50 Day Street Offices – Norwalk

Firm
  • Client Unnamed Company,
  • size 5,000 sqft
  • Year 2019
  • Location Norwalk, Connecticut, United States,
  • Industry Hosting,
  • CPG Architects has recently completed the design for 50 Day Street offices, the invitation-only maker space located in Norwalk, Connecticut.

    Observing that the gritty industrial Norwalk neighborhood was on the upswing, our client, an investor in new technology, invited us to revive his circa-1900 former factory building and create a place for his most recent business venture. Despite an ungainly 1980’s exterior EIFS makeover, this industrial building had an interior full of inherent beauty- exposed brick walls, high ceilings with exposed timber beams, large skylights, wood plank floors and a vintage freight elevator.

    The design team’s approach was to embrace and enhance this historic charm and at the same time apply some careful restoration as needed. Badly worn wood floors were restored and made level. Windows were replaced. Brick was exposed. New mechanicals, sprinklers and lighting were carefully integrated with the structure.

    New construction employed materials and methods in sync with the factory aesthetic- walls sheathed in reclaimed skip planed wood, a planter fabricated from riveted steel sheets echoing the freight elevator door, honeycomb tiles cut into the wood floor pattern defining the open pantry, and suspended lighting fixtures with exposed bulbs giving a retro look.

    Low-profile black-framed glass walls from dHive, live edge tables made from a tree uprooted nearby, a floating grid of interlocking felt, and contemporary lighting and furniture were used to draw contrast between present and past while creating a cool, relaxed and inviting office space which addresses the charm of the old with the sensibility of the new.

    Design: CPG Architects
    Photography: Richard Titus