Counsel Press’ newly designed 16,700 SF New York Headquarters is complete. The new office design represents Counsel Press’ culture and branding. The office space occupies the entirety of the 4th and 5th floors in the Renaissance Revival Building located in Manhattan’s Murray Hill District. Counsel Press is the largest, most experienced appellate services company in the United States.

MDA designed the new office space to ensure that both design and construction were expedited to meet tight schedule demands necessary to maintain the firm’s uninterrupted operations.  The functional requirements included offices, meeting rooms, and a large print shop for inhouse production of legal briefs and other documents.  The program included a total staff of 70.  Reception and executive spaces are located on a portion of the 5th floor, while workstations and the print shop fill the entire 4th floor.

Providing communication and connections between the varied functional spaces on both floors was an important design challenge. MDA created an architectural stair, which became a focal design element for the project and democratized the space by connecting the executive, administrative, and production areas.  The stair features wood treads, glass balustrade panels, and a stainless-steel handrail. A feature wall of spaced vertical wood slats, finished to match the adjacent flooring, extends along one side of the stair from the 4th floor slab to the 5th floor ceiling, unifying the floors and creating visual impact.

On the 5th floor, a 500 SF conference room and a pantry wrap around the stair, which is accessed from the reception area.   The conference room has a full-height glazed wall that connects it visually with the corridor, stair, and office spaces beyond. The three remaining walls are finished with a 4’ x 4’ honeycomb acoustic tile in gray and white accented with a custom patterned wallcovering in Counsel Press’s corporate color, a bright royal blue. The pantry has direct access to both the corridor and the conference room, and backs on the open slat wall at the stair. A long wood table, stained to match the slat wall, and stools create an inviting staff break area, and the space is brightened by laminate cabinets in the corporate blue.

The reception area features clean lines and interesting textures  The remainder of the 5th floor layout includes eighteen private offices with full-height glass fronts and an open area with seven workstations for paralegals. Both the reception area and the break room have wood flooring.

The 4th Floor is divided equally between administrative spaces and the printing shop. In the administrative area, five private offices, two phone rooms, the IT room, and the mechanical space are clustered around a 100 SF open breakout area with a conference table and stool seating for six. An adjacent open plan space contains 31 workstations for the paralegal, proofreading, and scanning staff. The area is carpeted, and ceilings are open to the infrastructure above.  Flooring is exposed concrete. The shop is separated from the workstations by a glazed partition with clear sight lines to visually strengthen the connection between the administrative and production areas. Exterior widows lining one wall of the shop, wall paint in the strong corporate blue, and linear lighting fixtures suspended from the painted exposed ceiling, combine to define and invigorate this space.

Due to client security and privacy concerns, design features were incorporated throughout the office to provide confidentiality. These include a higher than usual number of private offices for senior personnel and salespeople, as well as a secure private area for billing. In the open areas on both floors, oversize barriers create privacy between workstations.

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Size: 16,700 SF
Industry: Legal
Role: Designer
Photo: ConnieKlubePhoto