Modern Flair Meets Art Deco In This New York Office

2024 Best of Year Winner for Small Financial Office

For new digs at 45 Rockefeller Plaza, Confidential investment firm sought a workplace that would balance gravitas with employee comfort. In response, Gensler strategically excised portions of a floor slab to create grand double-height spaces. The intervention also accommodates a glass-box mezzanine library carpeted in plush rust-colored silk-wool broadloom. On the floor below is the reception lounge, where a Nakashima Edition rug pairs with nesting Guilherme Torres tables and Minotti sofas, a setting that’s residential in feel. Throughout, metal accents such as Stickbulb’s nickel chandeliers in the 20-foot boardroom honor the landmarked 1933 New York building’s art deco heritage. Elsewhere, pockets of greenery provide the benefits of biophilia.

PROJECT TEAM: LAURENT LISIMACHIO; JULIETTE POUSSOT; JOE HYNN YANG; ALESSANDRA SHORTEN; NAOMI NOTTINGHAM; FANCH TSENG; ASKLY CHIRAYIL; KATHRYN MORSE; AUDREY STROM; TYLER DENNISON.

Discover Local Craftsmanship At This Cabo San Lucas Seaside Resort

Known for its vibrant sunsets, picturesque beaches, and surfable waves, Cabo San Lucas has become one of Mexico’s most popular upscale vacation destinations. Located at the southern tip of Baja California, its shores are, thus, saturated with glamorous hotels and resorts. While it can be hard to stand out in the crowd, a more discreet approach assures the recently opened Four Seasons Resort and Residences Cabo San Lucas at Cabo Del Sol feels different than the rest. 

With architecture by Robert C. Glazier and interiors by EDG and Meyer Davis, the 260,000-square-foot paradise has been created to resemble a low-slung hacienda-style village rather than a towering hotel block, with a series of casitas terraced down its sloping beachfront site. It quells another stereotype of hospitality projects in Mexico, too: Rather than a brash  fiesta of colors and patterns that might pervade less discerning resort designs, this one is rooted in true local flair with artworks, objects, and artisan craftsmanship sourced from across the country.

EDG & Meyer Davis Honor Traditions at Four Seasons Cabo San Lucas

“It was important to Four Seasons that even the whole arrival sequence feel authentic,” begins Jennifer Johanson, president and CEO of EDG, which handled the project’s four Richard Sandoval dining experiences, El Taller art studio, specialty grocery, surf shack–inspired adventure center, and two swimming pools, and ranks 120th among the Interior Design Rising Giants, up from 129 last year, counting such luxury resort brands as Camelback and Mii Amo as clients. “Visitors drive through a little arch and come into a sort of town square. That feeling helped inspire the cast of characters that would surround it.”

Those “characters” include Mediterranean restaurant Palmerio, its interior layering a retro European riviera vibe with Mexican accessories, like the vintage poncheras, or punch bowls, from Michoacán and elsewhere in the region that sit inside niches. Johanson sourced them at auction and worked with Jaliscan studio Laguna Mosaicos to create Majolica-look encaustic floor tiles. On the rooftop is Sora, a bar that overlooks the Sea of Cortez and features a statement driftwood table from Oaxaca that she found at a Mexico City gallery. Open to the elements, its conversation pit–style seating was constructed using sculptural plaster-covered concrete. With few walls, lighting, gentle and flattering, largely originates from the ground. “Even if the architectural profiles are modern and sleek, the textures are reminiscent of the locale,” adds Johanson, who traveled widely in Mexico to engage local artisans and source art for the project. The result, she notes, is “kind of like an encyclopedia of the country’s different regions.” Every eatery on the property embraces its water views and a seamless indoor-outdoor relationship.

Embrace The Indoor-Outdoor Life At Four Seasons Cabo San Lucas

The same spirit extends to Meyer Davis’s scope of the project, which encompassed the lobby and other public spaces, 96 guest rooms, spa, and La Casona Bar. “From the moment guests arrive, we really focused on the materials,” recalls Gray Davis, who, with Will Meyer, is firm cofounder and an Interior Design Hall of Fame member; Meyer Davis, which ranks 60th, up from 71, among the top 100 Giants, has a vibrant portfolio spanning residential, retail, workplace, and hospitality, its La Casa Dragones earning a 2024 Interior Design Best of Year Award. Indigenous ojinaga limestone, Mexican alder wood, and barrel-vaulted clay-tiled roofs complement contemporary steel-framed windows and doors, oak paneling and beams, and plaster walls across these spaces. But the concept also centers on “first impressions,” he continues—informing subtle decisions like depressing the lobby’s La Casona slightly to preserve a view to the sea or ensuring that terrace doors in the standard rooms, suites, and villas open fully to the horizon and entice visitors down meandering paths to the beach. (The property also hosts 46 branded residences designed by Meyer Davis.)

Wanting the resort to feel grounded in its environment, the firm strategically positioned the villas’ private pools and terraces atop natural rock outcroppings to offer vistas over the shore, while others feature lush planters and vibrant flowers. Stone-walled outdoor showers extend this feeling. 

Get An Enchanting View Of The Sea At Four Seasons Cabo San Lucas

The room interiors were inspired by the land, as well. “In Baja, the coast is so rugged and the terrain so dramatic, but it’s arid and dry,” Meyer adds. “That drove a lot of the materiality and color decisions, as reflected in a natural, sandy, soft palette with wood used in reserved but potent moves.” Whimsical touches like terra-cotta pendant fixtures with oversize shades, bold maritime-blue fabrics on armchairs and pillows, and hand-painted Mexican tiles break the scheme. And throughout the property, statement-making hues are often introduced through pieces by local artists. “I think Mexican design is too often lumped into one idea,” Meyer says. Both his studio and EDG used the resort’s thoughtfully edited aesthetic to work actively against this tendency and toward a celebration of the country’s diversity of art, craft, and even climate.

While much of the resort is set atop the natural topography, Tierra Mar Spa, its entrance marked by the calming sounds of a mosaic waterfall, is set into the landscape itself. Past the gable-roofed reception area, for which Meyer Davis chose an asymmetrical wood desk, is a serene garden with rambling streams. Continue toward the fitness areas and pool and the ocean comes back into view, beyond a smattering of the resort’s quaint tiled rooftops.

“With the sun setting over the sea and the waves crashing against large rocks, it’s almost like a movie set,” Davis concludes. “It’s cinematic,” notes Meyer. But despite Hollywood’s best tries, this place is the real deal.

Vacation At This Seaside Resort by EDG and Meyer Davis

Journey Into The New Mexico

This Resort Is Rooted In Artisan Craftsmanship Across Mexico

EDG: BROOKE TUMSAROCH; CINDY MOORE; JANE MCGOLDRICK; DAVE MAYNARD; VICTORIA DENNY; VARRUNA MITRA; KEVIN PEREIRA; BRIANNA SANCHEZ. ZOE PINFOLD; JENNIFER DANIELS; AMANDA DAVIS; TINA HU; LIZELLE FOOSE; PEDRO BARILLAS; SHIFRA BERG: MEYER DAVIS. GENSLER: ARCHITECT OF RECORD. LUX POPULI: LIGHTING DESIGN. VITA PLANNING AND LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE: LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT. URIBE KRAYER: ART CONSULTANT. WARISAN: CUSTOM FURNITURE WORKSHOP. BLACK PALM DEVELOPMENT: GENERAL CONTRACTOR.

FROM FRONT THROUGH BOMBOTI: DRIFTWOOD TABLE (SORA). SANDALVECI: DINING CHAIRS. TILE FEVER: CUSTOM FLOOR TILE. PALECEK: WOVEN SEATING (SORA, LOBBY), CHAIRS (PALMERIO). KETTAL: STACKABLE CHAIRS (PALMERIO). LAGUNA MOSAICO: CUSTOM FLOOR TILE. THROUGH MERCANTIL: SUNDIAL (PALMERIO), SMALL BLACK PLANTER (SORA). IWORKS: CUSTOM CHANDELIER (LOBBY). ROYAL CUSTOM DESIGNS: CUSTOM SOFA (LOBBY), CUSTOM HEADBOARD (SUITE). NATURAL URBAN: TABLES (LOBBY, VILLA TERRACE, SPA). ARTERIORS: PLANTER (LOBBY), SCONCES (VILLA). VIBIA: CUSTOM SCONCES (SORA). CLAYBROOK: TUB (BATHROOM). REMINGTON: PENDANT FIXTURE. ELECTRIC MIRROR: MIRRORS. BLOOM LIGHTING GROUP: CUSTOM PENDANT FIXTURES (PALMERIO, BOUTIQUE). STUDIO SOFA: PLANTERS (VILLA). DANAO: CHAISE LONGUES (VILLA TERRACE), CHAIRS, SOFA (VILLA). PERENNIALS AND SUTHERLAND: CUSHION FABRIC (SPA TERRACE); STOOLS, CHAIRS (BAR BRISAL). ZENITH: RUGS (VILLA, SPA). TARACEA: ROUND TABLE (VILLA), SIDE TABLES (SUITE). FANIMATION: FANS (VILLA, SUITE). ULA LIGHTING: LAMPS (SUITE). IAN LOVE DESIGN: CUSTOM VITRINES (SPA). GINGER AND JAGGER: RECEPTION DESK. HUDSON VALLEY LIGHTING: LAMPS. CALARGA MÉXICO: WALL HANGING (BOUTIQUE). CLÉ: TILE (ADVENTURE CENTER).

HOK Crafts A Breathtaking Nature-Inspired Headquarters In Ontario

Eighty years ago, Albert Savage, a cofounder of Co-operators—a Canadian insurance and financial-services cooperative—described the endeavor as “an acorn that will grow into one of the greatest oak trees of the cooperative movement.” This idea stuck with the HOK team responsible for the interiors at the company’s new headquarters, a state-of-the-art facility in Guelph, Ontario, which brings together all its operations and over 1,200 employees under one roof. The quote influenced many of the visual cues and material selections for the project, which aimed to reflect the principles of the cooperative movement in the workspaces. The words are even inscribed on a prominent wall as a literal reminder.

“Co-operators’s values, culture, and mission are different from those of traditional organizations, and that really inspired us,” says Caitlin Turner, senior principal and director of design, interiors, at the Toronto studio of HOK, which, with its 26 offices across three continents and expertise in workplace and sustainability, ranks sixth among the Interior Design Top 100 Giants, up from seven last year. HOK has been carbon neutral since 2022, a distinction it shares with Co-operators, which achieved that status in 2020 and saw this move as an opportunity to embrace even more ambitious environmental goals. By pursuing zero-carbon, WELL Platinum, and LEED Gold certifications, the headquarters would become “the first of its kind in Canada,” says Shawn Fitzgerald, vice president of real estate and workplace at Co-operators. “The vision was to be a catalyst for sustainable construction and design.”

HOK Infuses Nature Into Co-Operators’s HQ

Set within a campus of meadow gardens, walking trails, and outdoor exercise stations, the three-story, 225,000-square-foot building features an atrium  around which the spaces are organized—many embodying the “acorn-to-oak” metaphor. On the ground floor, curved, walnut-paneled walls physically represent the tree’s roots. Nearby, a hallway displays a series of framed historical advertisements as a timeline symbolizing the company’s organic growth. And on the top floor, the ceiling of a collaborative area, clad in rippling stainless-steel panels and dotted with circular recessed downlights, recreates the dappled effect of a leafy canopy.

A key client directive was to celebrate Co-operators’s six decades in the city of Guelph, which is located in south­western Ontario. “We really wanted to maintain our presence within this community that we absolutely love and ensure that we continue this long history,” Fitzgerald notes. Thus, the context informs several elements, such as a pitched steel-and-wood frame—modeled after one of Canada’s oldest surviving covered bridges—that shelters a focused-work area beneath a skylight on the third floor, as well as a vibrant custom rug in the lobby, its swirling multicolor pattern based on an aerial topographic view of the city.

Vibrant Patterns Help Create An Engaging Workplace

Several pieces of lore from the company’s past were also translated into visual form. For instance, felt panels emblazoned with tractor-tire tracks across some meeting-room walls nod to the founding meeting with farmers, while recurring imagery of apples and wheat serves as a reminder that co-op members once used those crops as payment. “These are moments in the rich history of the cooperative movement, which is really about supporting the people who are part of the organization,” Turner observes. Co-operators’s distinctive chevron logo, applied throughout as a wayfinding tool, reaches its apotheosis in the library, where it is replicated using 3,000 plants in a green wall measuring more than 34 feet wide and 17 tall.

As a social and cultural hub for the company, the layout of the headquarters encourages what Turner describes as “serendipitous collisions” between employees from different departments. On the ground floor, the coffee shop features soft banquette seating and an adjacent nook with a suspended fireplace, creating a cozy setting for conversations over lattes. In the balcony library immediately above, long custom walnut tables—lit by the atrium skylight during the day and by integrated desk lamps at night—serve as magnets for collaborative work. Connecting the library to the top level, a cantilevered steel staircase with warm wood treads provides another site for chance encounters while also serving as a striking sculptural focal point in the atrium. “It’s a path of travel,” Turner continues, “but also a beacon of place where people come to congregate and socialize.” 

Lush Greenery Sparks Collaboration in This Dynamic Office

Employee health and wellness, particularly in the wake of the pandemic, was another primary driver. Circulation through the building is intentionally conceived to promote activity, ensuring that, along with the outdoor trails and an on-site gym, staffers can easily meet their daily exercise goals. Workspaces designed for neurodiverse individuals feature specially tailored flexible lighting, quiet areas, muted colors, and sensory-friendly textures—just some of the many accessibility and inclusion elements that go beyond standard code requirements.

Co-operators aims to achieve full net-zero status by 2040, and this building represents a significant milestone on that path. It prioritizes environmental targets by specifying Canadian-made, low-carbon materials, intelligent LED lighting, automatic-tinting windows, and furniture made of sustainable materials. Any successful headquarters reflects the company it houses in multiple ways—showcasing its past achievements, present values and culture, and future vision to both employees and visitors. This one fondly looks back and boldly dreams forward, as the growth of the Co-operators “oak tree” continues, benefitting both people and planet. 

See How This Office By HOK Embraces Sustainability

Explore An Office With A Focus On Health + Wellness

HOK: KRISTINA KAMENAR; HAYLEY LAVIGNE; PIA GREEN; KIMIA MOSTAFAEI; CRYSTAL VONG. NEO ARCHITECTURE: ARCHITECT OF RECORD. SHOUFANY CUSTOM WOODWORKING: MILLWORK. HH ANGUS & ASSOCIATES: LIGHTING CONSULTANT; MEP. DORLAN ENGINEERING: STRUCTURAL ENGINEER. COOPER CONSTRUCTION: GENERAL CONTRACTOR.

FROM FRONT JUNIPER DESIGN GROUP: DESK LAMPS (LIBRARY), PICTURE LIGHTS (GALLERY). SVEND NIELSEN: CUSTOM TABLES (LIBRARY), CUSTOM SHELVING (CAFETERIA), CUSTOM PERGOLA (BRIDGE). HAY: SECTIONALS (LIBRARY), SIDE CHAIRS (ATRIUM), SOFA (OPEN OFFICE). HERMAN MILLER: SIDE CHAIRS, LOUNGE CHAIRS (LIBRARY), TABLES, CIRCULAR SOFAS (ATRIUM), LOUNGE CHAIR (LOUNGE), SIDE TABLE (OPEN OFFICE), MODULAR SEATING (BRIDGE), BARSTOOLS, TABLE LAMPS (CANOPY). MUUTO: SIDE TABLES (LIBRARY), COFFEE TABLES (LOUNGE, OPEN OFFICE). CREATIVE MATTERS: CUSTOM RUG (RECEPTION). ELLISON STUDIOS: COFFEE TABLES. KEILHAUER: SOFAS (RECEPTION), BENCH (FITNESS CENTER). GLOBAL FURNITURE GROUP: BANQUETTE (COFFEE SHOP). PUNT MOBLES: WOOD CHAIRS. ARMSTRONG: WOOD CEILING. JUNO: TRACK LIGHTING. TEKNION: TABLE (COFFEE SHOP), MODULAR FRAMEWORK (OPEN OFFICE), GLASS PARTITIONING (CANOPY). MAXXIT: PANELING (COFFEE SHOP), CEILING PANELS (CANOPY). CF + D: FIREPLACE (FIRE NOOK). GUS MODERN: SIDE TABLE. RH CONTRACT: PICTURE LIGHTS. RUGGABLE: RUGS (FIRE NOOK, LOUNGE). GEIGER: WINGBACK CHAIR (FIRE NOOK), CANE CHAIRS (ATRIUM), LOUNGE CHAIRS (BRIDGE). MOMENTUM TEXTILES & WALLCOVERING: ACOUSTIC FELT (ATRIUM). KIMBALL INTERNATIONAL: BANQUETTE (ATRIUM), BOOTH SEATING (CAFETERIA). KOROSEAL: WOOD-VENEER WALLCOVERING (GALLERY, LOUNGE). STUFF BY ANDREW NEYER: SCONCES (CAFETERIA). DECO TILE: TERRAZZO FLOORING. AREA ENVIRONMENTS: BOOTH WALLCOVERING. STUDIO TK: LOUNGE CHAIRS, SIDE TABLES (CAFETERIA), SOFAS (LOUNGE), BARSTOOLS (OPEN OFFICE). SPEC FURN­ITURE: BOOTH TABLES (CAFETERIA), COUNTER TABLES (CANOPY). PABLO DESIGN: PENDANT FIXTURE (LOUNGE). EUROPTIMUM: CUSTOM LOGO (LOUNGE), CUSTOM SIGNAGE (FITNESS CENTER), CUSTOM WALL­COVERING (CAFETERIA). HOLLIS+MORRIS: LINEAR PENDANT FIXTURES (ATRIUM). LOLL DESIGNS: ROCKING CHAIRS (OPEN OFFICE). NANIMARQUINA: RUG. BUZZISPACE: LARGE PENDANT FIXTURES (BRIDGE). THROUGHOUT NYDREE FLOORING: WOOD FLOORING. SHERWIN-WILLIAMS COMPANY: 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.

Rapt Studio Crafts A Bold Modernist Office With Artistic Flair

Many architects and designers involve first-time clients in projects to educate them about the process and other basics. But when multidisciplinary practice Rapt Studio was hired by Macquarie Group—a global financial services firm with substantial investments in real estate development—to renovate its new office in a landmarked 1964 Philadelphia building by the distinguished Italian-American architect Pietro Belluschi, designer and client were already on the same page.

Both Rapt and Macquarie have a portfolio of office projects in which design informality and can-do spirit relax traditional workplace protocol to trigger “spatial connectivity,” as Macquarie global design director Andrew Burdick puts it. “The client already wanted to take advantage of the building to create face-to-face collisions between people,” notes Kumar Atre, head of design research at Rapt. “We did too.” Indeed, the studio’s CEO and chief creative officer David Gallulo could be quoting the client when he says, “We wanted to respect the existing space and also really connect people,” summarizing their shared intentions. Recently inducted into the Interior Design Hall of Fame, Gallulo is well-versed in connecting and connections, with Rapt, ranking 98th on our top 100 Giants list, having completed projects for such high-profile clients as Tinder, Dropbox, and VF Corporation. 

Rapt Studio Breathes New Life Into Macquarie Group’s Office

This project entailed renovating the ground-floor lobby, top three floors, and roof terrace of the nine-story structure—145,000 square feet in all. Both parties agreed that achieving the interactive office landscape they envisioned required a kind of collaboration with Belluschi across architectural generations, drawing from the character of his building: an International Style slab with a sculpted concrete frame and sleek glass-and-aluminum facades sheathed in sunscreens made of Plexiglas, a material invented by the Rohm and Haas Company, whose headquarters it originally was.

Belluschi, one of the country’s foremost mid-century modernists, had designed a beautiful shell: 39,000-square-foot, open-plan floor plates beneath coffered concrete ceilings. But before the recent renovation, the existing interior build-out imposed a hierarchical office layout, isolating executive staff in perimeter offices around a central secretarial pool. Floors were stratified in a pancaked stack, and dropped ceilings further generalized the already bland universal space. Respecting Belluschi’s shell, Rapt aimed at creating a more contiguous, collaborative environment with specific programs and zones mapped horizontally and vertically throughout the three floors—essentially socializing the interior in a transformed office paradigm. 

Tour Around This Sleek Glass-And-Aluminum Office In Philadelphia

“We had to translate the language of the historic building into a series of spaces that were never there, while making them feel original,” Arte explains. The Rapt team was, in a sense, “restoring” the building to what it might have been had Belluschi designed it today, extending his architectural vocabulary into an office vernacular that is less hierarchical but more civic and egalitarian—an appropriate goal for a building in the heart of historic Philadelphia.

Right from the lobby, Rapt introduces these themes and intensions, riffing off the bones and wit of Belluschi’s envelope. He had established a strict grid of chamfered concrete columns, their capitals flaring into wide angular canopies that turn the ceiling into a field of dramatically folded plates. Several large cruciform chandeliers—composed of countless Plexiglas icicles and, like the building, listed—extend along the length of the volume. Mirroring the spatial theatrics, Rapt has inserted a series of custom wall installations between the columns—vertical rows of leather-and-felt straps, twisted to echo the angled concrete around them. Also custom, generously scaled furnishings, including a concierge desk, benches, banquettes, and planters, anchor the space, while commissioned video art playing on large screens adds color and energy.

Cruciform Chandeliers Brighten This Workplace Design 

More Plexiglas diffuses ceiling light in the elevators leading to reception on the ninth floor, where a sequence of spaces unfolds—Guggenheim Museum–style, from the top down—via a rectangular atrium stairwell breaking through the three-story pancake to connect all levels. Each landing opens onto a large public area that acts like the anchor tenant in a shopping mall, a magnet that draws people in a progression of vertical connectivity. The company canteen is located on the eighth floor, beneath the reception and guest relations concourse on the ninth, with a training hub on the seventh. Theses public zones are balanced by office space—mostly open, but some private—and meeting rooms of various sizes. 

But the atrium is the heart of the project, one that beats with excitement because of the energetic irregularity with which the stair angles its way through the otherwise staidly orthogonal architecture. Belluschi’s grid is disciplined and his geometry Euclidean, but Rapt’s meandering stair walks on the wild side, bringing the ’60’s building into the 21st century. Each landing meets the floor plate at a slightly different level and angle, so walking up and down  the stairs, Burdick notes, “isn’t a chore” but a discovery. The angularity surprises the space with an informality that encourages social encounter, introducing people to one another. It helps that the staircase is tall, dark, and handsome. Deep-bronze, coated-steel balustrades give it a graphic profile, which is complemented by a backdrop wall of vertical wood slats, echoing the warmth and dynamism of the installations in the lobby far below.

Belluschi’s beautifully finished coffered concrete ceilings, with their sense of rhythm and substance, inspire lighting as striking as the lobby’s glamorous chandeliers. A regimented array of dronelike custom fixtures beams light into each recess with an intensity that seems to dematerialize the concrete while casting a soft glow back into the transformed interiors below—perfectly encapsulating the project’s spirit of collaboration across time and space. 

Step Inside This Modernist Office by Rapt Studio

This Striking Sculptural Staircase Takes The Stage

RAPT STUDIO: SAM FARHANG; CAITLIN SWAIM; ESIN EKINCIOGLU; SCOTT MCMANUS; LAURA PACHECO PEÑA. L2PARTRIDGE: ARCHITECT OF RECORD. TILLOTSON DESIGN ASSOCIATES: LIGHTING CONSULTANT. FUTURE GREEN STUDIO: LANDSCAPE CONSULTANT. ARCHITECTURAL CASEWORK: MILLWORK. CENTRAL METALS: CUSTOM STAIRS. PMDI SIGNS: CUSTOM SIGNAGE. BALA CONSULTING ENGINEERS: STRUCTURAL ENGINEER, MEP. STRUCTURE TONE: GENERAL CONTRACTOR.

FROM FRONT ERIK BRUCE: CUSTOM INSTALLATION (LOBBY). BRICK IT: FLOOR TILE. CAESARSTONE: QUARTZ SURFACE. BERNHARDT DESIGN: LOUNGE CHAIRS. WALTER KNOLL: STOOLS. GLOBAL LEATHER: INSTALLATION LEATHER. MAHARAM: INSTALLATION FABRIC, UPHOLSTERY FABRIC, UPHOLSTERY LEATHER (LOBBY), CURTAIN FABRIC (WORKPLACE). LAPALMA: WINDOW COUNTER SYSTEM (TRAINING). GRAND RAPIDS CHAIR: SIDE CHAIRS. AUDO COPENHAGEN: PEDESTAL TABLES. JAMIE STERN FURNITURE, CARPET, LEATHER & FABRIC: CUSTOM BENCHES (TRAINING), CUSTOM BANQUETTES (CANTEEN). DESIGNTEX: WALLCOVERING (TRAINING, CANTEEN). HAY: BARSTOOLS (TRAINING), LOW COFFEE TABLES, STOOLS (WORKPLACE). ANDREU WORLD: ROUND TABLES (CANTEEN). EQUITONE: RIDGED WALL PANELS. EGE CARPETS: CARPETING. MUUTO: LARGE TABLE, SIDE CHAIRS (CANTEEN), MODULAR SOFA (WORKPLACE). ARPER: ARMCHAIR (RECEPTION). ARNOLD CONTRACT: CUSTOM RECEPTION COUNTER. KNOLL: WIRE SIDE TABLE (RECEPTION), LARGE TABLE, OTTOMANS (WORKPLACE). ENCORE SEATING: LOUNGE CHAIRS (WORKPLACE). AXIS LIGHTING: LINEAR PENDANT FIXTURES. MURAFLEX: GLASS PARTITIONING. INTERFACE: CARPET TILES. TEXAA: MESH CEILING (ROOF-DECK STAIR). TECHNICAL GLASS PRODUCTS: CHANNEL GLASS. THROUGHOUT LUKAS LIGHTING: CUSTOM COFFER FIXTURES. DINOFLEX: STAIR RUBBER FLOORING. MCNICHOLS: PERFORATED METAL PANELS. BENJAMIN MOORE & CO.: PAINT.

Gensler Lights Up An Investment Firm’s Park Avenue Workplace

Postpandemic workplace challenges presented rich opportunities for the redesign of a global investment firm’s Park Avenue workplace. Stefanie Shunk, principal of the perennially top-ranking Giants firm Gensler—and a recent Interior Design HiP Leader Award winner—led the transformation, which expanded the client’s existing office onto contiguous floors. The primary goals were to better connect teams, present layers of visual intrigue, and add top-tier hospitality touches and overall warmth. Also vital was offsetting the site’s low ceiling heights, which Shunk and her team achieved via clever overhead elements designed to emulate skylights. One of them illuminates the central staircase, with weighty Minerva Gray marble treads, that unifies five levels of the 180,000-square-foot space. Its bronze railings complement the suspended three-story, bronzed-aluminum screen by Giles Miller Studio that extends up one side. A collection of blue-chip artworks, 22 in all, plays a central role throughout, including another architectonic screen element, this one commissioned from Mark Hagen to back the reception desk. And in a nearby corridor is Casablanca #1, a monumental Richard Serra piece in oil stick, etching ink, and silica on paper, its straightforward appearance belying that it was masterfully crafted in intricate layers—much like this project itself.

Elkus Manfredi Architects Crafts A Cutting-Edge Life Sciences Hub

The former Western Electric Company headquarters in Watertown, Massachusetts, was not an obvious place for a cutting-edge life-sciences research facility. Approximately 10 miles west of Boston, the 1931 structure was built for heavy industrial manufacturing and most recently held an insurance company office. Though it retained its art deco exterior, no period details remained inside. But its large size, solidity, and proximity to Harvard University and MIT caught the eye of developer Spear Street Capital. It tapped local firm Elkus Manfredi Architects to transform the seven-story building into Watertown Exploratory Labs (WELL), a state-of-the-art campus for life-sciences research and development.

Elkus Manfredi was up for the challenge. Ranking 75th on the Interior Design top 100 Giants list for 2025, the firm has completed major scientific research centers, namely the 250,000-square-foot TMC3 Collaborative Building at the Texas Medical Center in Houston, and adaptive reuse projects like Boston’s 401 Park, an art deco landmark turned community hub. Elkus Manfredi also ranked in the top 50 on last year’s healthcare, hospitality, and sustainability Giants lists, and brought that breadth of expertise to WELL, understanding both the engineering necessary for lab and manufacturing facilities and how to create a campus that brings innovators together—a top priority for Spear Street.

Inside The Futuristic Campus for Watertown Exploratory Labs

“We were building a community,” Elkus Manfredi principal Elizabeth Lowrey begins. Unlike a university or corporate client, there was no existing identity to work with, so she and her team had to start from scratch. The site itself led the way. “It had texture, authenticity, and a story,” she continues. It’s also located on the Watertown-Cambridge Greenway, and many employees would bike to work. Studying the neighborhood and prospective end users, Elkus Manfredi knew that it needed to bring in daylight, create access to the outdoors, and instill a sense of history.

None of those elements existed when Lowrey first visited. “It was depressing and dark. Imagine an insurance company in an old movie with lots of cubicles and long corridors,” she recalls. There was an atrium from the 1990’s, but it was inexplicably hidden: “You had no idea how to get there because it was buried in the middle.” Elkus Manfredi gutted the 520,000-square-foot structure and made the atrium its heart, extending it so it’s visible from the entry. The firm added windows to the ground floor and garage doors that open to a private courtyard. “It was like turning it inside out—the interiors had been very insular. Now they’re open to nature and light penetrates deep inside,” Lowrey says. She also relocated the main entrance from the street to the back, near the bike path and garage, and installed a welcoming forecourt. These interventions, as well as preserving the original building, helped the project earn LEED Gold certification.

Letting In Light Through This Breathtaking Atrium

The 26,500-square-foot amenity space, which includes a flexible work lounge, café, gym, and conference center, revolves around the atrium. “It’s about placemaking, not checking a box that there’s a spot to get coffee or work out,” Lowrey explains. “The tenants all share this town square.” Using urban-planning principles, Elkus Manfredi created magnets that pull people in, starting with the bright atrium lounge and adjacent coffee bar and café. “If you create a heart where people want to be, it gives the space a pulse,” Lowrey notes. Employees from different companies will naturally meet there, potentially sparking new ideas.

Site-specific artworks help define WELL’s identity. Three murals, a particularly huge one in the lobby, depict subatomic particle decay patterns and images of space and plants. In the lounge, circular paintings of clouds are like portholes bringing the outside in. Elkus Manfredi also formulated wall graphics based on shadows coming through the building’s windows.

A Stylish Research Facility Nodding To The 1930s

A visitor could easily mistake the atrium for a stylish hotel lobby. But there are spaces for high-tech labs all around it. WELL can house up to 2,300 people, many of whom will be involved in therapeutic research for treating medical conditions. Elkus Manfredi had to conceive new infrastructure for labs, and ensure it would be flexible enough to support them as technology and equipment evolves. The firm gutted a small two-story section of the old building, and then topped it with two floors, yielding a four-story addition for utilities and manufacturing capabilities—essentially all the systems necessary for the power, fresh air, lab exhaust, water, and chemical-waste handling—allowing researchers to develop therapies and medical devices on-site.

Subtle industrial and art deco references also appear throughout the project. Curved reconfigurable banquettes, fluted wood columns and ribbed glass panels, and geometric stained glass in the coffee bar channel a 1930’s aesthetic. A distressed circular pattern on the concrete floor is “like a palimpsest of the old building,” Lowrey says. In the café, dozens of vintage-looking pickle jars serve as a clever veiling device between the food-service and dining areas.

WELL will likely hold around 10 tenants, ranging from startups to established companies. Once employees move in, Lowrey can envision how their days will play out, from meeting colleagues for coffee to having a midday workout and gathering for a building-wide event. It will function like a university campus: comfortable, lively, and brimming with promise.

Walk Through The Watertown Exploratory Labs Facility 

A Stylish Facility Full Of Community + Color

ELKUS MANFREDI ARCHITECTS: DAVID P. MANFREDI; STEVE DUBE; LAWRENCE KO; RAHISSA MELO WANG; JEFF SALOCKS; GREG BUCKINGHAM; JARED TATTERSALL; JUNAID ABBASI; ELIZABETH STEVENS; DREA PLUMMER; OREN SHERMAN. CASTELLI DESIGN: LIGHTING DESIGN. EMILY FINE ART: ART CONSULTANT. WHITNEY VEIGAS: CUSTOM SIGNAGE. MCNAMARA SALVIA: STRUCTURAL ENGINEER. WSP: MEP. VHB: CIVIL ENGINEER. DAVIS ARCHITECTURAL WOODWORKING: MILLWORK. CONSIGLI: GENERAL CONTRACTOR.

FROM FRONT MUUTO: SOFAS (ATRIUM LOUNGE 1). COPPER & TWEED: ROUND COFFEE TABLE. ALLERMUIR: DINING CHAIRS (ATRIUM LOUNGE 1), BLACK CHAIRS (ATRIUM). HAY: LOUNGE CHAIRS (ATRIUM LOUNGE 1), COFFEE TABLES (ATRIUM LOUNGE 2). WEST ELM CONTRACT: BENCHES (ATRIUM LOUNGE 2), BISTRO TABLE (ATRIUM LOUNGE 1). GUS MODERN: LOUNGE CHAIRS. FRITZ HANSEN: SOFA. ROLL & HILL: LAMP. ARMSTRONG: CEILING SYSTEM. NIKARI: COMMUNAL TABLES (CAFÉ). KATHY KUO HOME: PENDANT FIXTURES. GRAND RAPIDS CHAIR: UPHOL­ STERED CHAIRS. OVERHEAD DOOR COMPANY: GARAGE DOORS. EXTREMIS: UMBRELLAS (COURTYARD). SPECTRUM LIGHTING: CUS­ TOM PENDANT FIXTURES (ATRIUM). HUGO & HOBY: CUSTOM TABLES, CUSTOM BANQUETTES. EXPORMIM: CHAIRS. ANCHOR HOCKING: JARS (CAFÉ). BRENTANO FABRICS: BANQUETTE UPHOLSTERY (ATRIUM LOUNGE 1). LIGHTNET: PENDANT FIXTURES (NORTH LOBBY). LUMI­ NART: PENDANT FIXTURES (CAFÉ). SCHOOL­ HOUSE: CEILING FIXTURES. DIVISION 9 COLLABORATIVE: COUNTER TILE. DEKTON COSENTINO: COUNTER SOLID SURFACING. ARPER: OTTOMANS (NORTH LOBBY), CHAIRS (CONFERENCE CENTER). ECORE ATHLETIC FLOORING: FLOORING (GYM). BUSINESS INTERIORS: CUSTOM FLOORING (ATRIUM). ANDREU WORLD: SQUARE TABLES. ACOUFELT: ACOUSTICAL WALL PANELING (CONFERENCE CENTER). EGE: CARPET. THROUGHOUT MAHARAM: ACOUSTICAL PANELING FABRIC, RUGS. SCOFIELD: CONCRETE FLOORING. ASTEK: CUSTOM WALLCOVERING.

Inside An Artful Hotel in Fort Worth By Rottet Studio

2024 Best of Year Winner for Chain Hotel

With the Kimbell Art Museum, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and Amon Carter Museum of Art, Fort Worth, Texas, has become a cultural destination, and the 200-key, 216,000-square-foot Crescent Hotel by Rottet Studio reflects that. The lobby forges the strongest connection with its artful neighbors. Gallery-esque white walls are ample enough to accommodate large-scale canvases—by Madeline Peckenpaugh, Carolyn Salas, and Mònica Subidé, from the hotel’s impressive contemporary collection—which provide much of the color. Envelope materials include limestone, faceted plaster, Calacatta Vision marble, and white oak. F&B spaces are critical, too, as the Crescent is centered around private functions; among the standouts is the Circle Bar and the Blue Room. In guest rooms, the size of closets and built-in storage was maximized, all of it and headboards faced in sophisticated Koto veneer. 

PROJECT TEAM: LAUREN ROTTET; ANJA MAJKIC; TAYLOR MOCK; HANNAH RAE.

Set Sail On The Seine In A Revamped Parisian Houseboat

Marianne and Alexandre Bouchet never imagined living on a houseboat. That was until they were expecting their second child in 2000 and started looking for a larger home for their growing family, which now totals five. When they came across an ad for a Dutch bargelike vessel called a tjalk, moored on the Seine in Neuilly-sur-Seine, an affluent suburb of Paris, it was a case of love at first sight. “You’re at the heart of nature, surrounded by greenery and at the same time right next to an urban environment,” Marianne Bouchet enthuses. “It’s difficult to imagine such a place!”

The couple decided to buy the tjlak before replacing it 12 years later with another custom-built boat, which they named Cap Ferrat for the stylish peninsula on the Mediterranean Sea to the east of Nice. Strictly rectilinear in design, it more closely resembles a floating home, its two stories encompassing 3,400 square feet, four bedrooms, even a chimney. It also adheres to rigorous constraints in terms of its dimensions. It could be no longer than 65.6 feet and no wider than 26.2, in accordance with the regulations of the Voies navigables de France.

Explore A French Houseboat by Avenue Rachel Studio

Another requirement for French houseboat owners is the necessity to dry dock them at least once every 10 years. In 2021, the Bouchets took advantage of it being out of the water to right various wrongs. By then, numerous problems had become apparent. Or as Thierry Poubeau, founder of Avenue Rachel Studio, the local firm hired to oversee the renovation, refers to them: “technical disorders.”

The insulation was of poor quality, which meant the boat was too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter. There were issues with condensation, cracks in the former plasterboard walls, and terrible acoustics. “You used to be able to hear people distinctly walking on the upper deck when down below,” Poubeau recalls.

There was also an aesthetic matter to address. In his eyes, the structure on the upper level was disproportionately small. “The surface of its roof needed to be extended for it to be in scale with the rest of the boat,” he says. This he did both by increasing the square footage inside and adding an awning supported by Cap Ferrat’s chimney stack.

The renovation took a total of 10 months and required the intervention of 20 different trades, including a river expert and installers of environmentally sensitive systems. In the process, the houseboat was completely stripped back to its steel hull before new systems were installed. Alexandre Bouchet runs an energy transition consulting firm, and, among other things, it seemed natural to install hydrothermal heating. “In the winter, the houseboat retrieves heat calories from the Seine,” Poubeau explains, “because the temperature of the water is higher than that of the air.”

Wood Grounds The Minimalist Material Palette 

The Bouchets also desired a different look inside Cap Ferrat. “There was a lot of freestanding furniture before,” Marianne Bouchet continues, “and a real lack of unity.” Picking up on their love of Japanese aesthetics, Poubeau proposed a zenlike scheme dominated by wood. The walls and ceiling were alternately clad with striated acoustic paneling in oak and whitened pine.

The layout, meanwhile, was largely maintained. The focus of the lower level is a central living room, flanked on one side by the main suite and on the other by three bedrooms and bathrooms for the Bouchets’ children. Poubeau simply reorganized the parental bathroom so it could accommodate both a tub and a shower, extended the utility room, added a cloakroom, and installed a desk that is separated from the entry and staircase by a glazed panel. “It’s like the boat’s control panel,” Marianne Bouchet notes.

Poubeau was particularly astute in the way he integrated storage into the renovated interior. Place was found under the staircase for suitcases. Wardrobes were installed above a waterproof partition called “the peak” in the main bedroom and a platform created to access them. There are also trap doors concealed in its steps.

With so many built-ins, freestanding furniture could be kept to a minimum. Poubeau used the pieces in the living room to introduce a few pops of color, as well as rounded forms to contrast with the architecture’s orthogonal character. A perfect example is the pair of Ploum sofas by French brothers Erwan and Ronan Bouroullec. “They’re enveloping and have shapes that remind me of shells,” Poubeau declares. He also selected a linen pendant fixture consisting of three overlapping circles. “The shape mimics the effect of water when a stone is dropped into it,” he adds. Another aquatic reference comes via the series of light columns that rise from the staircase’s guardrail on the upper level, which he compares to “masts.”

Just like the Bouchets, Poubeau had never considered living on a boat before working on Cap Ferrat. Now, he would not be averse to the idea. “I’ve discovered a whole new world,” he recounts. “Being on the water in a boat rocking from side to side is very peaceful. When you look out the window and see the current flow by, it’s like being transported on a voyage.”

Explore The Eco-Friendly Houseboat On The Seine

AVENUE RACHEL STUDIO: ALAIN GALLISSIAN; LAURENT GUILLON; SIMON RIES. ENYSEO: HYDRO­THERMAL HEATING SYSTEM. C3A; PROMOB DÉCOR: MILLWORK. CHANTIER NAVAL VANDENBOSSCHE: GENERAL CONTRACTOR.

FROM FRONT LIGNET ROSET: SOFAS (LIVING ROOM). VITRA: COCKTAIL TABLE, STOOL. TAI PING: RUG. METALFIRE: FIREPLACE. RIVA: BOOKCASE. LUMINA: FLOOR LAMP. CULTURE IN: PENDANT FIXTURES (LIVING ROOM), VERTICAL FIXTURES (STAIRWAY). CHAISERIE LANDAISE: CUSTOM DESK CHAIR (LIV­ING ROOM), CUSTOM CHAIRS (DINING AREA). IMPERIAL LINE: TABLE (DINING AREA). MAISONS DU MONDE: COFFEE TABLE (DECK). IKEA: BENCH. KARTELL: SEATING (DECK, KITCHEN). IONNA VAUTRIN: ARTWORK (LIVING ROOM). THROUGH IMDA: VASE. HERMES: BLANKETS (LIVING ROOM, BEDROOM), PATTERNED PILLOW (MAIN SUITE). IRIS: FLOOR TILE (POWDER ROOM). DURAVIT: TOILET. INBANI: MIRROR (POWDER ROOM), SINKS (POWDER ROOM, MAIN SUITE). VOLA: SINK FITTINGS (POWDER ROOM, MAIN SUITE). NEMO: SCONCES (BEDROOM). CUIR AU CARRÉ: CUSTOM HEADBOARD (MAIN SUITE). FLOS: SCONCES. VENETA CUCINE: CABINETRY, ISLAND (KITCHEN).

THROUGHOUT ADMONTER: FLOORING. LIGNO­TREND: PANELING. IGUZZINI: SPOTLIGHTS. ALUDESIGN: [CUSTOM] WINDOWS. CRETE ET LAURENT: PAINT.

New York’s Iconic Rockefeller Center Features A Rink-Level Refresh

For nearly a century, the ice rink at Rockefeller Center has been an iconic New York City destination. But since the 1990’s, the best view of the skaters was reserved for patrons at two upscale restaurants on the lower level. Tishman Speyer, which owns the rink and 14 of the surrounding buildings, sought to change that. In 2019, the real estate company launched an invitational competition calling for a reenvisioning of the subterranean public areas, some 50,000 square feet. “Tishman said to us, ‘We want to democratize the rink,’” recalls Adam Rolston, founding partner and creative and managing director of INC Architecture & Design, which won the competition. He, cofounding partner and construction and development director Drew Stuart, and their staff set about opening up the concourse, improving its circulation and designing one of its restaurants, and, overall, creating an art deco–inspired environment informed by the site’s history.

The project was part of a larger rebranding of Rock Center that aimed to serve three constituencies: the Class A workers populating the offices above and throughout the complex, tourists, and locals. The latter has long steered clear of the area, but Tishman hoped to make it a place New Yorkers would like to go. “At the most fundamental level, it’s a public space with an important role in the civic life of the city,” Rolston continues. The mandate was to bring that spirit into the lower-level concourse, which also serves as a hub to the 47th–50th Streets–Rockefeller Center subway station, one of the city’s busiest.

Rolston has fond memories of skating at the rink as a boy and dining at the adjacent Sea Grill with his father—and then, over the years, “watching it get a little sad.” Stuart remembers rushing through the dreary, mazelike corridors in the ’90’s on his way to the F train. “There was no access to natural light,” he recalls. Beige limestone walls and low ceilings created an oppressive atmosphere, yet the partners still felt connected to it.

“We won the competition because we expressed our attachment to Rockefeller Center through our approach,” Rolston says. “We did a deep dive into its aesthetic history, details, and original ’30’s interiors, and we expressed that love and passion.” EB Kelly, Tishman senior managing director, adds: “INC’s work enhances the feeling that you’re in the most extraordinary place in New York.”

The firm began by creating a master plan with a windowed corridor around the rink, multiple paths to the subway, and space for five restaurants. The team drew on some little-known history: In the early 19th century, the land that is now Rock Center was home to Elgin Botanic Garden, the first in the city, which had a looping, U-shape plan. INC’s flowing layout loosely follows it, with curved walls and perimeter lighting leading visitors through the concourse. “Previously, all circulation funneled through the middle,” Stuart explains. “We freed up the volumes and created more ways of passage.”

As he and Rolston studied the heritage interiors throughout Rock Center, they made another interesting discovery. “When you think of the architecture there, it’s linear and vertical, very masculine,” Rolston observes. “But a lot of the interiors are curved, sensuous, and feminine. So we thought, Let’s make an architecture of flow.” A big inspiration for the project was Radio City Music Hall, where radial light coves form a series of proscenium arches that mimics a sunrise. INC installed a half mile of GFRG coves underground that unfurl like a ribbon to provide wayfinding cues and brighten corridors. Their bronze pendant fixtures—evoking the site’s original tiered fixtures by Edward F. Caldwell & Co.—follow along the way.

Exposing the ceiling also helped brighten. Previous heights were under 10 feet; today, they’re up to 16 in some areas. Crisscrossing beams can now be seen overhead, as can five glass-block skylights, which are installed among planters in Rockefeller Plaza. They have fountains above them, so dappled sunlight filters through the water to the floor below.

The rugged infrastructure contrasts with an otherwise polished interior. Stairs connect the concourse to 30 Rockefeller Plaza, and its glamorous deco lobby informed INC’s concept and material palette. Charcoal terrazzo flooring with inlaid bronze meets tambour paneling of bronze or precast stone. Bronze storefronts frame four of the restaurants, but only a bronze rail demarcates the fifth, 5 Acres, the one INC designed and positioned in the center of the floor plate. This was a key aspect of the proposal from the start: a wall-less anchor restaurant befitting the concourse’s new open, hospitality-driven identity.

The hitch was that the 100-seat, farm-to-table eatery with private dining room sits under 30 Rock, and eight giant concrete columns run through it. INC’s solution was to wrap each one in frosted ribbed glass lit to show the structure’s shadow. “We call them ghost columns,” Rolston notes. Like sheer curtains, they’re of a piece with the theatrical quality of the whole renovation. In a clever bit of dramaturgy, Rolston and the crew furnished 5 Acres with Cesca armchairs and a vintage Florence Knoll credenza—mid-century pieces that might have populated the above offices when they first bowed. From those Marcel Breuer chairs, diners aren’t able to observe the skaters on the rink but can instead feel a part of the pulse of New York.

Skate Through This Refreshed Rock Center Concourse With Rink Views

INC ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN: GABRIEL BENROTH; NEIL SHAH; MEGAN McGING; SEJUNG KIM; NATHAN MOHAMEDALI; JOSEPH GIAMPIETRO; AMY CAHILL. WATSON SALEMBIER: LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT. 2X4: CUSTOM GRAPHICS. LIGHTING WORKSHOP: LIGHTING CONSULTANT. ADG ENGINEERING: STRUCTURAL ENGINEER. AMA CONSULTING ENGINEERS: MEP. CIDER PRESS WOODWORKS: MILLWORK. TURNER: GENERAL CONTRACTOR.

FROM FRONT CIX DIRECT: CUSTOM TABLES (PRIVATE DINING ROOM, RESTAURANT). KNOLL: CHAIRS, CREDENZA. YORIE: FLOOR TILE. MUNROD FINE CUSTOM UPHOLSTERERS: CUSTOM BANQUETTES (RESTAURANT). TIGER LEATHER: BANQUETTE HAIR ON HIDE. KB CONTRACT: BANQUETTE LEATHER. BROOKLYN GRANGE: CUSTOM PLANTER TROUGH. KOROSEAL: CUSTOM WALLCOVERING. ZANEEN: BAR LAMP. THROUGHOUT ZONCA: CUSTOM FLOORING, CUSTOM INLAY. ARCHITECTURAL METAL FABRICATORS: CUSTOM PANELING, CUSTOM COLUMN SURROUNDS. HYDE PARK MOULDINGS: CUSTOM COVES. HOPE’S WINDOWS: CUSTOM STOREFRONT. LITEMAKERS: CUSTOM PENDANT FIXTURES, CUSTOM SCONCES. PORTOLA: LIMEWASH, PAINT.