PLOS HEADQUARTERS
465 Grand Street, Lower East Side
PLOS is an open access publishing platform that takes initiative in transforming research communication. This organization was founded in 2001 as an alternative to the traditional scientific publishing. Their journals are beneficial in a way that provides accelerated discovery, contributes to public enrichment, and improves education overall. PLOS believe in an open mindset, that would ultimately bring scientists together and benefit our society as a whole. Their current office is located in San Francisco, but they would like to further distribute the impact of their organization in New York.
View of the
reception
This organization purchased the building on 465 Grand Street in the Lower East Side, which is a very dynamic area that hosts a lot of art galleries and restaurants, and they hired me to design their new headquarters. The building is 4 stories, with a basement, and an extended East wing on the first floor. The existing square footage exceeds my client’s needs and allows for an enhancement of interior aesthetics by incorporating additional design elements.
Prior to the space planning phase, I came up with a concept that reiterates the mission of PLOS, which is dispersion, because the process of an incident light ray being dispersed through the prism reminded me of how PLOS distributes the progress in science through their publishing platform as if shining the light on key innovations and advancements.
I decided to incorporate this physical property as a metaphor for the mission of PLOS into my design solution, the style of the interior being achromatic, juxtaposed with colorful lighting.
View of the
exhibit
The lounge combined with a library is 2-stories high and provides convenient seating surfaces, books and magazines, and access to the Internet for research. As you exit from the elevator, to get access to the library and lounge you need to check in with the membership receptionist. Membership director’s office is also conveniently located on the third floor, with a secretary and a copy mailroom adjacent to it.
Members-only library and lounge
Part of the cafeteria extends two stories high. You can see the difference in ceiling heights and levels of lighting, for instance, track lighting suspended from decorative panelling provides ambient lighting, while the pendants above the tables provide task lighting. The hollow part of the cafeteria provides the view of the gift shop above. Top right is the elevation of the reception area. It creates emphasis and focus as soon as you enter the headquarters, the design of which mimics the concept for this space. The curved shapes of dining chairs and tube pendants contrast and juxtapose with the linear geometry of the high chairs, track lighting and shelves. The achromatic scheme of the furnishings and materials allows for integrating of colorful lighting, particularly cove lighting in between the dropped soffits, and uplighting of the checkout counter.
Cafeteria
The gift shop incorporates another conceptual sculpture element - a hand that reaches a lighting fixture shaped like atoms. It represents the company’s goal to connect people with scientific innovations through their publishing platform, as they reach for new research opportunities.
The shop provides a lot of shelf space to showcase various merchandise, as well as a seating and reading area for visitors to browse through the newest publications.
Gift shop
