Key Dates
Image Credit : Ted Moudis Associates
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Project Overview
The headquarters for this Financial Client greets you with a sense of arrival that is anything but ordinary. Step inside and the space opens to sky and city, framed by extensive curves and sculptural stone. A lounge flows into a café, a conference room floats behind shimmering glass, and every detail feels curated and alive.
It is part hospitality, part culture, part wellness retreat, woven together throughout an office space with panoramic 360-degree views of Manhattan. This is not corporate reception. This is optimism, movement, and connection made real.
Team
Mitchell Ross - Studio Principal Jeff Knoll - Studio Design Principal Michelle Beganskas Conn - Director of Workplace Strategy Lindsay Frost - Design Manager Chiwa Yeung - Project Director Jeffrey Balbuena - Senior Project Architect William Vizcarra - Experiential & Branding Studio Director Alexander Burch - Experiential & Branding Studio Senior Designer
Project Brief
This is more than an office. It is a statement in the sky.
The Financial Client headquarters builds the organization’s values into every surface, every curve, every view. Step off the elevator and the city drops away; light, air, and sweeping horizons take over. The design leverages scale and altitude to create an environment that inspires focus and community.
Spaces are arranged as a continuous journey: reception flows into lounge, café into meeting rooms, work neighborhoods into wellness zones. Each destination is distinct yet seamlessly connected. Materials of stone, wood, and plaster add warmth and tactility, while integrated art and Canadian references ground the brand without relying on signage. The result is an office that feels more like a living environment, open, human, and deeply intentional.
Project Innovation/Need
The innovation of the Financial Client headquarters is in treating every square foot as designed space, not just the showpiece areas. There is no back-of-the-house. Corridors, coffee points, and secondary circulation are elevated with the same level of craft as reception and meeting spaces.
The perimeter is dynamic. Workstations, lounges, café zones, and meeting rooms alternate along the glass, creating constant variety and connection to the skyline. Circulation is sculptural. Curved wood walls, dimensional portraits, and integrated art turn hallways into cultural journeys rather than leftover corridors. Even the smallest private offices were conceived as intentional environments with layered lighting, shelving, and display.
Biophilia is embedded as infrastructure. Planters shape privacy, soften acoustics, and organize space at workstations, cafés, and circulation edges.
This approach made innovation less about spectacle and more about rethinking fundamentals of circulation, perimeter, and materiality, and transforming them into tools for culture, wellness, and performance.
Design Challenge
The headquarters posed three critical challenges:
First was scale. At 45,000 square feet on a single floor, the space risked feeling vast and impersonal. Offices were pulled to the core to free the perimeter for shared use, then broken up with curves, setbacks, and varied geometries to create approachable neighborhoods.
Second was a heavy office requirement. Without care, it could have produced endless corridors of doors. Instead, the design introduced angled fronts, integrated shelving, and concealed lighting to humanize each office and prevent monotony.
Third was culture. Staff had long worked in silos, with little interaction across departments. The new headquarters had to bring people together while respecting each team’s identity. Pilot spaces, training, and open communication prepared staff for flexible work zones, new technology, and wellness amenities, ensuring the shift was embraced as progress, not disruption.
The solution transformed scale, density, and culture into a workplace that feels both expansive and personal.
Sustainability
This headquarters space achieved LEED Platinum and WELL certification, reflecting equal commitment to the building’s performance and the people inside it. On the building side, enclosed offices were placed at the core to free the perimeter for daylight and views, reducing reliance on artificial lighting. Automated shading, circadian lighting, and smart air quality systems adapt in real time to optimize comfort and conserve energy.
On the human side, the design emphasizes wellness and connection to nature. A spa-like fitness center, meditation rooms, retreats, and filtered water stations support daily health. Plantings are integrated at every scale, from reception to café banquettes to workstations, serving as living systems that improve air quality and create biophilic continuity. Private offices in darker tones with concealed lighting provide visual relief and focused environments in contrast to the bright perimeter.
Together, these strategies deliver a workplace that is environmentally responsible, human-centered, and built for longevity.
Interior Design - Corporate & Commercial
This award celebrates innovative and creative building interiors, with consideration given to space creation and planning, furnishings, finishes, aesthetic presentation and functionality. Consideration also given to space allocation, traffic flow, building services, lighting, fixtures, flooring, colours, furnishings and surface finishes.
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