Cofra/Good Energies Offices

New York, New York

The COFRA Group offices combine spaces for five separate companies. While all operate under the Swiss parent company's mantra of environmental and social responsibility, each had varying workstyles and ideas about the new office space. The project brief called for the highest level of sustainable design, but the design team needed to balance that with the client's nonnegotiable request for private, perimeter offices. The resulting design is an innovative response to those conflicting requirements, balancing private offices with expansive openness, views and daylight from every point on the floor.

The boardroom, which features custom, modular tables, can flex from one large room or two smaller ones when needed. Graphics throughout the glass-filled space convey identity, unity and varying levels of privacy. In many aspects, the project exceeds requirements for its LEED-CI Gold rating. A green housekeeping plan, educational signage, occupancy sensors and daylight harvesting ensure that the employees are reminded of the green mission well into the future. The space also functions as a marketing tool, featuring the products in which Good Energies invests.