2014 BOY Winner: Showroom

An improbable quirk of real estate left the penthouse of a financial-district tower languishing vacant for three decades. Finally that virgin space, 10,000 square feet with a 24-foot ceiling, has a tenant. But it’s not an office. It’s an ecologically minded office furnishings showroom, replacing a suburban predecessor.

Staffers sit at the very workstations installed to demonstrate systems for customers. Principals Andre D’Elia and Meg Graham made sure that nearly everyone gets a direct line of sight out the window to the skyline view. They also activated the long-and-narrow floor plate by breaking it up with three distinct pods built from sustainable fiberboard painted white. “While the space is predominantly open, these origamilike forms compress, expand, and frame visitors’ experiences of the products,” Graham says.

The pod nicknamed Oasis choreographs the entry sequence and provides a teleconference facility. Upholstered seating and wall-mounted TVs outfit Reveal, a break-out area. One of the few enclosed spaces, Learning Center, offers students the company’s stacking chairs, their seats upholstered in orange. 

Project Team: Anya Moryoussef; Larry Silva; Sonia Ramundi.