New York Legal Assistance Group - NYLAG
New York, NY
New York civil legal service
Spacesmith designed a new headquarters for non-profit New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG) which provides free civil legal services to New Yorkers. The goal of the consolidation was to provide an approachable and welcoming environment to clients signaling that, although services are pro bono, NYLAG is a top-notch, high quality law firm. Our team worked alongside developer GFP Real Estate LLC and broker Cushman and Wakefield to transition NYLAG from 3 floors into 11/2 floors of an efficient, connected, modern workspace. Spacesmith led the exploration of various rentable square foot scenarios and assisted the brokerage team in reaching an agreement of a 56,000 square-foot spread between 11/2 continuous floors with a connecting stair.
The new workplace required a variety of space types that address the critical need for privacy, while remaining within a strict budget.
Our team defined a program for the rectangular-shaped floor plate that reduced the number of closed offices drastically, specifying open workstations along the building’s long window walls to ensure natural light reached far into the space. Private offices line the shorter sides and hold full glass office fronts, allowing additional daylight to filter in. To maintain the need for privacy, a translucent film was applied to portions of the glass walls, and solid wood doors were specified for sound proofing. The remainder of the space is composed of a variety of meeting rooms ranging from a single-person focus room to a 57-person conference room. A connecting stair joins the floors and promotes activity and interaction. A durable materials palette of warm colors and natural woods was chosen to create a calm, comfortable, and inviting ambiance that is relaxing and stabilizing to patrons. Reclaimed wood flooring was utilized for the client facing areas and the connecting stair.
“The space is so beautiful and functional! We are so grateful to have found architects who truly believed in our mission, really understood our needs, and designed to our budget. It has been such a long road, but we know we could not have done it without such amazing architects.”