Project Details
- Project Name
- Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice
- Architect
- Gensler
- Client/Owner
- The Ford Foundation
- Project Types
- Institutional
- Project Scope
- Renovation/Remodel
- Shared by
- Madeleine D'Angelo
- Project Status
- Built
Expanded Coverage of the 2020 COTE Top 10 Awards appeared in the October 2020 issue of ARCHITECT.
A sensitive reimagining of Kevin Roche’s Ford Foundation Building balances preserving its innovative structure and making it more sustainable, healthy, and inclusive for the next generation.
Interview by Katie Gerfen
How did Gensler get involved in this project?
Edward Wood, design director: The building wasn’t fully sprinklered; it had to come to code, and we were brought in to do an evaluation. It’s a big project to remove the ceilings and bring standpipes and sprinklers throughout so the president, Darren Walker, felt it was time to reevaluate everything.
How were sustainable strategies integrated into the design process?
Wood: The building was very private office–intensive. As a whole, the design shifted to a predominantly open environment where you can see through the building. Almost everybody either has a view or a window, or looks onto the garden or the perimeter. And there was a treasure trove of beautifully detailed furniture and elements that had been in the project, so we used a substantial amount of existing furniture that was restored and refurbished.
In doing the garden design, we built in accessible lifts and sloped a lot of the walkways. We paved them with reused brick to create the ability for anyone, either in a wheelchair or with any kind of disability to migrate or travel through the building. It is part of a Ford vision that everybody should have access to all things.
David Briefel, sustainability director: Ford Foundation’s core values are focused on the idea of being transparent and inclusive. That was informing some of these decisions to move toward the egalitarian side of planning, which by its very nature helps us with all of the environmental and sustainable features, from health and access to daylight to more efficient energy planning.
Were there any sustainable design innovations in this project?
Breifel: The innovation of the project is fitting all of the puzzle pieces together. We were trying to figure out if we could get solar panels on the roof. But when we were doing those studies, unfortunately they posed an issue with landmarks, being visible from the ground level. There were certain things that we did explore and the client was in favor of, but there were limitations. But that’s the beauty of design, when you put restrictions on it. What come out on the back end are the creative solutions to make all of those limitations or restrictions work.
What are some of the biggest lessons learned from this project?
Briefel: These are clients who are values driven. And the way those values get translated into a project adds to the authenticity of a project that you can’t replicate. I think that’s the goal: to find the values of whatever client we’re working with and try and be able to translate them into the projects. That’s what brings out the real richness.
Metrics Snapshot:
COMMUNITY
Mandatory Metrics
Walk Score: 100
Transit Score: 100
Bike Score: 73
Community engagement: Collaborate: A partnership was formed with stakeholders to share in the decision-making process, including development of alternatives and identification of the preferred solution.
For a full list of metrics, visit aia.org.
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This article appeared in the June 2020 issue of ARCHITECT.
Kevin Roche’s 1968 Manhattan headquarters for the Ford Foundation was a trendsetter of major proportions: It proved that an indoor atrium arrangement (an idea that had been circulating for offices since Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1906 Larkin Administration Building in Buffalo, N.Y.) could be optimized to the modern office tower, and it has spawned countless imitators in the five decades since its completion. Charged with renovating the landmark, global firm Gensler didn’t just retrofit the structure for the 21st century, it also reinforced what made the original design so influential to begin with.
On the technical front, Gensler ticked off a long list of key goals, including improving fire safety, accessibility, and energy performance with prudent interventions such as an updated sprinkler system, ADA-compliant ramps, and more efficient lighting and bathroom fixtures. Reflecting the foundation’s democratic vision, the firm also engineered a more egalitarian working environment by shifting the office plan so that more employees can enjoy views to the surrounding streets and the famed atrium (although that layout, like in all workspaces, may have to be revisited to conform to new social distancing requirements when offices in New York reopen).
Always the design’s centerpiece, the greenhouse-like atrium has been rendered still more active and attractive, with a touch-and-smell garden for the sight-impaired, new areas for public gatherings, and an improved glass façade and ceiling canopy that fill the space with daylight. With its thoughtful renovation, Gensler succeeded in reigniting the building’s functional and formal excitement and helping it to live up to the ambitions of its new name—the Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice.
Project Credits:
Project: Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice
Location: New York
Client: Ford Foundation
Renovation Architect/Interior Architect: Gensler, New York . Robin Klehr Avia (project principal); Madeline Burke-Vigeland, FAIA (principal/project director); Ed Wood, Lydia Gould (principals/design directors); Ambrose Aliaga-Kelly, AIA (principal/technical director); Johnathan Sandler (principal/strategy director); Bevin Savage-Yamazaki, Assoc. AIA (project manager); Jonas Gabbai (design director); Karen Pedrazzi, AIA (technical architect); Thomas Turner, AIA, Anthony Harris, AIA, Ian Korn, AIA, (project architects); Meghan Magee, Lissa Krueger (project designers); Kate Sherwood (design manager); David Briefel (sustainability director); John Bricker (principal, Gensler Brand and Graphics);
Craig Byers (design director, brand, Gensler Brand and Graphics); Andrea Plenter Malzone Velez (graphic designer, Gensler Brand and Graphics); Kevin Carlin (project manager, brand, Gensler Brand and Graphics)
Original Building Architect: Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates
Structural Engineer: Thornton Tomasetti
MEP Engineer: Jaros Baum & Bolles
Construction Manager/General Contractor: Henegan Construction Co.
Landscape Architect: Jungles Studio, in collaboration with SiteWorks
Lighting Designer: Fisher Marantz Stone
Owners Representative: Levien & Co.
Landmarks Consultant: Higgins Quasebarth & Partners
Audio Visual, IT, Security & Acoustical: Cerami & Associates
Food Service: Cini-Little International
Vertical Transportation: Van Deusen & Associates
Fire Safety & Code Consultant: Milrose Consultants
Brick Conservator: Integrated Conservation Resources
Fitness Consultant: Club Design Concepts
Atrium Fountain Consultant: Delta Fountains
Fire/Smoke Modeling: Code Consultants, Professional Engineers
Risk Assessment: Thornton Tomasetti; Weidlinger Associates
Accessibility Consultant: United SpinalAssociation
Furniture Restoration: Thomas J. Amato Co.
Architectural Woodwork: Miller Blaker
Lighting Fabrication/Restoration: Crenshaw
Ornamental Metal Fabrication/Restoration: Amuneal Manufacturing Corp.
Wood Flooring: Haywood Berk Floor Co.
Architectural Concrete Flooring: Azzarone Contracting
Flooring Installation: Architectural Flooring Resources
Drapery/Window Treatment: DFB Sales
Size: 250,000 renovated square feet; 415,869 gross square feet
Cost: Withheld
Materials and SourcesAcoustical System: Norcon Communications (system designer, with Cerami); Striano Electric Co. (installation); Atlas Sound (sound masking)
Building Management Systems/Services: BMS: Skyline Automation, Alerton (Energy management or building automation system)
Carpet: Bloomsburg Carpet Industries; J+J Flooring Group
Ceilings: Saint-Gobain Ecophon; Armstrong
Concrete: Azzerone Contracting
Fabrics/Finishes: Holly Hunt (upholstery)
Flooring: Forbo Flooring Systems (Marmoleum); Tate Access Floors (raised flooring)
Furniture: EvensonBest (furniture manager); Knoll (office furniture); Legacy Furniture by Warren Platner (reception furniture, chairs, tables), Halcon, Walter Knoll, Andreu World, Vitra
Glass: Bendheim
Lighting Control Systems: Designplan Lighting; Edison Price Lighting; EWO; Focal Point; H. E. Williams; JESCO Lighting Group; Lithonia Lighting; Lumenpulse; Reggiani Lighting; Tech Lighting; Zumtobel
Metal Panels: Centria
Metal Doors: Pioneer Industries
Paints/Finishes: Benjamin Moore; Pratt & Lambert
Photovoltaics/Other Renewables: N/A
Plumbing/Water System:
Plumbing: Preferred Mechanical, Inc.
Various Products: Lacava; TOTO
Roofing: Siplast (built-up roofing)
Wallcoverings: Xorel; Forbo Flooring Systems; Acrovyn
Special surfacing: Corian Wall Panel
Floor/Wall Tile: Fireclay Tile; Mosa; Nemo Tile Co.
Signage & Environmental Graphics: Design Communications Ltd.
Windows/Curtainwalls/Doors:
Ellison Bronze (entrances; custom upswing doors); Pioneer (metal doors); Miller Blaker (wood doors); International Office Concepts (sliding doors); Dawson Doors (interior doors); Beletz Bros. (glass doors)
Project Description
This project is a winner of a 2020 AIA COTE Top Ten Award.
From the AIA:
The historic Ford Foundation headquarters, completed by Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates in 1968, was hailed as a modernist architectural icon. The new overhaul, a landmark in modernist preservation, transforms a 50-year-old building into a 21st century workplace and public amenity.
The redesign maintains and enhances the building’s original character while significantly improving functionality, transparency, and accessibility. Many spaces, finishes, and furnishings were redesigned to be seamless with what already existed. The LEED Platinum renewal also modernizes the structure with New York City safety code and New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission requirements.
In 2018, after a two-year renovation, the landmark building reopened as the Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice. More than a headquarters, the center is a vibrant, accessible hub for champions of social justice. The design approach reflects the foundation’s core values of transparency, collaboration, inclusion, and empowerment. Previously, private offices lined the atrium perimeter, giving a select group the most privileged views. Today, the few remaining private offices and enclosed spaces line the outer edge of the building, making the atrium visually accessible to everyone and providing a clear view from 42nd to 43rd streets. With the Ford Foundation’s desire to include like-minded tenants and also increase convening space, the design team developed a more efficient floorplan for the workplace, thus allowing over 50 percent of the building to be dedicated to both public and grantee programs.
The reborn building restores a significant landmark while creating a high-performance interior embodying the foundation’s mission "to promote the inherent dignity of all people.”The historic Ford Foundation headquarters, completed by Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates in 1968, was hailed as a modernist architectural icon. The new overhaul, a landmark in modernist preservation, transforms a 50-year-old building into a 21st century workplace and public amenity.
The redesign maintains and enhances the building’s original character while significantly improving functionality, transparency, and accessibility. Many spaces, finishes, and furnishings were redesigned to be seamless with what already existed. The LEED Platinum renewal also modernizes the structure with New York City safety code and New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission requirements.
In 2018, after a two-year renovation, the landmark building reopened as the Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice. More than a headquarters, the center is a vibrant, accessible hub for champions of social justice. The design approach reflects the foundation’s core values of transparency, collaboration, inclusion, and empowerment. Previously, private offices lined the atrium perimeter, giving a select group the most privileged views. Today, the few remaining private offices and enclosed spaces line the outer edge of the building, making the atrium visually accessible to everyone and providing a clear view from 42nd to 43rd streets. With the Ford Foundation’s desire to include like-minded tenants and also increase convening space, the design team developed a more efficient floorplan for the workplace, thus allowing over 50 percent of the building to be dedicated to both public and grantee programs.
The reborn building restores a significant landmark while creating a high-performance interior embodying the foundation’s mission "to promote the inherent dignity of all people.”
The project won a 2020 AIA Interior Architecture Award.
FROM THE AIA:
With its interior garden and striking mid-century modern furniture collection, the Ford Foundation building in New York was celebrated as a modernist icon when it was completed in 1968. Now, after a two-year renovation, the building has received a much-needed boost in transparency and accessibility while aligning with the city’s safety code and its Landmarks Preservation Commission requirements.
Serving as more than just a headquarters, the renamed Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice is a vibrant hub for those who champion social justice causes. The project began with a request to update the building’s systems and renovate to meet the city’s fire code. However, the complexity of the retrofit prompted an extensive renovation of the building’s façade and interiors in order to meet 21st century sensibilities and higher performance standards.
The team’s approach to the project echoes the foundation’s core values of transparency and empowerment. Private offices that ring the atrium’s perimeter previously offered outside views to a select group of occupants. Today, the remaining private offices have been relocated to the building’s outer edge, leaving the atrium accessible to anyone and providing clear views inside from 42nd and 43rd streets. In an effort to draw like-minded tenants and boost convening space, the team’s reworked floor plan allows more than 50 percent of the building to be dedicated to programs for the public and foundation grantees.
Vision sessions, surveys, and analyses conducted by the team drove the process, and the resulting design interventions evolved organically over four years. Together, the foundation and the team improved accessibility beyond the local ADA requirements to develop an equitable experience for those who work at and visit the building. Entrances to the atrium were expanded to accommodate wheelchairs, and a new drop-off point and wheelchair-accessible ramp are located on 43rd Street.
Just the second of its kind in the city, a touch and smell garden for the sight-impaired provides a fragrant and tactile experience for all visitors. Braille signage helps those exploring the garden identify the varied specimens.
Project Credits:
Project: Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice
Architects: Gensler
Landscape Design: Jungles Studio in collaboration with SiteWorks
Landmarks Consultant: Higgins Quasebarth & Partners LLC
Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing & Fire Protection Engineer: Jaros Baum & Bolles
Exterior Envelope/Structural Engineer: Thornton Tomasetti
Lighting Designer: Fisher Marantz Stone
Audio Visual, IT, Security & Acoustical: Cerami & Associates
Food Service: Cini-Little International, Inc.
Vertical Transportation: Van Deusen & Associates
Fire Safety & Code Consultant: Milrose Consultants, Inc.
Brick Conservator: Integrated Conservation Resources, Inc.
Fitness Consultant: Club Design Concepts
Atrium Fountain Consultant: Delta Fountains
Fire/Smoke Modeling: Code Consultants, Inc./Professional Engineers, PC
Risk Assessment: Thornton Tomasetti/Weidlinger Professional Engineers, PC
Accessibility Consultant: Accessibility Services/UnitedSpinal Association
Modelmaker: Michael Burnett
Visualization/Digital Renderings: Planktongroup
Furniture Manager: EvensonBest
Furniture Restoration: Thomas J. Amato Co.
Architectural Woodwork: Miller Blaker
Lighting Restoration and Fabrication: Crenshaw
Ornamental Metal Fabrication and Restoration: Amuneal Manufacturing Corp.
Wood Flooring: Haywood Berk Floor Company, Inc.
Architectural Concrete Flooring: Azzerone Contracting
Flooring Installation: Architectural Flooring Resources
Drapery and Window Treatment: DFB Sales
Select Manufacturers: Interior Partition Systems, International Office Concepts
Interior Acoustical Ceiling Tile: Saint-Gobain Ecophon
Desking Systems & Meeting Room Furniture: Knoll, Inc., DatesWeiser
Custom Doors: Ellison Bronze, Inc.
Flooring: Tile, Fireclay Tile, Mosa, Nemo Tile
Carpet: Bloomsburg Carpet Industries, Inc., J+J Flooring Group
Architectural, Furniture Upholstery & Window Treatments: Holly Hunt, Designtex, Spinnebeck, Unika Vaev, Knoll
Ancillary Furnishings, Knoll, Inc., Halcon, Walter Knoll, Andreu World, Vitra
Lighting: Designplan Lighting Inc., Edison Price Lighting, Ewo, Focal Point, H. E. Williams, Inc., JESCO, Lighting Group, Lithonia Lighting, Lumenpulse, Reggiani, Tech Lighting, Zumtobel
Plumbing Fixtures: Lacava, TOTO
