Dot-Calm

The Mufson Partnership throws New York's TMP Worldwide/Monster some beautiful curves

Anne Guiney -- Interior Design, 12/1/2002 12:00:00 AM

"A job about nothing!" That's how Larry Mufson happily describes his work for TMP Worldwide/ Monster. The principal of his namesake New York architecture firm, he means that the space—a 1920s printing factory with 14-foot ceilings and 5-foot-wide industrial windows running the length of the perimeter—hardly needed dressing up.

Good bones aside, the dot-com's 300 employees had specific needs, which it was up to the Mufson Partnership to fill. Among them were spaces to promote collaboration. On each of the 27,000-square-foot floor plates, Mufson placed three to four round "creative pods" 14 feet in diameter. These rooms are distinguished by aluminum-framed acrylic enclosures and paint-grade wood doors. Inset with red, blue, and green glass disks that match the upholstered chairs inside, the 9-by-6-foot doors pivot shut should strategy sessions get too boisterous.

In keeping with the circular pods, Mufson avoided 90-degree angles in the open areas. Two low serpentine walls near reception combine function with a strikingly organic form. The walls allow for "hoteling," when visitors from regional offices plug in a laptop at built-in desks and log on. Dilbert never had it so good.