MAY 1997

VOLUME 68 NUM8ER 7

DMJM Rol/etlt:invenls modernism Jortlte eXfJ(mded interiors ofa Los Angeles investment corporation. PlwtogralJhy: Nick Merrick, Hedrich Blessing.

184 FOR THE RECORD

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill designs the Washington offices of the Recording Industry Association ofAmerica.

192 SHOWTIME

Rios Associates translates a lively corporate culture into interiors for Stone Stanley Productions. :g

Ie ~ 196 CEMENTING GLOBAL TIES

'"=>

The Phillipsjanson Group designsQ.

~ Manhattan offices for Cemex.

i<F> 202 THE RAW AND THE COOKED .." Felderman Keating sets up shop in a .g'"

Santa Monica warehouse. :;:; .£)

~ I

206 HIGH FINANCE "0

'"=> DMjM Rottet expands the "0 W Los Angeles headquarters of a majorE £ investment corporation.0 .£)

£ Q. 244 UPWARDLY MOBILE £

Ziegler Cooper Architects adds a i ­fi} flexible top floor to the Dallas offices Oil

of McKinsey & Company.:g0

Q.

256

248 DON'T FENCE ME IN

Powell/Kleinschmidt works its wide-open magic on LaSalle Partners' Chicago offices.

256 ADVERTISING AGE

Resolution: 4 Architecture constructs an off-site studio for McCann Erickson.

260 CALIFORNIA MODERN

Beckson Design Associates designs Los Angeles-style interiors for one of the city's financial firms.

264 GREENKEEPERS

BNK Arch itects and The Stein Partnership design The Center for Environmental Research and Conservation.

268 BANKNOTES

R.M. Kliment & Frances Halsband Architects design a full-service bank branch in Brooklyn .

212 GLASS PLUS

Architecture Research Office designs the lobby of a residen tial building in SoHo.

216 SPEAKING VOLUMES

Stamberg and Aferiat add multiple living spaces to a Newjersey estate.

224 VIEW FINDER

Parsons + Fernandez-Casteleiro reconfigures an apartment \\~th a Central Park view.

230 UNASSUMING MANOR

Deamer and Phillips, with interior designer Peter Carlson, create a casual house in the Hamptons.

238 THIS OLD HOUSE

Alchemy Design builds an addition to a craftsman bungalow in Minneapolis.

California Modern

Beckson Design Associates interprets the regional aesthetic for a financial concern in Los Angeles.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA OFfERS a vast array of

images-from its car culture and beach

scene to its experimental architecture mak­

ing headlines worldwide. There is also a qui­

eter side to California's architectural cul­

ture that centers on its own history of mod­

ern ism tied, for example, to Schindler, Neu­

tra, Eames and the iconic Case Study hous­

es. These currents of modernism, coupled

with the inescapable association ofcomfort­

able living connected to the outdoors, were

to become Beckson Design Associates' con­

ceptual basis for the Los Angeles headquar­

ters of a California holding/investment

company. Far from arbitrary, the concept is

entirely appropriate to the project's site,

which is a 1959 building by Welton Beckett

Associates in the modern development of

Century City.

New headquarters encompass the 9,000­

sq.-ft., fifth-floor penthouse blessed with an

additional 2,000 sq. ft. of terrace space.

Coming from offices that had been replete

with the symbolic trappings of commercial

success, the client wanted its new venue to

be the very antithesis of corporate gravitas.

Casual was to be the operative adjective,

and the site's indoor/outdoor attributes

were to be accentuated. From the start, the

client, design firm principal Michael Beck­

son and associate Steven Heisler were on

the same wavelength.

Encountering the location as a depress­

ingly dark space in a state of partial demoli­

tion, the designers' initial concerns cen­

tered on bringing in daylight plus creating a

link with the terrace. They popped in three

circular skylights and determined that -,

Below: Classic l1wdem furnishings in the rece/J­tion zone are in liee/Jing with the interior land­smjJe's association with early California mod­ernism. Glass-tojJjJed partitions run through the space to maximize daylight infiltration.

SLATE FLOORING: EUROCAL. CARPET (THROUGHOUT): MON­

TEREY. SEATING AND SIDE TABLE: KNOLL. UPHOLSTERY

FABRIC: OONGHIA. LIGHTING: OUR-RED (SPOTLIGHTS); PRU­

DENTIAL (FLUORESCENTS). CUSTOM MILLWORK, GENERAL

CONTRACTOR: TASLIMI CONSTRUCTION.

O/JjJosite: Focal wall of glass-encwsed conference room is com/Josed of laminate panels tlwt have been ClIslom ground and cowred to achieve a tex­twed surface. Artwork, a composition of metal /Jlate on plywood, is by Tony Berumd.

BRERA PENDANTS: FLOS. TABLE: KNOLL. CONFERENCE AND

PLYWOOD CHAIRS: HERMAN MILLER. UPHOLSTERY LEATHER:

SPINNEYBECK. FURNITURE DEALER: ASSOCIATES PURCHAS­

ING. ART: L.A. LOUVER

PHOTOGRAPHY: TOM BONNER

260 INTERIOR DESIGN MAY 1997

glass would figure prominently in the mate­

rials palette. The interior/exterior connec­

tion is made through the floor plane, which,

as a sweeping pattern ofbiomorphic curves,

is the project's most visually arresting ele­

memo Inspired by "the early free-form mod­

ernism of the Brazilian landscape architect

Roberto Burle-Mant, the design is seamless

in its transition from carpet to exterior deck

paint. ConceptuaJly, however, this early com­

ponent of the project soJlIlion derives from

the Case Study houses," says Heisler, "where

you have a built interiol' sitting on a land­

scaped property." And, in fact, it was this tie

to period architecture that sold the client,

long appreciative of the era, on the parti.

Juxtaposing the free-flowing composi­

tion of curves is the orthogonal grid of the

floor plan. Straightforward, the scheme

gives peri metric placement to most private

offices, central position to the conference

room and adjoining open work area, plus

convenient location to an informal confer­

ence/lounge space, which is next to the

kitchen and just off the terrace. \-"hile

needs and adjacencies left little room for

experimentation in developing the pro­

ject's blueprilll, the design team found

room for investigation in its implementa­

tion. Using a finely wrought mixture of

materials and colors reminiscent of the sun­

faded tones of pel-iod Fiesta ware, Beckson

and Heisler formed an interior landscape

where "each plane connection and inter­

section is articulated thronghout the

space," they comment. Glass, as a clerestory

ribbon that virtually encircles the space,

and as both transparent and translucent

vertical planes, creates layers of u'ansparen­

cy while aiding light infilu'ation from the

perimeter. To contrast with the glass are the

two unusual treatments accorded to focal

walls at the reception zone and conference

room: One is OSB (oriented strand board),

commonly know as flake board, that has

been sanded, painted and hand-rubbed to

achieve its texture; tile second consists of

plastic laminate panels, custom ground to

Left: Second execulive office il/1/.Slmles glass enll)' and characteristic clerestOl)' lrealmenl.

WALL UNIT: PACE. BARCELONA TABLE ANO WALL COVER­

ING: KNOLl. LIGHTING: MODULAR.

Above: Privale offices at left me signaled wilh a soffil suggestive ofan awning. The linearconjig­uTalion ofthe oJJice landscalJe, exlnessed in what lhe designers lerm "sun-Jaded colors, " contrasls with lhe bold, OIganic design oflhe ({U1Jel.

SPOTLIGHT: DUR-RED. PLASTIC LAMINATE: PIONITE. GLASS:

DIAMOND NATIONAl.

express layers of texture and then stained to

put color back into the material. Both, says

Beckson, "are examples ofCOJllmon materi­

als made precious through their treat­

ments." Clearly, they impart custom detail

and a degree of finish to the space, yet the

final look is not one remotely associated

Wiell high-powered finance or corporate sta­

tus symbols. It is just this aspect that Beck­

son found mostsatisrying, '''We were able to

do something different for a type of client

thatwe normallycouldn'tdo ellis for,"

-EdieCohen

Above: An existing column in one oJthe executive oJjices was user! as a marker to sejmrate work and lounge areas and to ane/wr an overhaul IllaneJor integrated lighting.

EAMES GUEST CHAIRS: HERMAN MILLER. ALL OTHER FURNI­

TURE, WALL COVERING ANO UPHOLSTERY FABRIC: KNOLL.

LIGHTING: CSL.

1 RECEPTION 2 CONFERENCE 3 LOUNGE 4 KITCHEN 5 OFFICE 6 FILE STORAGE 7 EXERCISE ROOM 8 ROOF TERRACE

o 10 20 40 ~

FIFTH FLOOR

INTERIOR DESIGN MAY 1997 263