Peek Inside the Revamped IBM Manhattan HQ Fostering Innovation

On the heels of Gensler completing IBM’s Toronto office, the tech company tapped Gensler New York for the interiors of its Manhattan headquarters. This project—270,000 square feet across five floors, large enough to bring together 10 teams, formerly in separate offices around the city, under one roof—showcases IBM’s ethos and goals plus myriad instances of cobalt, the corporate color. “It serves as a model for uniting business units to foster teamwork, innovation, and a future-focused culture,” Gensler senior associate and studio director John Budesa says.

Those teams and visitors alike are greeted by the 40-foot-long Quantum Wave, a linear ceiling fixture by IBM Blue Studio, a physical representation of the company’s technological prowess. Similarly hued, a terrazzo staircase links the ground-floor lobby with the second floor, where the Blue Bar offers coffee by day, cocktails after hours, and the client-centric innovation studio contains a range of work lounges. Floor 10 is devoted entirely to amenities: a full-service kitchen, café, 300-seat auditorium, and 25,000-square-foot, Internet-enabled terrace—New York’s largest—that contains power outlets and 40 species of live plants.

Throughout, furnishings buck the recent trend of being overly soft and loungelike; rather, all are conceived to be both comfortable and efficient, from custom banquettes upholstered in Suzanne Tick fabric to Tom Dixon chairs. “Seating elements are functional no matter where they are in the building,” Budesa notes. Lighting is likewise practical and ambient: Antoni Arola’s Palma globes over tables, for instance, provide focused yet more diffuse illumination than typical overhead lighting. For some contrast in materials, wood and stone elements skew organic, while reflective surfaces and polished metals lean more futuristic.

There are now more than 2,000 employees working at this IBM. To accommodate various modalities, areas are divided into zones for focused tasks or collaboration, plus flex spaces that allow for relaxation and conversation. High-top tables, phone pods, and booths, grouped in neighborhoods of 20 to 30 inhabitants, enable a more individualized “design your day” approach, ensuring the flagship not only meets the needs of current employees but also anticipates those of future talent.

AMANDA CARROLL; JOHN BUDESA; JOHN MULLING; MATT TRIEBNER; SUZY HENRY; MATT MCKEE; JENNY PEI CHANG; ANDREW DAVIS; NICOLE VILCHEZ; ALEX DIAZ.

FROM FRONT
LUUM TEXTILES: BANQUETTE FABRIC (RECEPTION). TOM DIXON: CHAIRS. STEELCASE: CHAIRS (FLEX SPACE), LONG TABLE (LOUNGE). VICCARBE: LONG TABLE (FLEX SPACE). COALESSE: CAFÉ TABLES. RBW: PENDANT FIXTURES. HALCON: TABLE (COLLABORATION), BENCHES (LOBBY). BOLIA: CHAIRS (COLLABORATION). INTERFACE: CARPET TILE. AURA CUSTOM LIGHTING: CEILING FIXTURE. WEST ELM: CHAIRS (LOUNGE). BLU DOT: ROUND TABLES. VIBIA: PENDANT FIXTURES. BENTLEY MILLS: CUSTOM RUG. EVENTSCAPE: CUSTOM LIGHT FIXTURE (LOBBY). LINDNER: ACOUSTIC CEILING. THROUGHOUT SYNERGI: CUSTOM STAIR. PLATINUM: TERRAZZO FLOORING, TREADS, RISERS. MILLER BLAKER: MILLWORK.

Shop Mile-High Style at a Retail Emporium in Downtown Denver

The interior design of your project is completed and installed. . .now what? Adorn in downtown Denver provides an ingenious next step: a curated place that offers both styling services and a collection of unique items that together help the A&D trade as well as the public achieve personalized end results. The 2,800-square-foot emporium was conceived by Gensler Denver as a collaborative destination where design professionals and everyday shoppers can explore special objects—from Rachel Griffin’s Kink vases to George Nelson’s Ball clock—and experience community events under one roof. “This is retail through the lens of architecture—a space where design tells the story and every detail invites discovery,” senior associate and design director Lindsay Malison says.

She’s referring to the bright, airy layout, which, beyond the white-brick facade, is divided into vignettes conceived to take customers on a journey. Punctuating arches connect ceiling elements, all in crisp white-painted drywall, to a central vignette, where custom modular oak boxes can be easily reconfigured for changing product displays, into larger flat surfaces on which to lay out artwork, or into seating for small events—the latter two capabilities utilized for a recent workshop with watercolorist Steve Griggs. Flanking them, vivid green, yellow, and orange walls define individual product areas. Comfortable furniture pieces from Miller Knoll and Duracryl’s Durabella seamless terrazzo flooring contribute to the modern, welcoming vibe. Adds Malison: “It’s unlike anything else in Denver.”

MICHELLE LIEBLING; GLENNA TYNDALL; LINDSAY MALISON; LAUREN HUCEK; MARC PELLETIER; BECCA FAULL; HARRY SPETNAGEL; SARAH HARRISON; CHRIS FATO.

Explore This Michael Anastassiades x Fritz Hansen Seating Collab

The first collaboration between Michael Anastassiades and Danish brand Fritz Hansen is pared back yet well-executed—characteristics common to both the London-based Cypriot designer’s work, which has typically been lighting, and that of the 153-year-old maker. The After series, named for the art-world term used to reference the source for or inspiration of a piece, encompasses a solid-ash chair and table—the latter with a Rosso Levanto marble top—their minimal appearance belying the exacting cabinetmaking techniques involved. “The joinery has to be so good, so stable,” Anastassiades says of the chair’s curved backrest and perfectly squared legs. To that end, the wooden pieces are matched to the millimeter—and small details such as a gentle scoop to the seat are “subtle gestures that make the chair.” Seats come with a hard-wax oiled finish that highlights the natural grain or a richer, darker Burgundy Lazur that Anastassiades notes resembles the patina of the aged brass often used in his light fixtures.

Transform Spaces With These High-Gloss Molded Fiberglass Furnishings

Swedish gallery Nordiska Galleriet, otherwise known as No Ga, started life in 1912 selling antique furniture and modern cars; it soon ditched the vehicles and today concentrates on collectible art and design under the auspices of current owner Axel Söderberg. At the Capsule Plaza off-site show, No Ga showcased its first collection with French-Canadian creative director Willo Perron, a multihyphenate tour de force best known for major stage productions and runway shows for the likes of Beyoncé and Chanel (respectively) and retail spaces for brands such as Skims and Stüssy. But he’s also a dab hand at sleek modular furniture, as evinced by his high-gloss molded-fiberglass Porthole mirrors and Module coffee tables, which were displayed alongside biomorphic cork-top cocktail tables that architect Paul T. Frankl originally designed in the late 1940s and ’50s for Michigan-based Johnson Furniture Company—and now reproduced by No Ga Projects.

A Welcoming Center For Homeless Outreach Opens in Compton

Tasked with creating a Los Angeles County community center for the nonprofit Homeless Outreach Program Integrated Care System, Kadre Architects founder Nerin Kadribegovic and team took an unremarkable existing building and transformed it into a light-filled hub, its new facade a welcoming presence in the Compton neigh­borhood. (The firm is emerging as a leader in architectural innovation in tackling California’s housing crisis.) During Kadribegovic’s initial exploration of the 1,000-square-foot interior—consisting of two storefronts—he uncovered two separate roofs, hiding an additional 10 feet of height and enabling a vaulted, double-height space.

Skylights—as well as expansive windows—bring in natural illumination, helping to calm the visitors seeking help there. Likewise, the uplifting yellow and white palette, a nod to HOPICS brand colors, is applied with Kadre’s signature graphic approach. For the play yard and garden, sections of the asphalt were removed and replaced by verdant artificial turf, while the remaining asphalt was treated to vivid paint hues, the pattern conceived by Kadre layering cutout pieces of colored paper. The lattice-covered pathway is a riff on the gabled roof of the neighboring church, connecting the two entities and representing the power of community. “Every project, no matter how small,” remarks Kadribegovic, “is an opportunity for big impact.”