Stowell & Friedman – Chicago Law Offices
von Weise associates has designed the offices of civil rights law firm Stowell & Friedman in Chicago, Illinois.
As a civil rights law firm engaged in workplace discrimination litigation, our clients work to balance the rights of the individual against the rights of the larger community. Using techniques such as carving, layering, transparency, and figure-ground we explored ways that the spatial experience of their office could be based on this tension between the individual and the collective – between things that are both one thing and many things at the same time. Layers of wood, stone, glass, and fabric were added to the basic fitplans to create this experience. In particular, we found thank you letters from clients and used these to create a privacy screen at the office that utilizes a figure-ground pattern to help separate the individual lawyers from the public corridor in a way that still allows for limited visual engagement. This film is a great metaphor for who they are and what they do, both in the content of the letters as well as the multiplicity of experience utilizing the singular form. The design created a warm, inviting space while communicating the firm’s success and identity.
Design: von Weise associates
Photography: Michelle Litvin
