TPG Architecture Reinvents the Office to Prioritize Connection

Here’s a refreshing change for a 21st-century workplace: no open cubicles. Though this financial firm’s New York office can accommodate 300 employees, TPG Architecture skipped the sea of desks in favor of glass-walled team rooms for just four to 12 people. “The client sought a place where people could work efficiently while feeling comfortable and valued,” managing associate and studio creative director Ricardo Nabholz explains. 

The bright, dynamic space centers on a steel-and-walnut staircase that connects all three floors. Positioned in a windowed corner, its profile forms an asymmetrical pentagon, with Michael Anastassiades chain pendants of linked geometric shapes dangling down like jewelry. Employees can meet at communal areas on each landing, in a café (with greenery by Plantwalldesign) that converts into an assembly space, or on a private terrace with views over the treetops in Central Park. They can also slip into what Nabholz calls the “quiet car,” a cozy, librarylike room tucked behind a hidden door. Designed for smaller gatherings, it offers a break from the typical office atmosphere and invites employees to feel at home.