New Showroom for HBF in Manhattan

Pippa Drummond

New Showroom for HBF in Manhattan’s Flatiron Districtom for HBF in Manhattan

• Architecten

ALA has designed the new showroom for contract furniture and textiles company HBF in New York City’s Flatiron District, located at 155 Fifth Avenue, 6th floor, in collaboration with HBF and Travis Clifton of T Clifton Design. This new showroom draws from ALA’s deep experience designing health and wellness spaces, and workplaces, to create a welcoming environment that is flexible in its approach and application. Bringing a hospitality experience to their design, ALA injected a sense of approachability, welcome, and care to the space.

photo_credit Pippa Drummond — Pippa Drummond

Designed around a dramatic existing skylight in the center and a series of windows looking out to the Manhattan skyline in the back, the primary showroom space consists of a series of curated vignettes that serve as specific zones for lounging, meeting, and flex space, as well as a textile niche and showcase area for new products, all populated with HBF furniture. “We created this sense of compress and release throughout the space. When you enter the foyer from the elevator, it’s a more minimal, quieter space with a lower ceiling height, then you turn the corner and boom, there is a skylight and this brightly lit, open space in front of you,” says Tania Chau, ALA Director of Interior Design. Continues Chau, “As you get deeper into the space, you come into this open area that showcases a lot of the lounge furniture, and then by the window we created a different setting for a product gallery and a more specific moment to interact with the furniture.”

The lounge area is positioned directly underneath the skylight and is partitioned on two sides by a slatted wooden divider. The sectional sofa upholstered in blush HBF fabric surrounds low tables, ideal for meeting or enjoying a coffee or drink. Directly across from the lounge area is a long bar with seating for socializing and events, behind which a counter and sink for food prep and a wall of cabinets is framed by a soft arch and pendant lighting. To maintain the clean lines of the bar wall, appliances were all specified as undercounter and hidden below the pill-shaped bar island.

Adjacent to the lounge area is a textile niche devoted to HBFT, featuring a focused display where textiles hang on pegs, and a counter space in the front for ease of working. An adjustable LED lighting fixture installed overhead allows designers to view products in varying types of lighting conditions. This feature gives designers the ability to adjust the color temperature and brightness of the lighting to see how their chosen palette changes in different lighting conditions, providing a true understanding of what the color and materials will look like.

Situated on the other side of the lounge area, is a long terrazzo table set up with Juniper Lighting’s Thin task lamps that provides space for co-working, group meetings and product review. Behind the table, a conference room and smaller offices are enclosed in demountable glass walls from Allsteel, remaining transparent to keep the feeling of community intact, but providing sound privacy where necessary for meetings and calls. At the back of the space, seating pieces from HBF’s furniture line are showcased on a raised platform in front of the long stretch of windows, accompanied by the view of Manhattan’s cityscape. The existing columns in the space are marked by leafy green potted plants, bringing a sense of nature and calm. “We just wanted it [the space] to feel like an oasis in New York City, so we focused on bringing the outdoors in, bringing the daylight in, and making it feel lush,” says Alda Ly, ALA Founder and Principal.

At the back, a “wellness hallway” leads to one of the bathrooms, and a Mothers’ Room, ideal for nursing and pumping but also for working and respite for all, with a window looking out onto the city. “We wanted to create a space that fulfilled and supported our needs as working mothers with young children, with a sink for washing pump parts and a variety of seating options so you could sit in a cozy chair or work at a desk in a space that was beautiful, comfortable and approachable”, says Ly. Adds Chau, “With its full wall mirror and flattering sconce lighting, it also doubles as a dressing room and vanity area for anyone needing to get ready for an after work event.” The hallway is another compression moment with an intentionally low ceiling height and a curved soffit to make it feel cozier and provide a contrast from the main showroom skylit space. The color palette in the hallway, bathroom and Mothers’ Room is also darker and moodier in rich burgundy, blush and deep blue green tones, with soothing patterns in wallpapers from Calico Wallpaper and Flat Vernacular, a deliberate move on ALA’s part to create different experiences throughout a singular environment. The secondary bathroom provides a distinct environment and is smaller in size and utilizes lighter tones and a soothing, pastoral palette.

The overall space is conducive for both showcasing HBF’s extensive line of contract furniture and textile products as well as hosting events and programs, and being both a functional workspace and welcoming respite for designers and partners alike.