ML: COFRA Group, Perkins+Will Complete –CI Gold Office at 277 Park

Perkins+Will recently completed a 30,000-square-foot fit-out of Switzerland-based investment conglomerate COFRA Group’s offices on the 29th floor of 277 Park Avenue in Midtown. The project is seeking a LEED Gold rating from USGBC under the Commercial Interiors system and includes numerous green design features, ranging from locally-sourced wood paneling and water-efficient fixtures to recycled-content glass partitions designed to increase the penetration of natural light. The space also features LED lighting and recycled denim insulation.

According to Perkins+Will principal Joan Blumenfeld, the design was “inspired by the company’s Swiss roots.” Blumenfeld suggests that the office’s “central parson’s table concept, which symbolizes balance and proportion, relates to the centrality and importance of the kitchen/pantry area in both the country’s and the firm’s cultures. This is a key design element, repeated throughout the space.”

The LEED-CI application also presented design challenges for the project’s MEP designer, WB Engineers, which had to tie green MEP system features into a conventional office building. Among other measures, WB designed the office’s variable volume air system distribution to achieve more precise zoning capabilities, as well as incorporated a daylight harvesting system into the office’s lighting controls. Cauldwell Wingate served as the project’s general contractor.

• Inspiration from Afar (architechmag)
• LEED-CI Archive (gbNYC)
• COFRA

ML is short for our weekly Monday LEEDoff™ column, which typically profiles a different LEED project generally in (but not limited to) the New York City area. You can access an archive of profiled projects via this link.

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