Inside JPMorgan Chase’s Historic D.C. Offices by Studios Architecture

The nation’s largest bank, JPMorgan Chase & Co., is also one of the oldest, tracing its origins to the late 1700’s. “Respecting history and supporting art and culture have been a part of our DNA since inception,” explains Farzad Boroumand, the bank’s executive director and global real estate head of design. It was only fitting, then, that when choosing a home base for its new mid-Atlantic headquarters, the financial institution would purchase a venerable property: the 1922 Bowen Building in the heart of D.C.’s Historic Fifteenth Street Financial District.

Much like JPMorgan Chase itself, which is a synthesis of many institutions that have merged or been acquired over the years, including First Republic Bank last month, the Bowen is a hybrid of several early 20th-century structures that had been combined and expanded in phases. Although the 12-story limestone edifice is not landmarked, its listed status and contribution to a historic district stipulated a sensitive renovation—and an equally conscientious design partner. After inviting proposals from several firms, the client selected Studios Architecture. “Studios stood out by suggesting innovative interior solutions that were appropriate to the classical exterior,” Boroumand recalls.

For JPMorgan Chase, Studios Architecture Designs a LEED-Certified HQ

The firm’s work at the LEED Silver–certified headquarters, totaling 231,000 square feet, encompassed a subterranean mechanicals level, the lobby and an adjacent ground-floor community center, four levels of employee and executive workspace, and a client center with a terrace. The primary challenge was to deliver the perfect marriage of old and new. “The client sought a modern scheme that spoke to who JPMorgan Chase is and would carry the organization, with its rich history, into the future,” says Studios board chair and principal Marnique Heath, who teamed with the client to lead the project with the support of Studios associate Ethan Levine, both architects from the firm’s D.C. office.

Many of the gestures, Levine notes, “were centered on thresholds, creating opportunities for visitors to pass into the bank and make them feel a sense of belonging.” That starts at the main entry sequence leading from Fifteenth Street. The client requested that it convey welcome and a sense of transparency, which Studios answered by introducing a glazed portal with revolving doors and, above, a glass canopy.

The Office Design Features Restored Details

Studios Architecture Creates a Flexible Workplace for JPMorgan Chase

The client center, up on the building’s 11th floor, houses various conference rooms and meeting areas as well as a generous terrace. Continuing the transparency theme, Studios carved out a double-height volume along the terrace-side perimeter, which serves as an airy waiting area. The firm also made substantial facade alterations here, expanding the glazing to create more openness and invite broader views of the Washington Monument and the White House. A new feature stair, its balustrade incorporating the same metalwork used on the ground floor, leads to the executive level on 12.

An elevator bay with tinted, mirrored panels and a series of LED mobile-esque chandeliers provides access to the three renovated floors of flexible work areas accommodating some 500 employees. Architect and client collaborated to uncover future-oriented strategies for the office proper. “We investigated entirely different models of working, incorporating features such as virtual meeting spaces and more homelike and lounge-y environments,” Heath recalls. A diversity of furniture types and finishes, along with 2,500 square feet of open lounges on each work floor, encourages staff members to access different settings as they shift activities throughout their day.

Ultimately, the Bowen Building stands as an example of how legacy institutions like JPMorgan Chase can build a framework for serving their communities on multiple fronts—one that acknowledges the past while making much-needed modern interventions to cocreate a better future for all.

Behind the Design of JPMorgan Chase’s D.C. Office

Studios Architecture: ashton allan; monica castro; kristian passanita; tammy chan; ruben smudde; jennifer hicks; jesse wetzel; katherine luxner; june zhu; maria percoco; gabriel boyajian

gordon: landscape architect

interior plantscapes: interior plantings

mcla: lighting designer

tce & associates: structural engineer

GHT: mep

columbia woodworking; jefferson millwork & design: millwork

boatman & magnani: stonework

gilbane building company: general contractor

bright chair: sofa, chairs (library)

modernfold: sliding door

B&B Italia: shelving

bernhardt design: tables, credenza (library), sofa (community center), coffee table, white lounge chairs (conference area)

spinneybeck: desk leather (lobby)

shickel corporation: custom screens

flos: custom pendant fixtures (lobby, client center)

bendheim: custom paneling (elevator lobby)

tech lighting: chandeliers

whitegoods: cove lighting

Stellar Works: armchairs (waiting area)

cassina: table

emerald ironworks: custom stair

planter­worx: custom planters (waiting area, terrace)

pilkington: glazing (exterior)

boon edam: revolving door

alpolic: canopy

skyfold: retractable walls (community center)

Lambert&Fils: globe pendants

vibia: pendant fix­tures

datesweiser: worktables

arper: chairs

martin brattrud: banquettes

9wood: ceiling panels (com­munity center, office entry)

londonart: wall­covering (conference area)

walter knoll: blue lounge chairs

axis lighting: linear pen­dants (conference area, lounge)

BuzziSpace: dome pendant (lounge)

spacestor: cus­tom shelving

stylex: coffee table

Scandinavian Spaces: lounge chairs

muuto: sofa, ottomans

astek: wall­covering

naughtone: two-tone sofa

milliken: carpet tile (lounge, workspace)

Andreu World: tables (ter­race)

Janus et Cie: stools, chairs, sofa

Tuuci: umbrella

stepstone: pavers

andrew neyer: pendant fixtures (office entry)

adler display: environmental graphics

Greenmood: petrified moss

viccarbe: benches

herman miller: task chairs (workspace)

knoll: workstations

armstrong: ceiling tile

applied image: privacy graphics

evensonbest: furniture supplier

transwall: glass partitions

guardian glass: exterior glazing, fins

kawneer: curtain wall, storefront system

ege: carpet tile, rugs, broadloom

Sherwin-Williams: paint

Milbank’s London Office by LSM Makes Return to Work Worth It

In early 2020, after months of anticipation, LSM had just completed the New York headquarters of international law firm Milbank when the pandemic forced staff to Zoom from home indefinitely. Nearly two years later, as restrictions eased, LSM unveiled Milbank’s London office at 100 Liverpool Street, the net-zero, amenities-packed, mixed-use anchor of the city’s revitalized Broadgate neighborhood. This time, however, things were different. Cube culture was out; remote work and 30-second commutes were in. What would it take to make folks embrace office life again?

In a word: “joy,” according to Milbank managing partner Julian Stait. The new workplace had to signal that, “People here are at the center of what we do.” To that end, says LSM founding partner and Interior Design Hall of Fame member Debra Lehman Smith, “We tailored every inch of the 100 Liverpool space to be active, energizing, and conducive to good work. It is very different from one’s home, and that is very intentional. This is an escape from home. With every detail we thought about what would make the client want to be here.”

Previously, Milbank’s London operations comprised 54,000 square feet split between four noncontiguous floors in two adjacent buildings in the Moorgate area. Since moving 1 mile east, the office’s 140 attorneys now occupy 90,000 square feet on two inter­connected floors, with spectacular views of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

How LSM Revamped Milbank’s London Office

The site sits adjacent to a cross-rail hub, which appealed to Milbank’s commitment to sustainability. In fact, the entire project was in many ways a large-scale recycling effort. Hopkins Architects created the L-shape base building by connecting two old structures with a rotunda topped by a glass canopy, then stripped the tired 1980’s cladding from the original and replaced it with an undulating glazed facade. Retaining 32 percent of the original steelwork and 49 percent of the concrete significantly reduced the embodied carbon in the new structure, and 99.8 percent of waste associated with the project’s construction was diverted from landfill.

LSM amplified and echoed the curvilinear vibe throughout the interior, from custom crescent-shape sofas and dimpled workstation corners to a contrasting marble floor border that highlights the organic geometry as it snakes around the curvy floor plate. However, when it came to laying out workstations and enclosed offices along the perimeter of the long floor plate, Lehman Smith and team relied on regular geometry for efficient space planning.

The upper floors of the building were progressively stepped back to reduce massing from the fine grain of the urban fabric and create a series of planted terraces. “The terraces and the ability to work and meet within a garden setting were major factors in the selection of this site,” Milbank partner Suhrud Mehta explains. Since the law firm was the lead tenant, leasing the top two floors, eight and nine, LSM was able to tailor the building to the client’s needs while it was still under construction. That included adding and relocating doors for greater access to the rooftop English garden as well as installing an electrical infrastructure to power special outdoor events. LSM also moved building services away from key terrace views and expanded the HVAC and ventilation systems to accommodate a robust, round-the-clock food-service program.

The Office Design Features Bespoke Details

The two most dramatic bespoke moves were cutting a new slab opening for an interconnecting stairway in the atrium and then, with the help of art consultant Patrick Morey-Burrows, commissioning three large-scale, site-specific pieces by contemporary artists. “Each of them is a brilliant star!” proclaims Lehman Smith, whose signature has long been creating workplaces to embrace amazing art.

As staff and visitors enter the atrium and make their way to conference and office spaces, they pass through and around Paul Morrison’s Cyclorama. His overscale, monochromatic botanical motifs encircle the curved walls on both levels and play off the black-framed glazing in a way that is reminiscent of a Victorian garden conservatory.

Art Installations Add Visual Intrigue

Another focal point that draws circulation to key spaces is Idris Kahn’s Integration of Hope, 2021, which covers an entire rounded wall on the eighth floor. Composed of 15 layers of hand-mixed gesso—consisting of slate and marble dust, Prussian blue, and ultramarine pigments—the result is a violet tone so intense that it can only be described as sonorous. What looks like a color study from afar takes on new meaning as one draws closer and realizes that Khan has used oil paint to hand-stamp overlapping words and phrases that express his ideas about diversity and inclusion into an abstract, universal language.

Out on the terrace sits Jeppe Hein’s Sine Curve I, a sculptural installation of head-height reflective panels arranged in a meandering formation. As the viewer moves about, their own reflection bounces around, shifting the focus from themselves to the London skyline, to the office behind them, and back. It’s a good reminder to stay focused in a world that is at sometimes unfamiliar and disorienting—and to stop and smell the roses on the terrace before getting back to work.

Inside Milbank’s London Office

LSM: rebecca montesi; mario degisi; yun gui; donnie morphy; mark andre; evie soileau; shahram ameryoun; james black mcleish

fisher marantz stone: lighting consultant

art source: art consultant

akt ii: struc­tural engineer

hilson moran: mep

unifor: millwork

specialist joinery group: metalwork

structure tone: general contractor

spinneybeck: chair, sofa upholstery (atrium)

knoll: side table

wilkhahn: chairs (conference room), table (meeting room)

quadrant: carpet (conference room, meeting room)

newmat: ceilings

mechoshade: paneling

cassina: table (breakout)

interstuhl: chair (office)

vorwerk: carpet tile (office area)

sas: ceiling system

Ultrafabrics: ultraleather

campo­longhi: flooring

ergonom: furniture supplier

dulux: paint

A Passive-House Design in Palma, Spain Without a Drop of Paint

Architects Paloma Hernaiz and Jaime Oliver, cofounders and directors of OHLab, believe that a building is only as attractive as it is sustainable. “If you know it’s polluting the environment, it probably won’t appeal to you,” Oliver argues. Climate change has altered our perspective. Glass curtain walls, for example, have lost some of their allure. “Today, if you see a building that’s entirely glazed, it’s not as nice aesthetically because you should know it doesn’t work well,” he says. By that measure alone, Paseo Mallorca 15, an apartment building the firm designed in Palma, on the Spanish island of Mallorca, is a stunner: Covered in pine shutters, it relies on passive heating and cooling techniques and consumes little energy.

Hernaiz and Oliver, who are married, met in New York while earning their masters’ degrees at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation and later worked together at OMA in China. They founded OHLab (the O and H pulled from their last names) in Shanghai in 2007 but have since moved back to their native Spain and are now based in Mallorca, where Oliver grew up. In 2016, they completed their first passive-house project, Casa MM in Palma. “They haven’t turned on the heating or AC,” Hernaiz notes. “It was a breakthrough for us because we realized how easy it is to achieve.” Soon after, she and Oliver won a competition for the apartment building in central Palma. They have been building energy-efficient dwellings ever since.

A Sustainable, Passive-House Design by OHLab

The developer asked for an iconic design befitting the prime location beside the tree-lined Riera canal. “He also requested something that would represent the values of the 21st century in terms of society and architecture,” Oliver says. He and Hernaiz argued that a passive house structure would do just that. As glass curtain walls were the image of modernity in the 20th century, maybe sunshades would be a hallmark of the 21st.

OHLab worked within the limited parameters of a trapezoidal lot and urban planning codes. The 38,000-square-foot building faces three streets: two narrow, quiet ones and the larger, noisier Passeig de Mallorca, which offers the best light and views. This setup determined the layout of the 10 units, with living areas facing the main road and bedrooms in the back. Each street also has different zoning regarding height limits, which resulted in Paseo Mallorca 15 having a zigzag roof line of four, six, and eight stories.

A Home That Heats and Cools Itself

Hernaiz, Oliver, and their team gave the back of the building a facade of prefabricated concrete panels and covered the southern side in moveable thermo-treated pine slats that act as a solar filter. Residents can adjust them manually from their balconies, closing them in summer and opening them in winter. OHLab incorporated panels of four different depths to account for the wood’s natural irregularity and aging, “So it won’t look like a mistake,” Oliver explains. At night, the building glows like a paper lantern.

The design draws on vernacular Mallorcan architecture, such as Mediterranean pergolas and shutters, and uses such traditional techniques as cross-ventilation to keep rooms cool. “These are basic principles that were lost during the last century, but it’s a much smarter way to build,” Hernaiz says. A heat recovery system moderates the temperature and circulates fresh air, insulation is nearly 10 inches thick, and the structure is airtight. Although the building has heating and AC, Hernaiz and Oliver hope residents won’t have to turn them on. The result is a heating and cooling energy demand of 15 kWh per square meter per year, which not only is in line with Passiv­haus standards but also a 90 percent less demand than a conventional building.

The Apartment Building Features Local Plants and an Indoor Spa

“For us, sustainability is not just an add-on,” Hernaiz states. “It is embedded in our design decisions.” Each environmentally responsible choice contributes to a cohesion that extends from the facade to the bedrooms. It proves that a contemporary urban high-rise can be beautiful, rooted in its landscape, and respect the world at large.

Behind the Sustainable Design of Paseo Mallorca 15 

OHLab: rebeca lavín; robin harloff; loreto angulo; pedro rodríguez; silvia morais; mercé solar; m. bruna pisciotta; tomislav konjevod; josé allona; claudio tagarelli; eleni oikonomaki; agustín verdejo; luis quiles

jonathan bell studio: landscape architect

hima estructuras: structural engineer

amm technical group: mep

estudi linia: civil engineer

contract stone & ceramic: stonework

construcciones regla de oro: general contractor

cassina: chairs (courtyard)

il giardino di legno: table

malift: car elevator (garage)

la pecera mallorca: stool, chairs (living room)

blasco: sofa

gordiola: pendant fixtures (dining room, bedroom)

de la espada: table (dining room)

sollos: chairs (dining room, bedroom)

Gubi: floor lamp (living room)

Mogg: side table

flou: bed (bedroom)

inbani: tub

contain: pendant fixture (kitchen)

miele: appliances

paola lenti; tribù: outdoor fur­niture (terrace)

decágono: furniture supplier

grupo gubia: timber facade installation

Dornbracht: sink fittings, tub fittings

Art and Nature Take Center Stage in This Aspen Residence

CCY Architects does not typically design a long entry sequence for houses in Aspen, Colorado, which gets over 12 feet of snow a year. But for a mountainside residence overlooking the Roaring Fork Vall­ey, the firm built a 90-foot path between the parking area and the front door. By local standards, “That’s a long, long walk,” says CCY principal Alex Klumb. But the clients, an art-collecting couple, sought to highlight a recent acquisition: a reflective PVD-coated stainless-steel head by the Swiss artist Not Vital. CCY placed the sculpture at the end of an allée of aspens leading to the entrance. “It frames nature, draws you to the door, and slows everybody down before releasing to an incredible view,” Klumb explains. It also establishes the home’s focus on art and the outdoors.

Besides the Not Vital sculpture, the clients hadn’t earmarked specific pieces for the house, so they worked with Kleinberg to see which fit best: a Calder over a guest-room bed, a James Rosenquist at the top of the stairs. In the dining room, a David Hockney drawing echoes the moun­tains outside the window. It hangs above three square oak tables that can be joined or separated depending on the size of the group—the sort of practical touch that makes the home livable. The paintings and views may be spectacular, Kleinberg says, “but the interiors have to hold their own.” The result is as layered as a work of art.

A Mountainside Vacation Home Designed by CCY Architects

through galerie carole decombe: mirror (entry)

apparatus studio: con­sole

11 ravens: custom billiards table (rec room)

adam otlewski: side table

soane britain: chairs (dining room)

minotti: pendant fixtures

focus fireplaces: fireplace (guest sitting room)

perennials fabrics: sectional fabric

through 1stdibs: lamp, coffee table, chair

cassina: armchair

romo fabrics: armchair fabric

scott group studio: rugs (guest sitting room, living room)

colorado pool designs: custom pool, spa (terrace)

zachary a. design: tables

knoll: sofas, lounges, chaises

a.r.s.antiqua: custom wood cocktail tables (living room)

fernando mastrangelo studio: custom square side tables

blanche jelly: round side table

through valerie goodman gallery: custom floor lamp

cowtan & tout; edelman leather: sectional fabrics

glant textiles: lounge chair fabric

wud furniture: nightstand (bedroom)

bourgeois boheme: custom sconce

dune: custom bed

nobilis paris: headboard fabric

through twentieth gallery: bench (hall)

Roll & Hill: pendant fixture (study)

warp & weft: custom rug

nada debs: side table

charles h. beckley: daybed cushions

mark alexander fabrics: cushion fabric

Design Within Reach: chairs

token: barstools (rec room)

arabel fabrics: sectional fabric

adam otlewski: side tables

arrigoni woods: wood flooring

ergon engineered stone: tile flooring

grabill windows and doors: windows, doors

lift studio: land­scape architect

ls group: lighting design

kl&a engineers: structural engineer

woody creek engineering: civil engineer

anthony lawrence-belfair: custom furniture work­shop

structural associates: general contractor

SheltonMindel Designs a Miami Home Fit for Beach Days

Every story has a backstory. The Florida condominium Interior Design Hall of Fame member Lee F. Mindel shares with his work/life partner, José Marty, is a tale of lucky strikes emerging from downbeat situations. The plot unspools as the SheltonMindel founder and architectural designer were awaiting takeoff from New York to Miami for a project meeting, when their client canceled last-minute. They flew south anyway, then were forced to quarantine there as COVID hit. The city was effectively dead, Mindel recalls. “It was doom and gloom.”

Given the Mindel’s art-world ties—he is a chairman of the Design Basel and Design Miami vetting committees and owns Galerie56 in TriBeCa—it’s no surprise the place hosts enviable pieces. Though precious price-wise, they portray a breezy insouciance. A neon “MIA” at entry might be taken for the city’s nickname but is really part of a 1940’s sign sourced in Helsinki. Furthering the upbeat vibe there is Kate Shepherd’s Endless Summer, in Miami Vice hot-pink tones. Hanging on the floor-to-ceiling oak divider separating living and guest areas, Gisela Colon’s dimensional acrylic sculpture resembles “something you might see under the sea,” Mindel says. A diminutive Josef Albers work rests oh-so-casually on the oak kitchen’s counter. Big and bold in the adjoining dining zone are Domingos Tótora’s pressed-paper circular construction and a piece by Seymour Fogel, and the beachy guest chamber displays Rupert Deese’s oil-on-plywood disc recalling raked sand. Even the main bathroom gets the art treatment: Nightshop’s round P.O.V. in resin, acrylic, and ink.

A Miami Abode Designed to Spotlight Art and Color

cassina: sofa (living area), sofas, table (balcony)

through galerie kreo studio: cocktail table (living area)

through friedman benda: chair

Chilewich: floor mat

bitossi: vase

kartell: stool (living area), side tables (main bedroom)

the future perfect: floor lamp (living area), stool (bathroom)

artek: stools (balcony)

molteni&c: cabinetry (kitchen)

marc krusin: table (dining area)

cappellini: stools

venini: glass artwork

galerie jacques lacoste: panels (main bedroom)

miniera: floor lamp (main bedroom)

pierre marie giraud: table lamps (bedrooms, foyer)

Tom Dixon: stools (bedroom)

Gensler Enlivens the Street-Level of Chicago’s Willis Tower

At 1,451 feet, the Sears Tower was the tallest building in the world when it opened in Chicago in 1973. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, it rises 110 stories over the Loop neighborhood and is a modernist icon, with a geometric structure and a facade of blackened aluminum and bronze-tinted glass. It’s also a landmark visible from across the city—so much so that locals still call it the Sears Tower, though it was renamed the Willis Tower in 2009. But it was always, as architecture critic Blair Kamin put it, “a dud at street level.” An austere plaza and a granite berm wrapping the base kept pedestrians at bay, and the public could only enter to visit Skydeck, the observation platform. In 2015, Blackstone bought the building and hired Gensler to rethink the site, which has resulted in a mixed-use attraction for office workers, tourists, and Chicagoans alike.

Todd Heiser, principal and managing director at Gensler’s Chicago studio, grew up in the city and found it surreal to take on the high-profile project. “It’s walking on hallowed ground,” he begins. “We approached it with humility, serving to amplify its positives and correct what was imperfect.” Willis Tower, he notes, was the product of an era of urban flight and single-use office buildings; it was designed to be impenetrable. But in the 21st century, aside from the early years of the COVID pandemic, cities have come roaring back to life and tenants seek dynamic, welcoming workplaces.

Designing an Amenities-Rich Hub in the Willis Tower

Gensler brought the supertall up to date with a 463,000-square-foot makeover, including new entrances, lounges, and a transparent six-story podium with a food hall and a rooftop park—elements that prove why the firm not only ranks number one among the Interior Design Top 100 Giants but also third amid the Hospitality Giants (as well as 14th on the Healthcare list).

Heiser and Hansoo Kim, principal and design director at Gensler’s Washington office, started by researching how people used and moved through the building. They met with families visiting the Skydeck, who were often also looking for a place to have lunch, and office workers hoping to get to their desks quickly. “We had to support demographics of all ages,” Heiser says, and consider “the person who wanted to linger and the person who wanted a friction-free environment.” Kim adds that to create a vibrant multipurpose destination, they had to connect different types of programming, like coworking and retail, and “blur the boundaries between work, life, and play,” he notes.

Gensler Creates an Expansive Communal Space for All Ages

The block-long building has entrances on three different streets (Wacker, Jackson, and Franklin). Originally, there were two for tenants and one for Skydeck visitors. Gensler opened them all to the public. “The entire base of the tower is now porous,” Heiser continues. Like a transportation hub or civic plaza, it hosts everyone from United Airlines employees who work in the building to toddlers and Midwestern retirees; the Skydeck alone draws 1.7 million visitors a year. Security is discreet. There are guards and cameras, but nothing like the airport-style measures we’ve come to expect in skyscrapers since 9/11. Touchless turnstiles use fingerprint scanners to admit employees into the tenant elevator bank at the building core.

Gensler built the glass-walled podium on what had been an unwelcoming granite plaza, extending the base of the building to the sidewalk. The centerpiece of the addition is a soaring atrium and food hall called Catalog, a nod to the Sears mail-order business, that brings together local eateries beneath an enormous skylight. Diners can slide onto oak benches under bistro-style lights and look up at the tower. “Our goal was to create a Chicago streetscape inside the atrium, so you feel like you’re outside,” Kim explains. Above Catalog, a public roof garden with winding paths and native prairie grasses faces a neighboring park. Like the rest of the podium, it connects the building to the street and draws pedestrians into the once-forbidding landmark.

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Inside the Spacious Street-Level of the Willis Tower

Gensler: grant uhlir; benjy ward; michael townsend; neale scotty; scott marker; stephen katz; hua-jun cao; kelly bogenschutz; marissa luehring; shawn fawell; todd desmarais; jeffrey peck; kim lindstrom; kate pedriani

skb architects: facade architect

olin: landscape architect

thornton tomasetti: structural engineer

esd: mep

v3 companies: civil engineer

burlington stone; campolonghi: stonework

parenti & raffaelli: millwork

clayco corp.; turner construction co.: general contractors

cascade coil drapery: chain drapery (lounge)

bloomsburg carpet: rug

pk-30 system: backlit wall

B&B Italia: sofa

cassina: black, white coffee tables

phantom hands: green chairs

novum structures: skylight (food hall)

tegan lighting: catenary system

concrete collaborative: flooring

newmat: stretched ceiling (lounge)

Avenue Road: green barrel chairs

hanover archi­tectural products: pavers (roof)

rich brilliant willing: pendant fixtures (food hall)

arflex: teal chairs

established & sons: stools

tacchini: sofa (small lounge)

estudio persona: chairs

stahl + band: coffee table

Pulpo: side table

linetec: custom aluminum cladding

boston valley terra cotta: terra-cotta paneling

Tick Tock: Inside a New York Boutique for a Swiss Watchmaker

Stepping into AP House in New York is like entering the intricately detailed mechanism of an Audemars Piguet timepiece: Each part placed just so creates something truly out of the ordinary. Here, in the city’s Meatpacking District, a former industrial area turned high-style shopping district, the expectation is yet another luxury boutique. How­ever, what Bonetti/Kozerski Architecture has instead formulated for the Swiss watch company is a showroom that redefines the traditional bounds—and experience—of retail.

“We started with a question: What if Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet had an apartment, and you could go visit?” architect Enrico Bonetti recalls of the concept for the 5,100-square-foot boutique, one of 13 AP Houses around the world. That home, as Bonetti and cofounder Dominic Kozerski have envisioned it, would be open-plan, relaxed, and dedicated to indoor-outdoor entertaining. It also would be an ideal envi­ronment to admire and showcase their craft: men’s and women’s watches, which sell for between four and six figures.

AP House Melds Retail and Hospitality Design 

Occupying the second floor of a landmarked 19th-century brick building, AP House feels like the spacious living quarters of a lounge-loving friend. Dinner parties can be imagined with guests gathered around the nearly 17-foot-long solid-sapele dining table, a custom piece by Bonetti/Kozerski that was installed by New York City firemen, sitting on an equally impressive bench or supple armchairs by Umberto Asnago. Gossip could be swapped over coffee at the quartz-topped bar or while sunk back deep into the semicircular sofas set around the 1970’s Charlotte Perriand cocktail table, while someone fingers the keys of the Steinway & Sons baby grand piano in the corner. On a sunny summer day, alfresco entertaining would be an easy sell on the 2,800-square-foot terrace that is furnished with outdoor pieces by Bonetti/Kozerski’s collection for Sutherland.

In all these locations at AP House, such acti­vi­ties are possible. To give the client the flexibility to offer multidisciplinary hospitality experiences, the firm equipped the space with a state-of-the-art chef’s kitchen and all the necessary back-of-house functions for special events. In all these locations, too, watches are sold.

The Design Reflects the Inner Workings of Watches 

Watches are, after all, the stars of this shop, and visitors are surrounded by them, whether at first obvious or not. Bonetti and Kozerski tapped their expertise in gallery design (a few blocks north is the Pace Gallery headquarters, the architects’ most recent effort), and partnered with an Italian exhibition-case specialist to create museum-quality displays for Audemars and Piguet’s raison d’etre. From the oak-paneled entry-cum-gallery, curated with rotating artwork, one steps into an oval, golden jewel box where historic Audemars Piguet timepieces (the brand was founded in 1875) loaned from its dedicated museum in Le Brassus, Switzerland, are on view in a series of sleek half-dome vitrines. They all stand to attention around a central installation of an exploded watch caliber.

Elsewhere, above the communal table is a run of dual-glass pendant fixtures, both decorative and functional, and a statement chandelier sets the conversation sofas aglow well into the night. Hidden LEDs glimmer softly around the perimeter, where brick walls hung with Audemars Piguet–curated art are an homage to the street-front facade.

“When we first visited the site, we were struck by the historical brick facade and the overall horizontality that flowed out to the terrace,” Kozerski says of the former industrial space that once played host to a market. “So, our initial approach was to take those elements and amplify them.” Some exposed steel H-beams have been lacquered black, and the front wall’s original arched windows add a handsome, quirky sense of proportion. Like any good New York loft, hints of former grit are visible among the glamour. Here that glamour just happens to be a work of art one wears on their wrist.

Walkthrough AP House by Bonetti/Kozerski Architecture

bonetti/kozerski architecture: lorenzo bellacci; mat tarczynski; nathalie coppens; stephanie po; nanxi su; carolina hasbun

L’Observatoire International: lighting designer

derive engineers: mep

archstone builders: general contractor

craz woodworking: custom table, custom bench (dining area), console (lounge)

lasvit: custom pendant fixtures (dining area)

giorgetti: chairs (dining area)

sacco carpet: custom rug

ik studios: custom bench (gallery)

ozone light: chandelier (lounge)

i 4 mariani: sofas

Dedar: sofa fabric (lounge), chair fabric (sitting area)

cassina: cocktail table (lounge), blue armchairs (sitting area)

sutherland furniture: outdoor furniture (terrace)

perennials: seating upholstery

gandia blasco: pergolas

thomas hayes studio: stools (bar)

liaigre: beige chairs, floor lamp (sitting area)

henge: cocktail table

goppion: custom displays

secco sistemi: storefront, windows

marc phillips: custom rugs

promotech: vitrine fixtures

pureedge; viabizzuno: lighting

Meyer Davis Envisions a Hotel That Offers a Cinematic Nod to Rome

2022 Best of Year Winner for International Hotel Restoration

The W Rome is like nothing we’ve ever seen. Nor is the hotel like anything in the vast and far-reaching hospitality portfolio of Meyer Davis co-principals Will Meyer and Gray Davis, soon-to-be inductees into Interior Design’s Hall of Fame. “We’re known as masters of editing,” Meyer begins. “But this project turns the speakers up to 11.” He, Davis, and Zoe Pinfold, senior associate and co-director of the firm’s Los Angeles studio, nixed any trace of minimalism in favor of exuberance and flat-out cinematic glamour.

“By peeling back layers we discovered the reason Rome is so special, it’s where civilizations and cultures were layered on top of each other,” Meyer continues. “That amazing collage drove our narrative.” Jumping in, Davis adds, “We used the phrase: We got lost in the city.” Yet when guests stroll the Ludovisi district and branch off from Via Veneto, its main corridor, to find their way to Via Liguria high above the Spanish Steps, they are indeed promised la dolce vita upon passing through the W’s portals. While the hotel boasts three points of entry, the main one’s glazed cube is not only the showpiece but also Meyer Davis’s ingenious introduction to a tricky site, composed of two buildings dating to 1889. The property was first a hotel, with shops on the ground floor and a restaurant added in 1914. During the ’40’s, the story takes an unsavory turn, the buildings reportedly commandeered by Nazi troops. From the ’60’s to 2002 they were offices, and then empty when purchased by Omnam Group and King Street Capital Management.

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Transforming a historic property into the W Rome hotel

The cube or “gasket,” as the team calls it, solves the immediate problem of tying together the buildings, one six stories high and the other four, for a total of 150,000 square feet. Then, organization assures a unified experience. Guest quarters, 162 keys including 13 suites, populate both—as do amenities. Establishing see-and-be-seen scenes, they include a knockout reception and lobby, a jazzy bar-lounge, Giano restaurant, Zucchero café, and a pool and bar on the rooftop. A fitness center and meeting rooms figure into the mix, as does a clandestine sculpture garden located at the rear of the property. “There are no dead ends,” Davis notes. “Visitors can wander all over and never get stuck.”

Meyer Davis created the entry experience as a procession of see-through spaces, starting with reception. It’s a fantastical Roman garden, simultaneously classical and irreverent, composed of a verdant mural by Constanza Alvarez de Castro surrounding a trio of shiny stainless-steel check-in kiosks. Next comes the lobby, its carved stone walls surrounding a sweep of black-and-white marble flooring, the stonework nodding to that of nearby churches. The standout here, however, is what really ties site to city: an oval enclave, a lounge within a lounge, with luxe rosewood paneling and a gilt ceiling, that’s an undisputed homage to the Pantheon. It all anchors a lively mishmash of furnishings, most of which are custom, as are many elements throughout. “We designed more than 200 pieces made by Italian companies,” Pinfold says.

Meyer Davis elevates hotel dining through design

Lively is an understatement for the hotel bar-lounge, a generous space Meyer Davis utterly transformed from bland to bellissimo with arches, moldings, and three heavily veined types of Italian marble for the floor, creating a setting evocative of ancient Rome. Large rectangular light fixtures with a Colosseum-like vibe cast an attractive glow on guests enjoying apertivo on ample curvaceous seating, upholstered in sunset orange, periwinkle blue, or an op art–esque peach/brown. It’s all amplified by surrounding mirrors, including Florence photographer Massimo Listri’s image of a classical statue-filled gallery mounted on mirror, a kind of Italian trompe l’oeil.

Come 8:00 p.m., all thoughts in Rome turn to dinner. At W, that’s at Giano, helmed by acclaimed chef Ciccio Sultano, who helped create yet another series of rooms. In addition to private dining, three rooms are arrayed in an enfilade with dining spaces on each side of a main axis. It’s a dense environment, buzzy with disco music reverberating off stone and brass surfaces as the evening progresses. Meanwhile, copious walnut millwork has niches inset with layers of backlit acrylic and glass behind blackened steel for a prismatic effect. Arguably most striking is the supreme approach to color. Chairs and banquettes are upholstered in deep green, cobalt, and terra-cotta mohair, settees in calming blush. “’Collage it up’ was our approach,” Davis notes.

Guest rooms reference Italy’s legends

Collage reaches its pinnacle in the guest quarters, which range from 215 square feet to 850 in the presidential suite. Each room feels unique. “We tried to do something that hasn’t been seen before,” Pinfold explains, “starting with the background color, a light gray leaning to blue.” References to Italy’s legends abound. Channeled leather headboards, for example, “are inspired by Carlo Scarpa,” she adds. Tables reference Memphis. Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni’s iconic Arco lamp illuminates the presidential suite. Seating on the terraces is covered in a pattern derived from an archival Hermès textile. The design was hand-painted, then printed on outdoor fabric—by a decades-old Roman fabricator, of course.

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meyer davis: stephanie schreiber

lombardini22: architect of record

lighting design collective: lighting consultant

extra ordinario; mobil project: custom furniture workshops

cc tapis: custom rugs (bar)

artemest: stool

cassina: armchairs (lobby), cocktail table (presidential suite)

giovannozzi: wall covering (lobby stair)

flos: lamp (presidential suite)

Tuuci: umbrellas (pool)

silhouette outdoor: custom chairs, custom tables (pool), custom sectional (terrace)

arte 2000: custom fountain (courtyard)

contardi: sconces (suite bathroom), lanterns (terrace)

laufen: tubs (suites)

pictalab: custom mural (café)

Bert Frank: floor lamp (junior suite)

dooq: dining chairs (duplex)

grupo arca: custom vanity, custom floor tile (restroom)

italpoltrone: custom bench

ven global: custom lighting

loloey: custom rugs, custom carpet

class design: custom pillows, custom cushions, custom drapery

LSM Modernizes a Multilevel Workplace in Midtown for a Financial Firm

Mid-century office towers are fixtures of the New York skyline. From the MetLife Building to Black Rock, they make up much of the commercial real estate in Midtown but are woefully out of date and ripe for demolition. (Even Skidmore, Owings & Merrill’s 270 Park Avenue has met the wrecking ball.) Low ceilings and large floor plates make for dark interiors, while frequent columns and clunky mechanical systems constrict layouts. Yet for Donnie Morphy, senior director at LSM, these 60-year-old buildings have their charm. “They have great expressions of steel and strong organizational templates,” he says. “There are a lot of things you can’t get rid of, but there’s also a lot you can react to and embrace.” He knows this first-hand. Recently, LSM did just that at the ’60’s office space of a financial firm, creatively updating the interiors so they rival those in any skyscraper of today.

The client engaged LSM to conceive a workplace and a conference center across several levels of an International Style building. The goal was to promote interaction among staffers and give them a light, bright environment—both of which would be difficult given the 50,000- to 100,000-square-foot floor plates. LSM was familiar with the challenges of mid-century structures, having transformed offices in the Seagram Building and Lever House. Led by Interior Design Hall of Fame member Debra Lehman Smith and James McLeish, the firm has shown that with a clever use of material and volume, older buildings can become an asset for clients. “Simplicity is deceptive. Our design for this project embraces the complexity of simplicity,” Lehman Smith says.

LSM conceived a plan that encourages employees to move around, connect, and collaborate. The client envisioned various hubs spread across the office, forcing people to take different routes throughout the day and meet colleagues from other teams. At one such intersection, for instance, a terrace—furnished with Richard Schultz’s 1966 table and chairs—meets a pantry with seating by Space Copenhagen and Foster + Partners. The client also sought circulation at the perimeter, rather than private offices, so employees could have access to natural light and take in views of the city as they walked to get coffee.

Though lined with banded windows, the perimeter could feel cramped, with 8-foot ceilings, baseboard heaters, and steel columns every 20 feet. So LSM covered the columns in mirror, a technique the firm has used in new-builds like 55 Hudson Yards. “The idea was that you could demateri­alize the perimeter and make it feel like a new curtain wall,” Morphy notes. Adds partner Terese Wilson, “It reflected the exterior and the light and made everything feel brighter.” The team also carved out the drywall between the ceiling beams, going to the underside of the slab to gain over 2 feet of height. They brought the same technique to the conference center, heightening the ceiling wherever possible to create more breathing room and add alcoves illuminated by LEDs.

LSM employs such curves throughout to soften the building’s structure and 90-degree angles. Meeting rooms and stairwells are rounded, as are furnishings, like reception’s Charlotte Perriand LC7 chairs, marble-topped coffee table, and long ecru sofa. The conference center’s feature stair widens at the top and bottom to form “an elegant curvature that pulls you up,” Morphy says. It’s one of the many subtle touches that gradually reveal themselves to the visitor. “As you walk through, you see layers of detail that create the whole,” Wilson says. As Manhattan reckons with a glut of empty offices and companies increasingly favor new construction, LSM proves there may be life in these old buildings yet.

LSM: james mcleish; mario degisi; mark andre; nathan strieter; nilay akbas; sofia zavala; zibo zhou

fisher marantz stone: lighting consultant

ojb landscape architecture: landscape architect

thornton tomasetti: structural engineer

jb&b: mep

Island architectural woodwork: millwork

mcgrory glass: glasswork

commodore construction: metalwork

unifor: custom furniture workshop

structuretone: general contractor

cassina: chairs (reception)

svend nielsen: custom desk

knoll: benches (reception), side tables (reception, conference center), chairs (meeting room), furniture (terrace)

walters: custom stair (conference center)

stelton: bowls (conference center)

herman miller: chairs (conference room)

Tarkett: carpet (conference room, meeting room)

oluce: lamp (meeting room)

wausau tiles: pavers (terrace)

milliken: carpet (hall)

tile bar: floor tile (pantry)

viccarbe: stools

ultraleather: stool upholstery

campo­longhi: marble supplier

spinneybeck: leather upholstery, paneling

Verona Carpenter Architects Transforms a SoHo Loft into an Artful Home

Laura Mattioli, an art scholar, curator, and collector, found her SoHo loft, and the one two floors up that now houses the Center for Italian Modern Art, on a tip from a friend back in 2011. A native of Milan, Mattioli had been looking for a place in Manhattan where she could open the foundation to spread the word about the modern and contemporary art of her homeland, but she needed a large, open space on one level that she could easily move works in and out of for exhibitions. Her friend had heard about a handsome cast-iron building on Broome Street with full-floor apartments that were about to come on the market. Mattioli immediately booked a flight to New York and within days she had nabbed two of them—one for CIMA and one for herself.

“Usually lofts are long and narrow with light only on the two shorter sides,” she says. That’s because the buildings typically stand shoulder to shoulder. Her building, however, which dates to 1873, has a single-story Con Edison utility structure next door, so the apartments from the second floor up also have sunlight streaming in all along the eastern side. Then, too, the ceilings are high, and the layouts offer one vast space overlooking the street and well-proportioned rooms off a wide hallway toward the back. And, the location couldn’t be beat: SoHo, a 19th-century dry goods district, was colonized in the 1970’s by painters and sculptors who turned old industrial spaces into live-work lofts, leading to an explosion of galleries in the area. Although perhaps better known today as a shopping destination, the neighborhood is still home to many creators and arts organizations.

Finding an architect proved trickier than finding the space, however. The first two Mattioli hired were more interested in making a statement. But she wanted the architecture to take a back seat to the art—some inherited from her collecting father, some purchased herself. Then she discovered Irina Verona, co-principal of Verona Carpenter Architects, who understood Mattioli’s point of view. “We like the approach of ‘light architecture’ that respects the surroundings and what happens in it,” she says, speaking of the work she and co-principal Jennifer Carpenter have been doing together since founding their firm in 2017, after Verona had taken on Mattioli’s project.

Verona first completed the center, which opened in 2013. Then came Mattioli’s 4,500-square-foot apartment, which, because it was to be a home, would be “more personal,” the architect notes. But otherwise, the priorities remained largely the same—“quiet architecture for a lot of amazing pieces,” referring to both Mattioli’s art and furniture, much of it mid-century.

She left the two-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath layout largely unchanged but switched up the primary bathroom and a walk-in closet for better flow and to create space for a new staircase to a storage and mechanical mezzanine (another new stair leads to a small sleeping area). Verona also added a terrace—a maneuver that required obtaining approval from the city’s Landmark Preservation Commission because SoHo is an official historic district in which changes are strictly controlled.

The three-dimensional, one-of-a-kind art in the public areas is even more riveting. Sculptures by New Yorker Barry X Ball—two standing 10 feet high and one of them inspired by Michelangelo’s Pietà Rondanini, also in Milan—occupy one end of the open living/dining area. On the other side of the space, furniture by Gio Ponti, Alvar Alto, and Marco Zanuso hold their own near the fireplace. In the newly enclosed kitchen, tribal masks from Mozambique and Mali stand on a counter, inches from the olive oil. High on a wall in the hallway, rough granite blocks wrapped in steel cables are hung, daringly, over an 18th-century sideboard of intricate inlaid wood from Mattioli’s childhood home. The artwork, by Giovanni Anselmo, weighs a ton, literally, and Verona was responsible for ensuring that it would stay put.

Throughout the apartment she added plywood on one or both sides of the wall studs to ensure art could be hung securely. For the wall hosting a 1-ton piece, she had the studs reinforced with metal as well as additional wood. Then, to be safe, the art was also bolted right through the wall.

verona carpenter architects: ana maria reyes; hakan westergren

jim conti lighting design: lighting consultant

northeast contracting group: terrace contractor

old structures engineering: terrace structural engineer

charles g. michel engineering: mep

think construction: general contractor

dwr: sectional (living area), chairs (dining area, kitchen), sofa (study), table (terrace)

mdf italia: table (dining area)

cassina: chair (living area)

valcucine italia: cabinets, countertops (kitchen)

wolf: cooktop

franke: sink

Add tag via side panel:

Fritz Hansen: table

porcelanosa: custom vanity (powder room)

hansgrohe: sink fittings

kravet: wallpaper (powder room, guest bedroom)

valsan: towel bar (bathroom)

flavor paper: wallpaper (bathroom, study)

through 1stdibs: bookcases, sofa (alcove)

wyeth: nesting tables (study), bench (primary bedroom)

vitsoe: shelves (study)

artemide: lamp (primary bedroom)

breakwater bay: sconces (terrace)

nuimage: awning

lualdi: doors

halo: track fixtures

element lighting: recessed fixtures

benjamin moore & co.: paint