A street concept opens new avenues of communication. (Haines Lundberg Waehler headquarters)

A street concept opens new avenues of communication

Pairing the facility requirements of a 100-year-old design firm with the unusual floor plate of a 110-year-old former department store has resulted in a perfect match--and new headquarters--for New York City-based A/E Haines Lundberg Waehler (HLW).

With its former Park Avenue offices "bursting at the seems," according to HLW managing partner Ted Hammer, the firm initiated a search for new quarters that were "flexible, airy and amenable to computer technology, which we use extensively." Equally important, HLW desired space that would allow it to physically exploit the highly integrated nature of its design, engineering, construction services and numerous support divisions. "HLW's success is largely the result of 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent integration," Hammer noted. "In our business, we either live or die by our ability to effectively communicate with one another."

It was perhaps that 1 percent inspiration that prompted HLW's decision to set up shop in the century-old former Arnold Constable department store in the downtown Chelsea section of New York City. Featuring floor plates 375 feet long by 75 feet wide, and floor to ceiling heights of 13 feet, the cast-iron structure presented the firm with a unique loft-like environment to craft its headquarters.

"Our old offices had a very traditional footprint and we loved the openness and height of the space," recalled Walter Zupancich, HLW's director of interior design. "Designing the space gave us an opportunity to rethink how we do things and how they should be done."

Indeed, upon leasing the eight-story building's fifth and sixth …