Knoll Design Center : New York : 1979-1982

The Knoll Design Center project included and centralized many Knoll corporate functions within a 70,000 sq.ft. renovation of a 7 story Cast Iron Loft building in the Soho Historic District of Manhattan. The project included Landmark restoration of the building, planning and design of 20,000 sq.ft. of corporate office interiors, planning and design of a 13,000 sq.ft. furniture showroom space.

Three strategies were established for the development of the project.

An adaptive re-use strategy for re-programming the building, a restoration strategy for returning the building back to its original state as part of the Soho Historic Landmark District, and an archeological approach to historic design details in a dialectic with the new design interventions.

A detail concept for the interior architecture was established at the outset whereby discoveries in the building process would be allowed to remain and exist in juxtaposition with the new work.

The approach, to old and new details, attempts to enhance the procession through the space. The placement and detailing of the major display platform attempts to give understanding to the 'new' suspended away from the old.

Architecturally the idea of 'suspension' is closely linked to lightness. Emotionally, it should achieve the idea of a simplistic journey.

The project was expanded and redesigned in 1992 as part of the KnollGroup. A new entrance and integrated window display elements were added to provide product and showroom areas open to the public. The detailing of these new elements referenced, at a smaller scale, the original suspension display details employed for the main stairway to the expanded lower level.

Published internationally, the Knoll Design Center was nominated for a 1982 National Trust Historic Preservation Award and featured in the September 1982 issue of Progressive Architecture with the subsequent renovation being featured in the May 1992 issue of Interior Design Magazine.