Century 21 ad-on blends with 1930s architecture.When Josh Burdick, president of SBLM SBLM Sustaining Base Leadership and Management SBLM School of Building and Land Management , was approached by the discount clothing outlet Century 21 to increase retail capacity at their downtown location, there was a lot to consider. First off, the owners said the bustling bus·tle 1 intr. & tr.v. bus·tled, bus·tling, bus·tles To move or cause to move energetically and busily. n. Excited and often noisy activity; a stir. store couldn't close during the addition/ renovation. Second, Burdick had to find a way to create additional space in a fairly historic local: Century 21 is housed inside of the Art-Deco East River Savings Bank savings bank, financial institution that, until recently, performed only the following functions: receiving savings deposits of individuals, investing them, and providing a modest return to its depositors in the form of interest. building downtown, just across Cortlandt Street Cortlandt Street may refer to:
"We ended up proposing a cantilevered mezzanine that added 5,000 square feet," Burdick said. "Now, that's not a lot of space, but I guess they figured a suit jacket on a hanger is only thee inches wide ... You can fit a lot of suit jackets on a mezzanine that size." Using an innovative design that implemented super-slim cantilevered brackets, the architects came up with a creative solution that still allows light to pour down from the high ceilings and boasts an unobstructed line of sight across the main floor, preserving the beautiful chandeliers and windows facing Ground Zero. A temporary false ceiling was built to serve as a platform during the construction, leaving the sales floor open to shoppers. The architects had to take great care to make the new level look natural, including materials and details consistent with the original Art Deco art deco (ärt dĕkō`; är dākō`, ärt) or art moderne (är môdĕrn`, ärt) building--rosea-granite, marble and wrought iron wrought iron: see iron. wrought iron One of the two forms in which iron is obtained by smelting. Wrought iron is a soft, easily worked, fibrous metal. It usually contains less than 0.1% carbon and 1–2% slag. with brass inlaid in·laid v. Past tense and past participle of inlay. adj. 1. Set into a surface in a decorative pattern: a mahogany dresser with an inlaid teak design. 2. motifs. The crowning finish is the "monumental staircase," which gracefully curves and extends to the sales floor without any supporting columns. The result: Century 21 has become one the most profitable stores per square foot in Manhattan, thanks in part to this additional 5,000 square feet built into thin air. "Everyone wants to max-out and I'm fine with that," Burdick said. "But there are so many beautiful older buildings in this city, and if you destroy original details you can never get them back," he said, "It's important the work be done with care." Burdick says he enjoys the back-and-forth conversations about space that tend to occur between architects and developers. "So long as it's a discussion that good intentions," he said, "it benefits both sides." |
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