The American Australian Association (AAA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening ties between Australia and the U.S. Having outgrown its old office space, AAA looked to Woods Bagot to design their new home in Midtown Manhattan with an aim to ‘meld the spirit of Australia with the corporate culture of New York’.
Woods Bagot was asked to create a flexible office space the staff that could also transform into an engaging event space for the various social unctions hosted by the AAA throughout the year. Providing an overlay of hospitality to an office space environment, the design included movable furniture and fittings that do double-duty.
A custom movable island adapts from a work surface to a bar and flexible window touchdown work space becomes a countertop for food and drinks. To create volume suitable for events, the ceiling was left exposed with strategic frame-outs around the steel beams. The clean, gallery-like ceiling also becomes a backdrop for the rotating Arts Fund program.
Located on a high floor, the space benefits from sweeping views of the skyline through unobstructed expanses of glass. According to Krista Ninivaggi, Principal Interior Design, Woods Bagot, the design of the space was meant to evoke the feeling of the natural landscape of Australia, specifically The Outback. The aim was to create a stylish, welcoming environment that would bring people from both countries closer together.
Australia based Sculptform provided a bent wood slat installation in the Welcome Area that evokes the undulating and layered Australian topography while creating a cocoon-like feeling of warmth. Organic and sinuous inlays within the flooring further evoke Australia’s landscape which is set against the contrasting and expansive views of midtown Manhattan via floor-to-ceiling windows.
“While working with Sculptform was a first for our NYC based team, our colleagues experience in Australia gave us the confidence that we could turn to them as partners and guide us in the technical recommendations for the product. Ultimately, we chose the Click on-Batten based on the Sculptform team’s suggestion that it would be the best approach for what we wanted to achieve,” stated Ninivaggi.