Green Machine

Street cred meets LEED credits at Gensler in Rockefeller Center

C.C. Sullivan -- Interior Design, 9/1/2007 12:00:00 AM

Before Gensler moved to a new office in Rockefeller Center, that Midtown mecca's greenest feature was the nine-story Tannenbaum that upstages the plaza's gilded Prometheus Fountain each holiday season. The 66,000-square-foot office, largely the creation of managing principal Robin Klehr Avia and design director Mark Morton, is super-green, rating a Silver from the U.S. Green Building Council. Just as important is the fact that the design melds sophistication and comfort, nature and artifice, art and craft, all making for a decidedly livable showplace of a work space.

Split between the 15th and 16th floors, the office is alive with designers sharing and critiquing ideas in addition to occasionally letting off some steam. That collegiality is largely due to both levels' center hubs, large open team areas that preserve daylight as well as openness. These spaces come with counter-height filing cabinets, topped with plastic laminate, and chrome bar stools. "We have lots of tables, too," Morton says. "It's part of our culture to meet out in the open." There's only one short rank of principals' offices, and they have glass walls and no doors, he notes.

Shades of gray riff on the Silver rating. Most intense is the long, narrow resource library, painted a deep charcoal and lined with drawers of fabric swatches, shelves of catalogs, and prep areas. A utilitarian pass-though, captured from an awkward remnant of core space, serves as a busy and brainy workroom—the firm's gray matter, perhaps.

Visitors aren't likely to see the library. Instead, they encounter crisp lines and a muted palette of grays, whites, metallics, and frosted or clear glass. The hardwoods of millwork and case goods, sometimes textured or gouged, bring warmth to the other otherwisewise city-slick setting.

When the sun comes out, the entire composition recedes, overtaken by green glimpses of a neighboring roof garden. Artwork stands out, too. On a recent day, outsize über-doodles by CJ Collins lined the entry corridor and hung near the chunky walnut communal table in the lunchroom. "We decided to promote the use of art—rather than just putting up a nice wood wall," Avia says. "We're planning exhibits of photography, fashion illustration, industrial design, and sculpture."

What could the gray play and the artwork possibly have to do with sustainability? They bring urbanity and luster to the green scene, showing that culture and environmental awareness are compatible, even in a 1930's shell. As Avia points out, "We've been encouraging our clients to embrace sustainable strategies, and now we can walk them through our space and say, 'Look how we did it.'" Ergonomic chairs and office systems are low on VOCs and high on recycled content. Adhesives, sealants, paints, and coatings are also low-VOC. Many materials are rapidly renewable and/or sourced regionally. Old prints and plans are even repurposed as sketchpads.

The big LEED-rated moves benefit the firm's own staff—as they should in the great Art Gensler's HQ. Finishes and air smell fresh. Low workstations, minimal shading, and dropped-pad ceilings obstruct little of the sunlight reaching across the 100-foot-wide floor plates. Perhaps because the Office Tour is so institutionalized here, vinyl wall lettering explains the recycling and janitorial policies.

The graphics program carries the design message throughout. For example, the marketing suite's clear glass partition is decorated with decals of design icons: Eero Saarinen's Tulip chair, Isamu Noguchi's cocktail table, Michael Graves's kettle. Restroom door signage wins on sheer inclusiveness, with 40 languages represented.

Inclusive, too, is to the firm's hospitality-inspired work approach. "It's a lifestyle. People spend so much time in the office that they need to feel comfortable and create community," Avia says. "We visually display what our brand is about—spaces that support innovation."

Rather than wowing clients with a staircase near reception, which sits in the middle of a row of slick meeting rooms, Avia and Morton smartly buried the big statement deep inside the studio—another way to keep work flowing. The carpeted steel steps wrap a column that graffiti artist Spook spray-painted in blue, yellow, and lots of red. That's the color not only of Promethean fire but also of Gensler's corporate identity. Look more closely, and you'll notice that the graffiti conceals firm buzzwords: excellence, passion, curiosity, purpose, and of course design.

PROJECT TEAM: AMBROSE KELLY; WYETT BAKER; BENJAMIN SMESTAD; ANA ESPEJO; HEDIEH WINTER; WILLIAM ROHDE; JOSEPH LAURO; JOHN BRICKER; BRIAN SHEEHAN; BETH NOVITSKY; KORAPIN THUPVONG; JENN RICHEY. TABLE (LIBRARY): TROY. PENDANT FIXTURES: KARBOXX. FLOOR TILE (LIBRARY, ELEVATOR LOBBY, RECEPTION, HALL, ADMINISTRATION, LUNCHROOM): STONE SOURCE. SIDE CHAIRS (LIBRARY, OFFICE AREA): M2L. STOOLS (LIBRARY), FILE CABINETS (OFFICE AREA), PARTITION UPHOLSTERY (OFFICE), TABLE (MEETING AREA): KNOLL. MATTING (ELEVATOR LOBBY): RUCKSTUHL. SIDE TABLE (RECEPTION): LIGNE ROSET. CUSTOM RUG: EDWARD FIELDS. CURTAINS (RECEPTION), CUSTOM PENDANT FIXTURE (ELEVATOR LOBBY): SHIMMER SCREEN. SOFA, CHAIR (RECEPTION), GUEST CHAIRS (OFFICE): HOLLY HUNT. CUSTOM PORTFOLIO TABLE (RECEPTION), CUSTOM DESK, CREDENZA (OFFICE): DATESWEISER. ARMCHAIR (LIBRARY): DAVIS FURNITURE. CHAIRS (CONFERENCE ROOM): HBF. PANEL MATERIAL (CONFERENCE ROOM, MEETING AREA): CARVART. TABLE (OFFICE AREA): MODERN SEED. CEILING FIXTURE (LUNCHROOM): LUZIFER LAMPS. WALL TILE (KITCHEN): TREND. CABINET SURFACING, COUNTER SURFACING: FORMICA CORPORATION. WALL COVERING (MODEL SHOP, MESSENGER LOBBY): APPLIED IMAGE. DOOR HARDWARE (OFFICE): ELMES DOOR HARDWARE. TABLE (OFFICE): ZOGRAPHOS. CHAIRS (LUNCHROOM): DONGHIA. FLOOR TILE (STAIRWELL): HASTINGS TILE & BATH. WORKSTATIONS (MARKETING): HAWORTH. CHAIRS: HERMAN MILLER. TABLES (MEETING ROOM): ICF. CHAIRS: GORDON INTERNATIONAL. TURF (MESSENGER LOBBY), CARPET: INTERFACEFLOR. MILLWORK: WILLIAM SOMERVILLE; T&R WOODWORKS. LIGHTING CONSULTANT: HDLC ARCHITECTURAL LIGHTING DESIGN. ACOUSTICAL, AUDIOVISUAL CONSULTANT: SHEN MILSOM WILKE. STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: THORNTON TOMASETTI ENGINEERS. MEP: AMA CONSULTING ENGINEERS. GENERAL CONTRACTOR: LEHR CONSTRUCTION.