hearing or those distracted by competing sounds, diners can now hear what their companions are saying.

Honoring Princeton’s Legacy Through Design

Pastel Hues + Diverse Art Revive Princeton University’s Prospect Hall

VERONA CARPENTER ARCHITECTS: IRIS KIM; CHARUL PUNIA; BIRANI NYANAT; EMILY EVANS. FIELD OPERATIONS: LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT. CLINE BETTRIDGE BERNSTEIN LIGHTING DESIGN: LIGHTING DESIGN. KEAST AND HOOD: STRUCTURAL ENGINEER. POLISE CONSULTING ENGINEERS: MEP. VAN NOTE HARVEY + PENNONI: CIVIL ENGINEER. WSP: FACADE CONSULTANT. MASSIMINO BUILDING CORP: GENERAL CONTRACTOR.

ANDREU WORLD: CHAIRS (ROSE ROOM, GARDEN ROOM), BENCHES (ENTRY, MAGNOLIA ROOM, GARDEN ROOM), CORNER SOFA (ROTUNDA). MASAYACO.: ROCKING CHAIRS (TERRACE). THE BRIGHT GROUP: SOFAS, CHAIR (MAGNOLIA ROOM). TIMOROUS BEASTIES: FLORAL SOFA FABRIC. STEELCASE: COFFEE TABLE. AUDO COPENHAGEN: SIDE TABLE. CROSBY STREET STUDIO: CUSTOM RUG (MAGNOLIA ROOM), CUSTOM CARPET TILE (GARDEN ROOM). 54KIBO: PENDANT FIXTURE (CEDAR ROOM). PRISMA­TIQUE DESIGNS: TABLES (CEDAR, GARDEN, ROSE ROOMS). KNOLL: TABLE (ROTUNDA). ABC STONE: FLOORING (HALL). VISUAL COMFORT & CO.: CHANDE­LIERS (ROSE ROOM). THROUGHOUT SHERWIN-WILLIAMS COMPANY: PAINT.

Stay Awhile At This Luxurious Vacation Compound In Southampton

The parents live on one continent. One of their grown sons and his own family live on another. The other son and his crew make their home in New York. But the big, far-flung group wanted to spend summers under one roof. So the parents bought a piece of waterfront land in a quiet corner of Southampton, on the South Fork of Long Island, New York, and commissioned Bates Masi + Architects to build a house that could accommodate everyone, approximately 10 people—often more when guests join the gatherings.

But it wouldn’t be just any house. With so many people involved—spanning three generations, with the children ranging widely in age—the program grew to be extensive, eventually including an indoor pool, a gym with a sauna and steam room, communal home office, home theater, playroom, and guest bedrooms. Accommodating it all would involve a staggering amount of square footage. “The challenge was how to integrate this program into the landscape,” recalls Interior Design Hall of Fame member Paul Masi, who cofounded the local firm with the late Harry Bates, devising homes that live lightly on the land. The solution for him and Bates Masi partner Aaron Weil sprang from “the idea of weaving,” Masi adds.

A Home By Bates Masi + Architects and Bart Verhelle Interiorarchitect

Rising only two stories but encompassing nearly 18,000 square feet and resting on a stone plinth so it’s lifted above the flood plain, the home’s interiors and exterior are indeed woven together in a patchwork. It is divided into five glass-sided sections with terraces and courtyards in between—like the courtyard on the north side of the house that leads to the front door. And with each section bordered on three sides by open areas, the interiors gain maximum daylight, cross-ventilation, and views. “With the doors open, indoor and outdoor are all connected into one,” Weil explains.

The outdoor spaces aren’t only on the ground level, either. The upper level cantilevers over the lower, providing room on the second floor for outdoor showers and intimate decks enclosed by screens made of live-edge cedar boards. The cantilever also shades and shelters portions of the ground-floor open areas, which are outfitted with lighting, radiant heating, and cooking equipment so they can be in use—and members of the family outside—even when the sun goes down or the temperature drops. An expansive terrace of Italian Repen marble skirts the south-facing rear of the house, extending the living space out into the landscape.

Embrace Quiet Luxury In This Vacation Compound

The same marble was used liberally inside too, helping tie the expansive house together and to its setting. The stone—which has “subtle, muted” veining, Weil notes—is found on ground-level flooring, a towering fireplace in the double-height living/dining room, and in the steam room, where it’s finished three ways: flamed for walls, honed for seating, sandblasted for floor. Elsewhere inside, Bart Verhelle Interiorarchitect, a Belgian firm that had worked with the clients on previous residences, took the lead in specifying furnishings and collaborated on finishes. Director Bart Verhelle chose lime plaster for walls and the enclosure of a spiral staircase leading from the underground parking area to the two guest bedrooms. In the kitchen, the plaster merges nearly seamlessly with a sleek Corian backsplash. Oak was used for stair treads and upstairs flooring. The limited palette of materials creates a calm, neutral backdrop that “at the same time, radiates sufficient character,” Verhelle says.

A sophisticated selection of furnishings adds to the feeling of quiet luxury. Some pieces—such as slender aluminum pendant fixtures by Michael Anastassiades and comfy sofas by Francesco Binfaré—are used repeatedly. Verhelle also designed a few items himself, including an 18-foot-long walnut dining table that provides plenty of room for everyone in this clan—plus a couple of guests—to gather round. Eight so-called Hand Grenade pendants, designed in 1952 by Alvar Aalto for the Finnish Engineers’ Association Building in Helsinki, light the table from above.

The understated setting focuses attention on views of the landscape as well as on the owners’ prized pieces of art. It also allows the life of the family to take center stage, which, after all, was the whole point of the house in the first place. Upstairs, four bedrooms and baths for the grandkids are clustered in their own wing, encouraging cousins to bond during summers together. Another wing is devoted to two suites for the sons and their wives. The eldest members of the family have their own domain, of course. The house was carefully designed to accommodate them as they age, with thresholds that are level with floors and an elevator tucked inconspicuously away—all to ensure that they can comfortably use the house, and join in all the fun, not only now but for many years to come.

Walk Around This Vacation Compound On Long Island

BATES MASI + ARCHITECTS: RYAN BERRY. MICHAEL BOUCHER LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT. RADIANCE LIGHTING: LIGHTING DESIGN. SL MARESCA & ASSOCIATES CONSULTING ENGINEERS: STRUCTURAL ENGINEER. DULA: WOODWORK. MEN AT WORK CONSTRUCTION: GENERAL CONTRACTOR.

FROM FRONT EDRA: SECTIONALS (LIVING AREA, THEATER). CONDEHOUSE CO.: CHAIRS (DINING AREA). ARTEK: PENDANT FIXTURES. MICHAEL ANASTASSIADES: PENDANT FIXTURES (STAIRWAYS). BENCHMARK: STOOLS (KITCHEN). MIYAZAKI CHAIR: ARMCHAIRS. DuPONT: CORIAN BACKSPLASH. ARCWAYS: CUSTOM STAIR (GUEST STAIR). BASSAM FELLOWS: STOOLS (POOL BAR). SUTHERLAND: CHAIRS (DECK). AGAPECASA: TABLE. KASTHALL: CARPET (THEATER). PROFILS: PANELING. MINOTTI: SIDE TABLE. BOFFI: TUB (BATH­ROOM). OUTDOOR SHOWER COMPANY: OUTDOOR SHOWER. THROUGHOUT SPARK: CUSTOM FIREPLACES. LEVOLUX: WOOD SIDING. POLICH TALLIX: METAL SIDING. SCHUCO: CUSTOM DOORS, CUSTOM WINDOWS. BENJAMIN MOORE & CO.: PAINT.

Step Into The ‘60s At This Retro-Chic Canadian Hotel

When the Voyager Inn was built in the Canadian ski town of Banff in 1964, road tripping was all the rage and motor lodges were opening in vacation destinations to cater to the traveling public. By the time Canalta Hotels bought the property in 2016, however, the Voyager—or the Voy, as locals called it—was seriously rundown, best known for its dive bar, liquor store, and budget accommodations for group bus tours. But its handsome, low-slung bones were still very much intact. Now, after a $30 million overhaul helmed by Workshop/APD and Metafor, it has been reinvented as the Moxy Banff, combining the cheeky personality of the Moxy hotel brand and the outdoorsy spirit of Banff with the building’s own mid-century roots.

“You take those three things and put them in a narrative pot and stir,” starts Matt Berman, cofounding principal with Andrew Kotchen of New York-based Workshop/APD, which handled the hotel’s interiors. “As designers, we’re always trying to tell a clear story for a hospitality project.” The story of the Voy’s rebirth began when Canalta, a Canadian hospitality company, hired the Calgary-based architecture firm Metafor soon after it purchased the property. Together they assessed the building and explored renovation possibilities.

The Voy had always been something of an outlier, beginning with its location on the eastern edge of the town of Banff, which itself is in Banff National Park. Then there was its architecture, which stood in contrast to the prevailing chalet-style aesthetic of the area. Both Canalta and Metafor thought the very things that had always made the property a little bit different could work to its advantage.

Although Canalta had never operated a Moxy—a Marriott Bonvoy brand introduced a decade ago that now has more than 135 idiosyncratic worldwide properties, each reflecting their locales—it convinced Marriott the Voy would make a good one. W/APD was on the list of firms that Marriott provided to Canalta, and soon after Berman and associate principal Andrew Kline took off for Banff to meet with the Voy’s new owners and see the property, it was asked to join the renovation team. Moxy advisors weighed in at key points in the design process.

Metafor focused on updating the exterior of the 58,000-square-foot building, replacing windows, repointing original Rundle stone walls, and swapping out painted-wood railings for ones made of Douglas fir with a transparent stain. To make the hotel as welcoming to cyclists and pedestrians as it had always been to motorists, the area in front of the building where drivers had parked while checking in was trimmed, freeing up space for a welcoming staircase and terraces that step down to the street, beckoning passersby. “It’s a new opportunity for gathering,” Metafor principal Chris Sparrow says.

The layout of the three-story building—public spaces at the center, guest wings over parking garages on either side—already suited the Moxy brand, which emphasizes communal areas. But a second-floor ballroom was turned into more guest rooms, increasing the total from 88 to 109.

Interior walls at the center of the ground level were removed, opening space for an expansive lobby lounge with a pill-shaped bar that doubles as a check-in desk, a Moxy trademark. Instead of having liquor bottles on tiered shelves—the usual arrangement—Berman and Kline created bottle racks that resemble ski gondolas and hung them from the ceiling (yet still within a bartender’s easy reach). Entering the lobby, visitors now see clear to and through the back of the building, where a courtyard has been reinvented as an outdoor lounge with a hot tub, pool, firepits, and ample seating.

A retro palette of reds, yellows, browns, and oranges warms the interiors. Some patterns, too, hark to the ’60’s, including nearly hallucinogenic waves in the carpeting for a guest-room corridor. Other patterns evoke outdoorsy pursuits, such as the oversize tartan wallcovering inside the guest rooms, suggesting flannel shirts one might wear hiking. As for the striped blankets—another Moxy signature—they “looked so at home in our rooms,” Kline notes.

He, Berman, and their colleagues mixed custom furniture with mid century–inspired pieces and vintage originals. Some of the latter were acquired by Brooke Christianson, a Canalta vice president and a son of the company founders, who got into the thrill of the hunt. W/APD had prepared a wish list of vintage items, and Christianson, working with local dealers, located pieces and texted photos of his finds to Kline—a method that resulted in purchases that were far less expensive and more sustainable than if the team had shopped in New York and shipped to Banff. Christianson found the chrome floor lamp that now arcs over the lounge and the ’70’s Egg chair manufactured by Lee West that sits outside the bike and ski locker room.

Christianson also located the old VW bus parked in the lobby after W/APD came up with the idea of turning one into a food truck. Christianson’s uncle, who does hot-rod restorations, cut a chunk out of the bus’s middle—that’s where the person who takes orders stands—and doctored the roof so it hinges up, revealing a vintage menu board. Groovy for sure.

Get Groovy At The Moxy Banff By Workshop/APD

WORKSHOP/APD: FRAN FANG; JOEL EDMONDSON. CLAUDIA SCHAAF; ILONA CIUN­KIE­WICZ; STEVE TURCOTT; JAMES LINDSAY; DIANE SAWA; LISA PANASOVA; CHRIS McLAUGHLIN: METAFOR. GROUND CUBED: LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT. KEVIN BARRY FINE ART: ART CONSULTANT, CUSTOM GUEST-ROOM WALLCOVERING. ILLUMINATION LIGHTING: CUSTOM INTERIOR SIGNAGE, CUSTOM LIGHTING. BANFF SIGN COMPANY: CUSTOM EXTERIOR SIGNAGE. ISL ENGINEERING: STRUCTURAL ENGINEER. REMEDY ENGINEERING: MEP. WSP: CIVIL ENGINEER. SHURWAY CONTRACTING: GENERAL CONTRACTOR.

FROM FRONT SKI LIFT DESIGNS: CUSTOM CHAIR (LOWER HALL). DESIGN & DIRECT SOURCE: FLOOR TILE. FABRICUT: CUSTOM WALLCOVERING (LOWER HALL), BOLSTER UPHOLSTERY (SUITE). MAHARAM: CHAISE LOUNGE FABRIC (LOBBY). WARP & WEFT: CUSTOM RUGS. A PLUS R: COFFEE TABLES. FOCUS FIREPLACES: FIREPLACE. SURFACING SOLUTION: PANELING. VALLEY FORGE: BANQUETTE FABRIC (LOBBY), DRAPERY FABRIC (GUEST ROOM), SECTIONAL VELVET (SCREENING ROOM). TOPOSWORKSHOP: STOOLS (BAR). MODHOLIC: HANGING CHAIRS. CROWN DOORS: GARAGE-STYLE DOORS. WOLF-GORDON: CUSTOM WALLCOVERING (LOCKER ROOM). CONCRETE COLLABORATIVE: CUSTOM FLOORING (RESTROOMS). CLAYHAUS CERAMICS: WALL TILE. JC HOSPITALITY: CUSTOM CHAIR LIFT (GUEST ROOM). FAIRMONT DESIGNS: CUSTOM FURNITURE (GUEST ROOMS). WEST ELM CONTRACT: CUSTOM RUG (PLAID GUEST ROOM). PROSPER & PASION: CUSTOM CARPET (HALL). QUALITY & COMPANY: CUSTOM SECTIONAL (SCREENING ROOM). BLU DOT: TABLE, OTTOMAN. WALLPAPER FROM THE 70S: WALL­COVERING. BEAULIEU CANADA: CARPET. 2MODERN: BENCH (COURTYARD). BEND GOODS: WIRE CHAIR. SOLUS DÉCOR: FIREPIT. SILHOUETTE OUTDOOR FURNITURE: CUSTOM SOFAS. MAHARAM: SOFA FABRIC. UNITED FABRICS: PILLOW FABRIC. KANTA MONTANA: BREEZE BLOCK. TECHO-BLOC: PAVERS. CALI LIGHTING: STRING LIGHTS. EVOLUTION SPAS: HOT TUB. ARTONOMY: MINI TAXIDERMY (SUITE). THROUGHOUT BENJAMIN MOORE & CO.: PAINT. THUNDERSTONE QUARRY: RUNDLE STONE. CUSTOM CEDAR RAILINGS: EXTERIOR RAILINGS. WINSPEC: CURTAIN WALLS.

Climate Initiatives’s NYC Office Shines With Sustainable Design

Climate Initiatives, an investment and philanthropic venture, was established nearly a decade ago. For several years, it operated out of a rented, furnished office in New York. But by 2022, with the company expanding and gaining traction in its quest to help turn the tide on climate change by incubating start-ups and funding projects that advance global decarbonization, the cofounders felt the firm should have a place of its own. 

Among the list of requirements was a workplace flexible enough to accommodate further growth, particularly tricky to determine considering the changing work patterns resulting from the pandemic and not knowing how many people might be on the premises on any given day; an environment that’s comfortable and sophisticated, with a residential feel; and, above all, a space that reflects the Climate Initiatives mission. That meant everything, from finishes to furniture, had to be “filtered through the lens of sustainability and carbon footprint,” recalls Aaron Schiller, founder and principal of Schiller Projects, the architecture firm tapped for the job. His studio is well-versed in designing with materials and processes low in greenhouse-gas emissions, recently renovating a 19th-century Brooklyn carriage house utilizing mass-timber construction.

Consider the partitions that divide the 6,000-square-foot floor Climate Initiatives leased in a midtown Manhattan building. Instead of being composed of standard drywall, they’re formed from vertical slats of Douglas fir, bringing a warm, natural material to the fore. The slats, made of Forest Stewardship Council–certified wood, demarcate areas while also enabling sunlight to penetrate the all-hands area at the center of the plan, along with inspiring glimpses of Central Park to the north and the Empire State Building to the south. “The ‘wood wall’ was conceived as a device that would never block but filter, a tool to allow and organize focus or collaboration through light and connection,” Schiller explains. Where acoustics and privacy are concerns, panes of glass have been added over the slats. Should the firm relocate, the wood components can be disassembled and repurposed, minimizing waste. “It’s like an erector set,” Schiller Projects partner Colin Cleland adds. “Nothing is fixed in place.” 

On the perimeter of the floor are the founders’ and principals’ offices along with myriad flexible spaces, each fronted with glass so everyone has access to light and views. There are two large conference rooms as well as a series of smaller meeting rooms, about 10 by 15 feet, each furnished with a desk and chair as well as a separate table with chairs, to function either as conference spaces or private offices, depending on employee needs. 

Aesthetics were as important as functionality. The cofounders “shared a concern about offices designed by men for men,” Schiller says, adding that they requested theirs be inviting and “not too overtly masculine.” So, here, textured wallcoverings add color and tactility to select expanses. Rather than the usual wall-to-wall carpet, there are abstractly patterned wool and cotton rugs enlivening the polished-concrete flooring. That switches to planks of FSC–certified white oak in the all-hands, where more than a dozen Isamu Noguchi paper lanterns in various sizes and shapes animate the ceiling-scape. Other accent lighting is from local makers, such as Fort Standard in Brooklyn and Stickbulb, a Certified B Corporation in Queens that incorporates wood salvaged from decommissioned New York City water towers in its LED-lit fixtures. Keepsake furniture pieces by such mid-century and current masters as Jean Prouvé, Antonio Citterio, and Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec have rounded, organic silhouettes. Paintings from the clients’ collection are mounted in openings in the slatted walls, each niche sized to accommodate a specific artwork; other recesses are fitted with display shelves. “Where we coincided with immovable moments, like building columns, we made those barriers disappear by giving depth to the partition system, hanging art within it or making it interactive through the deployment of books and objects that relate to the clients’ work,” Schiller says. 

The entry lounge at one end of the elevator lobby is particularly residential in character. In other workplaces, this is where you’d find a reception desk. But this space—with its curvilinear sofa and generous armchairs upholstered in sage-green and pale-pink velvet, respectively, anchored by a plush rug, its vibrant pattern suggesting rare gems or paving stones—can serve as a waiting area for visitors, a breakout space for events held in the nearby conference rooms, or a comfy place for staffers to work on their laptops or phones. 

One measure of the project’s success is how well the office has accommodated the firm’s evolution. At the start of the process, the company had about a dozen employees; now there’s more than double that. There was a name change as well, starting out as something more abstract. So the company recently adopted the more straightforward Climate Initiatives to make clear, as this office surely does, what it’s all about. 

Discover Climate Initiatives’s Sustainable Oasis

SCHILLER PROJECTS: ALBERTO RODRIGUEZ; ALISON HOCHMAN. STAMP ARCHITECTURE: ARCHITECT OF RECORD. LIGHTING WORKSHOP: LIGHTING DESIGNER. ROBERT DERECTOR ASSOCIATES: MEP. MILLER BLAKER: MILLWORK. TKO: PROJECT MANAGER. STRUCTURE TONE: GENERAL CONTRACTOR. 

FROM FRONT NOGUCHI SHOP: PENDANT FIXTURES (ALL-HANDS). GUBI: TASK CHAIRS. DESIGN PUBLIC: STOOLS (ALL-HANDS, NOOK). FLOR: CARPET TILE (HALL). NANIMARQUINA: RUG (LOUNGE). DUNE: SOFA. DWR: ARMCHAIRS (LOUNGE), SWIVEL CHAIR (LOBBY). VITRA: COFFEE TABLES (LOUNGE, ALL-HANDS), CLUB CHAIRS (ALL-HANDS), CHAIRS (MEETING ROOMS), DESKS (OPEN OFFICE). CAESARSTONE: TABLE- TOP (ALL-HANDS). HUMANSCALE: TASK CHAIR (PRINCIPAL OFFICE). TUOHY FURNITURE: CUSTOM DESKS (OFFICES), ROUND TABLES (MEETING ROOMS). SOFTLINE: DRUM TABLE (LOBBY). CORIAN: TABLETOP (CONFERENCE ROOM). TSAR CARPETS: RUG. KEILHAUER: CHAIRS (CONFERENCE ROOM, FOUNDER OFFICE, OPEN OFFICE). RBW: SCONCE (NOOK). NORDIC KNOTS: GRAY RUG (FOUNDER OFFICE). FORT STANDARD: PENDANT FIXTURE. NEINKAMPER: TABLE. MAHARAM: GREEN RUG (FOUNDER OFFICE), WALLCOVERING. THROUGHOUT PORCELANOSA: FLOOR PLANKS. TEKNION: OFFICE FRONTS. BENJAMIN MOORE & CO.: PAINT. 

NicoleHollis Transforms a Storied Space into a Chic New York Duplex

The apartment in downtown Manhattan was expansive, sprawling over more than 5,600 square feet on two levels. And it was located on the opposite side of the country. But it took just two months for Nicole Hollis, principal and creative director of her namesake San Francisco–based firm, to get the duplex up and running and her clients moved in. 

It helped that the residence in question was in excellent condition, requiring little more than the removal of wallpaper and various built-ins that previous owners had installed, followed by plastering and painting. It was also on the top two floors of the historic Puck Building, the late 19th–century former printing plant and one-time home of the satirical weekly magazine Puck (not to mention the locale of the interior design studio of Debra Messing’s Grace Adler in the sitcom Will & Grace), with two gilded statues of the impish Puck character in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream standing outside. The 11-story redbrick Romanesque revival building currently houses a mix of residential and commercial tenants (the REI flagship store is at its base). “It’s iconic,” begins Hollis, who went to the Fashion Institute of Technology in Midtown and had an early design crit in this very building. Today, her studio’s portfolio encompasses worldwide residential design, about 85 percent of business, but also hotel projects, about 15 percent, which secures her ranking on two of Interior Design’s Giants lists: 64th amid the top 100 and 51st among hospitality. 

How Nicole Hollis Approached This Duplex Design for Repeat Clients

For this project, Hollis already knew the clients and their taste well, having done multiple homes for them over a dozen years, including their primary residence in Silicon Valley. A couple whose three daughters are now teenagers, they prioritize comfort. “It’s like shorthand with them by now,” Hollis continues. The clients wanted to start using their new place as soon as possible—the husband often comes to New York for business, and his wife is involved in charities and the arts—so Hollis hit the ground running. 

With original brick walls and barrel-vaulted ceilings and iron beams and columns providing strong character, Hollis quickly decided that her approach would be “keeping things calm and neutral.” She opted for a quiet palette that ranges from creamy whites to warm grays and browns with the glint of gold, brass, and bronze in select furnishings. There’s virtually no pattern in the place, save for the existing black, white, and gray marble flooring in the foyer, but luxurious textures—cashmere, mohair velvet, woven leather—abound. Much of the color is supplied by a collection of arresting artworks by the likes of Olafur Eliasson, Sheila Hicks, and Donald Judd, procured by consultants with whom the clients and Hollis had worked in the past. 

Fresh Furnishings and Plenty of Space to Entertain

The homeowners brought little more than a single piece of furniture to the apartment—a walnut-slab table with a bronze base by Tyler Hays that would go in the dining room—so there was lots of shopping to do. Hollis scooped up an overscale mobile chandelier by Céline Wright plus a set of eight 1960’s walnut-and-leather chairs by Sam Maloof to go above and around the dining table. “To get chairs that were comfortable and available—those were a coup,” Hollis notes. The designer knew the clients liked the sectional sofa with built-in bookshelf by Antonio Citterio that she’d selected for their primary residence, so she got another one for the family room here and paired it with a mesmerizing green-ombre coffee table by Ini Archibong. As for the balance of the furnishings, Hollis and her team gathered contemporary and mid-century pieces, artisan-made works and those NicoleHollis designed itself. 

The lower level, containing the entry foyer, living and dining rooms, kitchen, den, and gym, needed to accommodate work and entertaining as well as family life. In the living room, for example, the main seating group, which revolves around a sculptural cast-brass cocktail table by Vincenzo De Cotiis, might be the setting for a charity event. Meanwhile, near the window, two tub chairs and a bronzed table by Hun-Chung Lee provide an intimate spot for morning coffee. Upstairs is a second foyer, three bedrooms and bathrooms, and a home office. In the bedrooms, Hollis streamlined the decorating, installing temporary bedframes until custom ones, upholstered in linen or wool bouclé, were completed, and showing restraint everywhere. “It’s so easy to overdo, to overdecorate,” she says. The bedrooms the daughters use when they’re in town might at other times function as guest rooms, so they were deliberately kept neutral in character, yet blue-chip art and rugs in wool and silk maintain the luxe factor. 

The Main Bedroom Features Soothing Shades and Textures

The main bedroom is perhaps the serenest space in the penthouse. Given the ruddy brick of the window wall, Hollis dialed the temperature down with a gray scheme: It’s the color of the plaster on other walls, the sheer alpaca-wool drapery, the mohair covering a pair of 1950’s wingback chairs, the stain of the custom nightstands. The latter are enveloped by a curving oak headboard. The vintage chairs possess a similarly strong, sculptural form.

Those pieces and certain others were installed six months after the initial move-in, with the final installment of furnishings at the nine-month mark. By then, the clients had long since settled into their new home away from home. 

NICOLEHOLLIS: JENNIFER RUSSO; KATEY HOOD; SHERRY WANG. 

DEBONO BROTHERS: GENERAL CONTRACTOR. 

FROM FRONT FLEXFORM: SECTIONAL (FAMILY ROOM). 

WOVEN: RUG. 

THROUGH FRIEDMAN BENDA: COFFEE TABLE. 

THROUGH TODD MERRILL STUDIO: SIDE TABLE. 

VCA: CUSTOM CONSOLE (FAMILY ROOM), CUSTOM NIGHTSTANDS (MAIN BEDROOM). 

MARC PHILLIPS: RUG (LIVING ROOM). 

BARAHONA: CUSTOM SOFA (LIVING ROOM), CUSTOM HEADBOARDS (BEDROOMS). 

ROGERS & GOFFIGON; TOYINE SELLERS: SOFA FABRIC (LIVING ROOM). 

THROUGH MAISON GERARD: LAMP. 

THROUGH CARPENTERS WORKSHOP GALLERY: COCKTAIL TABLE. 

THROUGH HOSTLER BURROWS: VINTAGE WINGBACK CHAIRS. 

MARK ALEXANDER: WINGBACK CHAIR FABRIC, SWIVEL CHAIR FABRIC. 

THROUGH GARDE: SIDE TABLE. 

THROUGH SIDE GALLERY: VINTAGE LOUNGE CHAIRS. 

SANDRA JORDAN PRIMA ALPACA: LOUNGE CHAIR FABRIC (LIVING ROOM), CURTAIN FABRIC (MAIN BEDROOM). 

THROUGH RALPH PUCCI INTERNATIONAL: TABLE (UPPER FOYER), CONSOLE (ENTRY FOYER). 

BOCCI: CUSTOM CHANDELIER (STAIRWAY). 

RADNOR: SWIVEL CHAIRS (LIVING ROOM). 

THROUGH R & COMPANY: ROUND BRONZE TABLE. 

DEDAR: HEADBOARD FABRIC (MAIN BEDROOM). 

THROUGH COUP D’ETAT: LAMPS. 

BDDW: TABLE (DINING ROOM). 

SWADOH: CHANDELIER. 

THROUGH MORENTZ: CHAIRS (DINING ROOM), ARMCHAIRS (MAIN BEDROOM). 

LIAIGRE: BED FABRIC (BEDROOM 1). 

FORT STREET STUDIO: RUG. 

GUBI: LAMPS. 

HAO WAI: NIGHTSTANDS (BED­ ROOMS). 

FLITTERMAN COLLECTION: RUG (OFFICE). 

THE FUTURE PERFECT: DESK. 

DESIGN WITHIN REACH: CHAIR. 

BERT FRANK: LAMP. 

THE RUG COMPANY: RUG (BEDROOM 2). 

STONE AND SAWYER: LAMP. 

THOMAS HAYES STUDIO: BENCH. 

ATELIER PURCELL: BENCH (MAIN BEDROOM). 

HOLLAND AND SHERRY: BENCH FABRIC. 

THROUGH GALLERY FUMI: SIDE TABLE. 

JOUFFRE: DRAPERY. 

Umu’s Founder Creates a Sustainable Family Home in Belgium

There may be no such thing as a living, breathing house. But the Belgian residence that Sven Bullaert has conceived for him and his family comes close. Its timber walls are filled with lime hemp, their sides shaped by willow branches that have been smoothed over with loam. The flooring starts with a layer of crushed seashells. The roof is covered with straw. Bullaert approached the creation of the 5,400-square-foot home the same way “a bird makes his nest,” he begins, piecing together natural materials with an eye for comfort and functionality. An artist and a designer, Bullaert has also infused the setting with a quiet beauty.

He didn’t start from scratch. After decades of living in rented homes—over the course of a career in the fashion industry that included eight years as the creative director of accessories company Kipling—Bullaert had been looking for a place of his own where he could settle down and focus on projects he had long dreamed about. He found a property in Eksaarde, about an hour north of Brussels, that was next to a river and a bike trail. On it was a 120-year-old Flemish long-gable farm, a type of hardworking building that had combined living quarters for the farmers with a barn for their animals. Bullaert admired the structure’s sturdy timber construction and the way it had been oriented to take advantage of the sun. He decided to transform it into a home for his family, drawing inspiration from the architecture of Antoni Gaudí and César Manrique as well as nature-based construction methods he’d learned on travels to countries along the equator.

A Sustainable Home That Blends In With Its Surroundings

Organic Forms Add Warmth to the Home

The two-story building had been divided up to segregate livestock—sections each for horses, cows, and smaller animals like pigs and chickens. As Bullaert rebuilt walls, he left some where they had been and eliminated others to create spaces that flowed into each other. Furthering the flow—and fostering family interaction—he opened portholes on walls so that, say, the smell of soup bubbling in the kitchen would waft about. Skylights and generous windows were added to open the house to the outdoors. Bullaert hired sculptors who took a break from their own artistic endeavors to hand-trowel the loam mixture onto the curving willow branches so walls have an adobe effect, yielding the interior’s many arches and rounded corners—organic shapes that Bullaert believes make the home “warm and embracing.”

Uma’s Founder on Building on Eco-Conscious Lifestyle

The speakers are one of several projects the designer is pursuing with his firm, Umu. Bullaert, who, after Kipling, founded an eco-conscious fashion company, has dedicated Umu to advancing ventures that encourage a simpler, more sustainable and spiritual life—he chose the name umu because he feels the word connotes a wave; he later learned it means sharing common beliefs in Arabic. Another Umu endeavor is an eco-village under development in Akosombo, Ghana, a partnership with a local chief who cofounded the Royal Senchi resort there, that will be devoted to art, meditation, and making products like Belgian chocolate infused with African and Asian medicinal herbs. The village residences will be far more modest in size than Bullaert’s, but the plan is to build them using the same carefully considered—and, now, time-tested—construction methods.

Inside the Nature-Inspired Home of Uma Founder, Sven Bullaert

UMU: angel patricks amegbe.

ligne roset: sofas (living room).

focus: fireplace.

herman miller: chair, ottoman (living room), chairs (dining room, bedroom).

balta industries: carpet (music room).

elco: sconce.

umu: speakers.

hansgrohe: sink fittings (bathroom).

HOK Designs Boston Consulting Group’s Canadian Headquarters

Long before the pandemic, Boston Consulting Group had embraced hybrid work, giving employees the freedom to come to the office—which total more than 100 across the globe—meet with clients at their workplaces, or complete certain tasks from home. Whichever made the most sense for the business at hand. That said, collaboration is at the heart of how the management consultancy, often referred to as BCG, operates: Staffers form teams to tackle knotty problems clients are facing and puzzle through the issues to arrive at solutions. And this sort of teamwork, BCG felt, is best carried out face-to-face.

Back in 2017, when the company tapped HOK for its new Canadian headquarters on three floors—46, 47, and 48—of a tower rising in Toronto’s financial district, BCG sought an office that would be dazzling enough to draw employees to the workplace, that would provide a variety of bespoke settings so that teams could be as productive as possible while on-site. All of which is to say that when the pandemic hit in 2020—sending companies around the world scrambling to, first, figure out how to work remotely during lockdowns and, then, how to lure employees back to the office after they’d become accustomed to doing their jobs from home—BCG was way ahead of the game. Sure, there were tweaks to HOK’s concept for the 100,000- square-foot BCG project because of the pandemic—designers had to make sure work- stations were 6 feet apart, for example, and they loaded up meeting rooms with video- conferencing and audiovisual equipment for staffers participating remotely—but the changes amounted to fine-tuning a good plan that was already in place. And the result is this spectacular, ultra-sophisticated space that serves as a showplace for the company and a magnet for a workforce now numbering more than 400. “On the busiest days, we’re approaching pre-pandemic attendance levels,” Nina Abdelmessih, BCG’s chief of operations and external relations in Canada, says. “Everybody is coming in.”

HOK Designs a Hybrid Office for Boston Consulting Group

The plan’s success started with carving out an atrium near the window wall on the two lower floors—one advantage of coming to the project while the building was under construction was that this could be done before the floor plates were in place. Working with the developer, HOK specified an opening measuring a generous 20 by 80 feet, envisioning it as the “heart of the organization,” Caitlin Turner, HOK director of interiors in Canada and the project lead, notes. The atrium fills with light and opens up views of the city and Lake Ontario. Rooms situated off it are sided in glass so everyone shares in the sunshine.

A beckoning staircase steps up through the atrium to the top floor. It encourages employees to walk up and down—healthier for them than taking the elevators—and results in serendipitous encounters that add to the general esprit de corps. “There’s this buzz,” Turner enthuses. As for the seating areas in the base of the atrium, in the café, she adds: “At lunchtime, it’s like a high-school cafeteria.”

But serendipity also played a part: Turner tracked down a black-stained oak credenza she spotted on Instagram for use in a touch- down room, where it joins an oversize pendant fixture by Marcel Wanders and sinuous Italian armchairs. It’s just a sampling of the international, contemporary aesthetic permeating this buzzing workplace—one that is clearly not cookie-cutter but has helped become something of a model for other BCG offices in the throes of relocation and renovation.

Behind the Design of Boston Consulting Group’s Canadian Headquarters

HOK: PAUL GOGAN; BRITTANY TOD; KRISTINA KAMENAR; CALEB SOLOMONS; SALLY SHI; FARIBA SAJADI; ROWENA AUYEUNG; BETHANY FOSS; DANIEL MEEKER

RJC ENGINEERS: STRUCTURAL ENGINEER

MITCHELL PARTNERSHIP: MECHANICAL ENGINEER

MULVEY & BANANI LIGHTING: LIGHTING DESIGNER

MCM: CUSTOM FURNITURE WORKSHOP

Opus Art Projects: Art Consultant

VISO: CUSTOM SCONCES (ATRIUM), CUSTOM CEILING FIXTURES (BOARDROOM)

geiger: WOOD CHAIRS (CAFÉ)

PENGELLY IRON WORKS: CUSTOM SCREENS

KEIL­HAUER: BENCH

EUREKA LIGHTING: RING PENDANT FIX­TURES

STEELACASE: BOOTHS

gervasoni: BRASS PEN­DANT FIXTURES

BILLIANI: GRAY CHAIRS

TRIBU: BROWN/WHITE CHAIRS

CEMENT TILE SHOP: FLOOR TILE

muuto: PENDANT FIXTURES (OFFICE AREA)

STUDIO OTHER: WORK­ STATIONS

knoll: CHAIRS (OFFICE AREA, LIBRARY)

SHAW INDUSTRIES GROUP: CARPET TILE (OFFICE AREA, NOOK)

herman miller: CHAIRS (DIGITAL ROOM)

HALCON FUR­NITURE: TABLES

flos: CEILING FIXTURES

Interface: CARPET TILE

nienkamper: TABLES (TOUCH­DOWN, COFFEE BAR)

GALLOTTI&RADICE: CHAIRS (TOUCH­DOWN)

POIAT: CREDENZA

AREA ENVIRONMENTS: WALLCOVERING

flos: PENDANT FIXTURE

CASALA: CHAIR (NOOK)

cappellini: CHAIRS (BOARDROOM)

PRISMATIQUE: CUSTOM TABLE

CREATIVE MATTERS: CUSTOM RUG

Davis Furniture: BENCH

filzfelt: PANELING (MEETING ROOM)

Haworth: DEMOUNTABLE WALLS

Allied Maker: PENDANT FIXTURES (COFFEE BAR)

ARRMET: CHAIRS

MOSAÏQUE SURFACE: WALL TILE

STONETILE: VINYL FLOOR TILE

BENJAMIN MOORE & CO.; SHERWIN­ WILLIAMS: PAINT

An Apartment-Style Hotel by Belzberg Architects Sails into Mexico City

2022 Best of Year Winner for Boutique Hotel

Mexico City’s Roma Norte neighborhood possesses an eclectic mix of early-1900’s buildings in styles ranging from neoclassical to art nouveau. Now a decidedly modernist structure has sailed onto the scene: Xoma, an apartment-style hotel by Belzberg Architects that calls to mind a ship with the wind at its back, thanks to perforated screens that appear to billow from the seven-story structure. The property is the latest in a series of buildings with sculptural facade treatments that the Los Angeles firm founded by Interior Design Hall of Fame member Hagy Belzberg has designed in CDMX. Elsewhere, he and his team conjured up facades in aluminum strips or perforated carbon steel.

For Xoma, a collaboration with developer Grupo Anima, they turned to more traditional masonry. Concrete blocks, handcrafted with central openings, were fabricated on-site and connected by integrated C-shape steel plates. The permeable membranes, tapered at the street level, expand as they rise.

Sweeping forms appear on the interior, too. In the lobby, asymmetrical plaster ceilings arch over a brass-plated reception desk and floors of veined Tunisian marble. Arrayed around a central atrium, the 14 guest suites—one- and two-bedrooms with full kitchens—lead onto balconies partially enclosed by the facade screen, which provides privacy while allowing fresh air to circulate and natural light to filter in.

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belzberg architects: hagy belzberg; brock desmit; jennifer wu; jessica hong; josh hanley; david cheung; adrian cortez; mingyue hu; kris leese; aaron leshtz; corie saxman; filipa lima valente; katelyn miersma; melissa yip

This Whisky Distillery Sits on a UNESCO World Heritage Site

2022 Best of Year Winner for Bar/Lounge

Mount Emei, one of the sacred Buddhist mountains of China, is home to the country’s oldest temple. The area was placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1996. So when the French beverage company Pernod Ricard tapped Shanghai-based Neri&Hu to design the Chuan Malt Whisky Distillery in a foothill there, Interior Design Hall of Fame members Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu and their colleagues had to figure out how to build on hallowed ground. Their response was not a single, hulking structure but rather a series of smaller buildings totaling nearly 80,000 square feet tucked respectfully into the Sichuan Province landscape.

The two buildings oriented to visitors are based on the concept of the circle and the square, which represent heaven and earth in Chinese philosophy. The cylindrical tasting building—a domed rotunda clad in concrete bricks—is partially submerged in the ground. Its upper portion is encircled by three concentric rings echoing the silhouette of Mount Emei, seen in the distance. Inside, tasting rooms filled with oak barrels ring the rotunda and water cascades from a skylight onto a bowl-shape copper vessel, creating a soothing sound.

The structure encompassing a restaurant and bar has a squared footprint and an open-air courtyard, where an angular reflecting pool fills with water after it’s cascaded down a wide staircase. The reception area’s conversation pit features custom upholstered benches for relaxing and taking in the view.

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neri&hu design and research office: lyndon neri; rossana hu; nellie yang; utsav jain; siyu chen; feng wang; guo peng; josh murphy; fergus davis; alexandra heijink; vivian bao; yota takaira; rosie tseng; nicolas fardet; yin sheng; lili cheng; july huang; luna hong; haiou xin