Site Visit: Bloomberg HQ

There are probably a few PSFK readers who also browsed last months issue of Metropolis that featured the new Bloomberg offices on 59th and Lexington in NYC. I happened to get a tour of the building today and here’s a report of what I saw. Sorry for the lack of photo’s, the security there is so tight, I didn’t dare even bring a camera in.

The first thing you experience (not even part of the tour) is the courtyard leading to the lobby. The building is crescent shaped and tapers up. From the courtyard there is an amazing view of the interior spaces and an oval shaped section of the sky framed by the building’s edges. The lobby itself is pretty spare. There is a long hotel style security desk that is all frosted glass and internally illuminated. When you check in, a staff member tells you to look straight ahead at a bank of Bloomberg terminals (you’ll probably be looking there anyway) and a hidden camera takes your picture for a temp. access badge. It’s way more sci-fi than I’ve described it. There is no furniture in the lobby. Just a slate floor, frosted glass panel walls and beautiful stone wall panels.

Everyone at Bloomberg is encouraged to mingle. There are a lot of different seemingly non-related activities that take place there. So rather than everyone taking the elevator to their separate floors, all staff must ride to the 6th where there is a cafe and ’social area’ My tour guide said that most new hires gain 15 pounds as a result of this very well stocked, always open cafe. It looked good to me.

The 6th floor is also home to several large LED video boards that wrap around the space. All have very cool motion graphics on them and give the space a real energy. In fact the use of LED lighting is everywhere. Whole walls cycle through colors and each department has color coordinated signage and lighting.

Following Mike Bloomberg’s work philosophy, all the offices within the building are glass. and many are totally open with no walls. Open planning is not new, but here it is very much refined. The conference rooms are handled in an interesting way. All are completely glass and many have translucent, full height graphics applied to them that change throughout the year. They aren’t your typical business graphics either.

And then there are the fish. Right as you step off the elevator on the 6th floor, there is a raised seating area that bridges a Koi pond. It was intentionally planned so that the most number people could have a view of it. I figure there were about three dozen fish in it… and a rare albino frog. As you walk around from floor to floor, there are fish tanks all over. Granted these are each about the size of an office desk and hold dozens of fish. It could have been cheesy, but the fish are pretty cool.

As if that wasn’t enough to look at and distract you from getting on with work, Each floor has a collection of contemporary artwork. There is a large Spencer Finch piece similar to this one that hangs over the spiral escalator leading down to the broadcast studio.

In my opinion, this is an architectural gem in Manhattan. It’s rare here when building exterior and interior design are both inspiring and as well thought out. I left wondering if I’ll ever see a project with that kind of budget (or utter lack of) and really feeling inspired. Make friends with someone who works there and try and get in to see it. Very much worth the effort.