Chloe + Isabel is a dynamic and socially innovative jewelry brand whose new headquarters in New York City required new consideration of how the space was divided giving its rapidly growing needs.  Method Designed proposed a series of private and semi-public work spaces inside the main area already established.  The private spaces, while providing acoustic separation, required full visual connection to allow light to flow into the main open areas. To achieve this, a custom steel and glass wall was designed and fabricated from a series of modular frames, within which the door is seamlessly situated.  Individual pieces of glass shift in and out of plane to add a subtle depth the to system and to help offset the pure grid.

Consultants: Eurodent, David Kufferman, PE.

The infrastructure of the surgery center, including laboratories, sterilization areas, 3D X-ray machines and ample storage, is grouped together in a centralized core and formalized with a custom material pallet that creates the architecture of the entire facility.  Infrastructure, which is normally an ignored or hidden area, becomes the center piece of design by turning it into glowing volumes of frosted glass or lacquered volumes of custom millwork.   To offset the sterile nature of the glass surfaces, warm walnut paneled walls trisect the space into three efficient programmatic bays: Client Reception and Business in the front, the infrastructural core in the center, and Operatories along the back.  To mitigate the both public aspect of reception and the private necessity of business negotiation, the wall separating the lobby from the business area was developed with layering opacities of translucent and transparent glass in front of a purposefully booleaned wall.  The specifically designed openings allow for light transmission and monitoring of waiting patients, while obscuring business operations and client negotiations.  The effect of pragmatic planning combined with innovative use of material strategies creates a highly efficient surgery center with the highest caliber of design.

Consultants: CODE LLC (Expediting)

The façade renovation in a Landmarked building necessitated adherence to the rigorous Landmarks Preservation Commission while finding ways to maximize the visual transparency of the client’s showroom.  The high-end jewelry store wished to display the owner’s large hanging sculptures, which are scaled extensions of the jewelry, as a provocative method of advertising.  Using a module that was appropriate to the historic district, the tall slender glazing panes of the new façade maximized visibility from the street to both the jewelry and the sculptures on display inside.  The end result is a system developed that subtly attracts potential clients as they pass by and appropriately relates to the historic urban context in which it is situated.

Consultants: WB Engineers (MEP), William Vitacco Assocates (Expediting)

Method Design was competitively awarded the flagship location for a new luxury lifestyle women’s spa + fitness facility to be called PRIMP.  The project program entails the incorporation of three main elements: fitness, wellness spa, and retail/amenity. The space which is to span four floors presents the challenge of creating a continuous architectural experience.

The strategy is to define each major program element as an individual architectural feature. The wellness area is conceived as a vertical object that would sectionally traverse the multiple floors and be articulated as an opaque, private, and serene respite from the energy of the fitness areas.  The fitness area utilizes the main features of group fitness distributed between the basement, mezzanine and second floor as ‘anchor’ rooms that could organize and distribute ancillary fitness program.  Finally the amenity programs are all defined by a series of ‘multivalent’ walls that loosely organize and separate them from the greater space for privacy, while also affording a distributed point of sales for retail. The resultant space is finally tied together by a grand staircase that circulates through the four levels, while providing for an enhanced theatric means of experiencing the full facility.

Builder: DUCE Construction

The proposed lobby renovation was developed to clarify the existing space through a unified ceiling plane.  The singular ceiling element is able to facilitate natural light into the depth of the compact interior through the lightly sloping reflective Corian surface.  The sloping V-shape houses all the necessary infrastructure including additional lighting, slot diffused mechanical systems, and fire sprinklers.  Narrow slits patterned in the Corian surface control the location of both the lighting and the conditioned air.  The overall effect is that of a well-lit, unified space seemingly free of the cluttered systems.

The project also explored a potentially different designer-builder relationship by forming the team from the inception of the project.  Design, specification, and pricing are all performed real time by both Method Design and Duce.  The final proposed Lobby proposal was delivered as a ‘Turnkey’ proposal to the client.

Builder: TBD

The Quench Wine Store attempts to combine three distinctly different sales programs into a single store.  There is to be a vast variety of wine on display including a high end, environmentally controlled premium wine room.  Separated from the wine is the more traditional beer and liquor sales.  As an ancillary component designed to facilitate the other, there is a “Teas and Treats” area selling a selection of teas and product which complement the variety of wines. The legalities of the municipal zoning law required a separation for control purposes between the programs.  In order to unify them into a legally separated contiguous space, an articulated ceiling surface undulates above all three programs, while glazed openings make visual connections between spaces.  The façade is programmed to be activated by the presence of people specifically during events and tastings.  Rather than cover the windows with signage and treatments, tasting bars and tea counters line the glass and double as a window display.