Site Visit
Summaries -
I had been to this
building a number of time before, as Haworth had space their before their new
showroom at 200 Park Ave. But this was a
other-worldly experience.
This site visit came
at a time where I was introducing to my first year Interior Design students their
first small office design project! Being
a student of the design world, and now a student of sustainability myself,
well...I cannot help but be influenced by what I now know and what I now
see. It has made me a different teacher,
and maybe a better one.
Here at Cook + Fox,
the classical "hierarchy" of the office, and "traditional office
systems" went out the window...out
one of the gorgeous windows that you can see from any place in the office
(there is even one in the ladies' room!
I cannot speak to the men's room!)
The "structure" of the office physically was atypical with not
a recognizable Steelcase or Knoll desk in sight. The only more traditional elements were the
chairs, and while I did not inquire about those specific choices, I am sure
they were as well thought out as the rest.
The office of Cook
+ Fox talked the talk and walked the
walk, especially through its materiality and obvious "counter-culture!" Alhough, I still wonder if such a feat is
really possible for all offices? I saw alot
of custom and not alot of "packaged" office design, but is that
realistic?
This made for some
interesting lecture and conversation in my Studio class where I challenged my
students to challenge themselves and maybe the system!
Still, there was poetry...the
incoming bees, the "3-Sisters Garden",the carpet tiles conceptually
layed out to mimic the randomness of the forest floor, the bike room,
biophilia, plyboo and the goal of an office full of "Happy, healthy
employees!" as pointed out by our guide.
What information did
Senior Associate Pam Campbell reinforce?
·
The icky
problem that IS the NYC sewer system
·
That on-site
power generation flips the balance
·
The link
between health & productivity
What did I learn that
I did not know...The Co-Gen system was a new term to me, though I did know a
little about it, and that I never gave thought to the idea of air flowing up
from the floor being more efficient and less intrusive to people.
All of this, and the
wickedly awesome models made for a very interesting site visit that I was
inspired enough to share with my students, and I place I hope to bring them to
in the future...
41 Cooper Square...(April 6, 2012)
I was excited to finally see this building that I had only passed by driving in my car or a NYC cab. I have assigned Morphosis for my Studio I Cube project, and so I felt like I knew the building without really knowing it and seeing it in person.
Boy, was I wrong.
Yes...the "money
shot" as I called it was a beautiful juxtaposition of line, shape and form
and light as you gazed up from the main level to the top, but Kirsten Childs
said it best when she reminded us NOT to spend money on the things that "do
not support people directly." She
could not be more right here.
While the volumes and
voids created around the caged "campus" as the designers call this
element..."stairs" as I call it... are exciting and dynamic, the
stairs (20% of the building's budget, by the way...)are really not all that
comfortable to sit on, nor are they that aesthetically pleasing to look
at. The side comments out of the mouths
of some students we ran into seem to deem the design a flop, and more of a root
and a solution to an inconvenience (small elevators that skip floors) and a "pass-thru"
that rarely merits a stop. There seems
to be a misuse of space here entirely, with the studios and offices playing
second fiddle, and it left me wondering how this was necessary to build or if
the demolished former Hewitt building needed to be replaced at all.
So let's call it what
it is. The views from the staircase
maybe were designed more out of ego rather than a real nod to sustainability,
and, not to criticize him at all, our
very nice guide, Andres, could not really speak to the specifics of this LEED
platinum building, but more tellingly admitted that the "red
elevator" fire stairs were the preferred means of circulation, that this
building is referred to as a "refrigerator" by students because it is
so cold, that the windows were not operable nor could students have access to
the beautiful patio that is only used for more high profile guests, and that
"Frankie's Kitchen" was the real social center of 41 Cooper Square,(and
Frankie's did not appear to be much more than a percentage of the budget for
this project!)
I admit that the
exterior is really freaking cool to look at, and I loved the pattern of the
open windows on the East facade seen when I arrived from the back of the building. The space photographs well, but the
"dust collector" corners and lack of concepts coming to fruition
frustrates me...
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