ICRAVE’s Collaborative Manhattan Offices

Firm
  • Client ICRAVE,
  • Year 2013
  • Location New York City, New York, United States,
  • Industry Design,
  • ICRAVE is a Manhattan-based experiential design & branding studio with an awesome office, which they designed themselves to be flexible and functional.

    Some notes from ICRAVE:

    “When you step in to ICRAVE’s studio, you’ll catch the big bold moves – the ever-changing mural, the marquee signage, the bookshelves made of kitchen sinks – but we designed our studio not just as a place to foster inspiration and creative energy, but also as a place of hospitality.  The goal was to create a smart, flexible space that is truly functional.

    On a given day, we might have four different meetings in the office simultaneously, and although that sounds like a logistical challenge, it works.  We might be presenting pinned-up work for one client in the crit room, deep in the studio, while a fabric vendor meets with a group of designers at the high table in the lobby. In that meeting, starving designers eat pastries while examining the latest materials, and inevitably more designers will stroll by and be seduced (either by the cupcakes or the fabrics).

    Team meetings can be taking place all over: a group might go through plans with the project engineer at the Saarinen table by the window, while perhaps another team is assembling the project palette box in the library, on the generous work space and with the assistance of our resource librarian. And in the main conference room, there might be a large team meeting behind the big pivot doors.  This room has full A/V capabilities, allowing us to simultaneously project large scale renderings on the screen for maximum immersion, while also having the internet and network available to pull up any time on the built-in flat screen.

    We also designed the studio with special events in mind. At our annual Thanksgiving celebration, we hosted dinner for 50, served from the open kitchen. The conference room tables transformed into one long table, placed end-to-end family style.   The DJ took over the reception desk with his turntables, music streaming through our nightclub caliber Funktion-One sound system.

    So while there may not be as many opportunities to roller skate now that we have raised the studio floor, the designers seem content with a view down Broadway and Friday afternoon archery”

    Design: ICRAVE