McKinnon and Harris, a Richmond VA based furniture manufacturer, tasked us with the design for their NYC showroom in the Decoration & Design Building on E 59th St in Manhattan. The company is committed to hiring all local craftspeople to handcraft each piece of furniture: from the flawless aluminum joinery to the impeccable upholstering, each piece is truly a work of art. As such, we wanted the architecture to be quiet, albeit perfectly detailed. The materials and compositions are subdued: large slabs of warm limestone, white walls, subtle reveals and sophisticated lighting provide a museum quality setting that showcases the high quality and design of the furniture.
The interior is arranged not by the ground plane, but rather the plane of the ceiling: the long volume connecting to 59th Street is broken into a series of barrel vaults that are a response to the existing building’s arched entry, with the adjoining volume partitioned into an enfilade, with an artificial skylight bringing light into each space. At the intersection is the sales staff, demarcated by a white oak ceiling. The result is a gallery like space that preferences the fine furnishings with a quiet architecture.
