Olbos Studio www.olbosstudio.com announces the completion of a new project in SoHo. The office space, at 41 Wooster Street, has been reimagined as a space for the cultivation of mystery and opportunity. The renovation features a dynamic interplay of color, space, and image to disorient and disrupt a traditional understanding of an office space. Each space is meant to shock, to delight, and to disorient for the production of a memorable space.
The 1,600-square-foot office space serves as the headquarters for Bogard New York, a luxury real estate firm that is quickly re-inventing the approach to real estate. Tasked with designing a workspace reflective of the clients’ bold vision, the renovation fuses contemporary office design with theatrical elements, each successive space draws the visitors attention to a new and surprising detail that blurs the division between workspace and spectacle. As a set for the dynamic day-to-day operations of a real estate firm, the office needed to provide a backdrop of equivalent dynamism.
The design process began with the idea of furtive playfulness. At the core of the design is a selection of striking features that mirror the eccentricities of the office. White metal racks and a vibrant red wall create display space for custom brochures for each property. Raucous Alice in Wonderland-themed wallpaper was specifically chosen by the clients—an eye-catching, whimsical addition. To disorient, the abstracted form of a carpet was reproduced on the ceiling of the conference room.
Contemporary real estate practices, especially those of the highest level, work in multiple mediums. From the beginning the client requested a dedicated Multimedia Content Room for the production of media and social media content. Wooster Street’s northeast orientation provides the diffuse light needed for video production. The program then responded to a hybridization, where multiple forms of production, coordination and communication were all designated specific places.
The Meeting Room ceiling recalls a floor rug upside down, contributing to disorienting and questioning standard real estate practices. To add a touch of playfulness, the Uvafragola mirror by visionary designer Ettore Sottsass completes the space. Open offices are juxtaposed with private Zoom meeting nooks as well as a taller desk with card games to keep the office members far from stress.
Giorgia Cedro, founder of Olbos Studio, remarked about the project: “41 Wooster St stands as an example of contemporary office design. We aspired to create a space that is simultaneously provocative, playful and dynamic mirroring the function of the client. The result is an office that is not only a place of business but a striking statement of identity and purpose.”
