After 30 years in our previous office location, our New York office moved to its new home at 512 Seventh Avenue (between 37th and 38th Street) in Midtown Manhattan. The office is located in the Fashion District between Times Square and New York Pennsylvania Station.
The space is nominally 51,000 rentable square feet and spans an entire floor of two adjacent buildings. There was a small shell space, nominally 2,500 rentable square feet that required a complete fit-out which was designed to include the reception and front of house client conferencing center. The remainder of the space and furniture required modifications to optimize their functionality and character.
The space was designed to create a new work environment so that the physical office space better reflects the ethos of the staff and firm, and its place in the design community. The goal for the space was to receive LEED Gold certification under the Commercial Interiors system, which was confirmed and certified by the USGBC in October of 2009.
From the onset of project planning, LEED-CI was pursued as a top design priority. Because our background includes the MEP design of numerous LEED projects; the decision to pursue LEED Certification was quickly agreed on. After establishing a goal of LEED Gold, one of our main focuses of the programming was to utilize as much of the existing accommodations to meet the new space requirements. For the minimal fit-out work required, special attention was paid to the materials installed, including recycled content, regional materials and VOC emissions.
For the MEP design, maintaining as much of the existing conditioning system with its current distribution routing was critical to reduce construction waste from demolition. Special attention was paid to cleaning the existing system and increasing the quantity of ventilation air in order to improve indoor environmental quality after construction. Replacement of all water fixtures and faucets was a priority as well in order to reduce the water consumption of the existing system. Waterless urinals were installed to help educate both the plumbing designers in the office, as well as clients that could potentially use the technology on future projects.
A third and final focus of the project was in relation to the maintenance and operation of the facility. Details on procurement plans for green cleaning products and Energy Star computers were established. In addition, training of employees and maintenance staff on the Company's green goals was incorporated to help maintain our commitment to our green office.
With these three areas of concentration (Materials, MEP and Operations), the project was able to adhere to LEED guidelines for very little cost compared to standard fit-out projects. Our new space now serves as an example to employees, clients and potential clients that we are committed to living by the principles that we advocate for.
FXFOWLE was the project architect with WSP F+K providing MEP, A/V, IT and commissioning services. Construction services were performed by Citadel Construction Corp. The general program space is typical office with some accommodations for specialty printing and IT services. The space features open office work stations, private offices, conference spaces, pantries, a plan room and a server room.
Project Information
Client: WSP Flack + Kurtz
Size: 51,000 sf
Value: $2,000,000
Status: Completed in 2008
Photo: Courtesy of FXFOWLE/James D'Addio