One World Trade Center - New York, New York

In a gesture of local reinvestment and national solidarity, in July 2012 GSA signed a lease for the federal government to occupy 270,000 square feet of One World Trade Center in New York City. The headquarters of GSA’s Northeast and Caribbean Region was consolidated from larger offices in Lower Manhattan into two of these six floors. Finalized in December 2015, the new headquarters serves as a model for GSA’s tenant agencies and taxpayers, as it showcases spatial strategies for minimizing rentable square footage while encouraging collaborative, mobile work. 

Here, the project team leveraged the architecture of One World Trade Center namely, the glass tower’s distinctive chamfered corners to achieve both efficiency and interaction. Reasoning that these signature spaces and their panoramic vistas belonged to all employees and visitors, the designers substituted corner conference rooms with open work areas and gathering places. The perimeter workstations are equipped with low partitions to preserve views, while inside the floor plate, offices and meeting rooms are outfitted with glazed fronts to ensure daylight penetration. 

Jurors agreed that a democratic spirit underpins universal access to the chamfered corners. Hypothesizing that another workplace design may have concealed One World Trade Center’s ceilings and concrete floors, they also praised this interior’s exposed structural elements as an honest portrayal of the skyscraper. The panel urged GSA to continue embracing natural illumination and views in its workplace portfolio, and recommended that the agency consider utilization rates, activity planning, organizational culture, and architectural expression among the factors in tailoring future offices to their specific sites and tenants.

Share :