Fenwick & West

Client Story, Legal

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93% of global consumers expect more of the brands they use to support local social and environmental issues.

Upcycling or reusing and refurbishing materials is a new way corporations are enhancing their sustainably practices and social responsibility programs.

The Flatiron District in New York, is one of the most recognizable and beloved sites on Manhattan, so when law firm Fenwick & West moved to their new office in the heart of the neighborhood, they wanted to celebrate the special location.

Immediately the biggest challenges for the office were pointed out: the design needed to utilize the space as-is as much as possible, and the project had to produce minimal waste.

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“Fenwick is interested in being green and reusing rather than throwing things out that are perfectly good and usable."

Mary Lou Olson, Senior Director of Administration, New York, Fenwick & West

“If this was just a typical law firm, they probably would have just gotten a dumpster and gotten rid of all of it,” said Andrew Witlin, Senior Project Architect at Huntsman Architectural Group who worked on the project. “But this was good, quality furniture.”

While renovations were being done, the existing furniture was disassembled and taken off-site, then brought back after the space was ready so that most of the components found a second life in the Fenwick & West office.

As attorneys, privacy was essential, but that didn’t stop the Fenwick team from embracing collaborative environments that could be easily changed to accommodate the company’s immediate needs. With a design outside the stuffy stereotype of what a law office should look like, they wanted wide, open space and green pops of color that reminds the user of Madison Square Park located right outside the office walls.

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Additionally, the new office allowed Fenwick & West to embrace healthy alternatives for their employees.

“Fenwick’s culture is all about movement; all about well-being, and one of the things we’ve done is convert all workstations into sit-stand desks."

Elvira Gershengorn, Senior Project Interior Designer for Huntsman Architectural Group

A bank of open-office seating pods located with a view over the neighborhood gives users the option of semi-private workspaces and tables arranged around the center of the office gives small groups a location to collaborate.

The overall outcome is an office that speaks to who the company is and where they are geographically, celebrating the Flatiron District, so that the space is a place where employees and clients are excited to be.

Project Details

Headquarters:
New York, NY

Partnerships:
Henricksen
Huntsman Architectural Group

Product Solutions

Seating:
Clarity®, Normann Copenhagen, Rise™, Reflect®, Mindeshare®, Retreat™, Seek®, Vicinity®

Workspaces:
Further™, Stride®

Tables:
Altitude®, Structure™

Storage:
Align™, Essentials™, Involve®