250 Park Avenue Lobby

In New York's competitive office building market, 250 Park Avenue possessed a dated, narrow lobby in need of renovation to create a new, impactful entry gesture that would be memorable for prospective tenants and compelling enough to retain existing tenants. The design to renovate and rebalance the lobby aimed to solve circulation problems while optimizing daylight, transparency, and its presence on the street.

The redesign pairs modern concepts of hospitality and technology with an homage to the history of the building. The reopening of a disused entry and removal of heavy awnings reinstated the building's original through-block layout and allows pedestrian access and greater daylight penetration from both Park and Vanderbilt Avenues. Additionally, a hospitality model of security/reception was adopted wherein security desks were deconstructed and personnel instead greet tenants out on the lobby floor or assist visitors at self-service kiosks. Representing the past, present, and future, the lobby features a wall with cast plaster medallions that replicate exterior medallions original to the 1920s building, and an opposite wall lined with diffuse, polished aluminum panels that present a futuristic, sleek surface. The main space is activated by a continuous LED video canvas ceiling that displays kinetic, moving art—various scenes of galactic skies, blue clouds, and Rorschach water patterns.