The offices are read as a construction within a construction; the architects’ interventions work in a counterpoint with the original elements of Mies van der Rohe’s design. The luminous ceiling is treated as a constant plane of reference; interior walls are capped with a 30 cm high glass transom that defines the limits of the new design and marks the transition from intervention to original construction.
The circulation space establishes the referential and dynamic aesthetic. The vertical/sectional articulation reinforces the hierarchical uses: reception, circulation, workstations, and perimeter office entries.
The subtle palette of colors and materials, including maple wall panels, integrally tinted plaster walls, beige marble floors, cherry cabinetwork, and brushed aluminum ceilings, was selected both to respond to the existing bronze window frames, tinted glass, and aluminum-frame ceiling, and to provide a customized environment for unique pieces of furniture and objects of art from Chairman Marshall Cogan’s private collection.
“The modernist ethic is celebrated in design of offices for ‘21’ International Holdings in New York’s Seagram Building.”
Interior Design, May 1995