Good style, as they are saying, by no means goes out of favor, and the aphorism isn’t any extra obvious than within the New York headquarters of Ray, a residential improvement firm helmed by the artwork collector and Storage Museum founder Dasha Zhukova. The workplace is situated on the twenty fifth ground of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Seagram Constructing at 375 Park Avenue, and Ray inventive director Suzanne Demisch, of design gallery Demisch Danant, has made it a homage to company modernism with bookmatched rosewood partitions, Florence Knoll sofas and pale gold carpeting. With a panorama of Manhattan seen by means of its floor-to-ceiling home windows, and art work by Taryn Simon and Jonas Wooden, the workplace is as inspiring as it’s commanding.
In the meantime, Ray is remaking skylines throughout the US with residential high-rises that mirror the identical sensibility as its HQ: materially wealthy and outfitted with classic furnishings and modern artwork – the form of locations the place design obsessives really feel proper at dwelling. However greater than constructing skyscrapers, Ray can be nurturing artistically-minded communities inside them, establishing inventive hubs not just for their residents, however for the town as an entire. ‘We consider that an intimate shared expertise of artwork, design and structure has the ability to positively influence individuals’s lives,’ says Demisch.
Taryn Simon’s Memorandum of Understanding between the Royal Authorities of Cambodia and the Authorities of Australia Regarding the Settlement of Refugees in Cambodia. Ministry of Inside, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, September 26, 2014, a part of the Paperwork and the Will of Capital collection, 2015
(Picture credit score: William Jess Laird)
Step inside Ray’s Seagram Constructing workplace
The developer’s tasks embody Ray Philly, with Leong Leong; Ray Harlem, in collaboration with Frida Escobedo and Little Wing Lee; and Ray Phoenix and Ray Nashville, each with Johnston Marklee and Elements and Labor. Within the residential actual property panorama, any such pedigree is often reserved for condominiums, however all of Ray’s tasks are mixed-use rental buildings, with residences on the higher flooring and cultural programming at road degree. Whereas cities throughout the nation need to mixed-use improvement to deliver much-needed housing into city centres, the aesthetics are usually woefully nondescript, with design value-engineered out.
Ray’s tasks, alternatively, centre on design and so are extra civic-minded – an strategy that entices its collaborators. ‘Multi-family rental housing is without doubt one of the most essential typologies we will put money into at this time to make our cities extra habitable,’ says Sharon Johnston of Johnston Marklee. ‘A human scale and a spotlight to element [in these projects] will contribute to pedestrian life in these cities.’
‘Eames Govt’ chairs within the HQ’s convention room
(Picture credit score: William Jess Laird)
Sitting on the border of Philadelphia’s Fishtown and Kensington, former industrial areas that are actually creative hubs, Ray Philly, the primary accomplished undertaking, demonstrates this strategy. Architects Leong Leong knew that the constructing would want to have interaction with its neighbourhood. ‘For us, this meant leaning into the materiality of the historic buildings and enthusiastic about the way to work with brick in a tactile means, making a story tied to its place by means of a way of depth and reduction – not a simple feat inside typical improvement constraints,’ says Dominic Leong. For the façade, the agency specified the identical hand-split brick discovered on Vitra’s Schaudepot by Herzog & de Meuron in Germany. On the bottom ground, there’s a co-working lounge, artist studios, and a retail and undertaking area for Ulises, a neighborhood artwork e-book writer.
Because of its design and programming, Ray Philly feels as if it has at all times been part of the realm, despite the fact that it solely opened in 2023. ‘It delights us when residents ask, ‘What was this constructing earlier than?’ says Demisch. ‘It’s our final want for our improvement tasks to really feel at dwelling within the neighbourhoods through which we construct, whereas additionally contributing one thing architecturally vital for many years to come back.’
(Picture credit score: William Jess Laird)
You’ll discover a related neighbourhood-specific strategy in all of Ray’s tasks. Ray Harlem, which is about to open later this 12 months, contains greater than 200 market-rate and reasonably priced residences and also will be the brand new dwelling of the Nationwide Black Theatre, based in New York in 1968. The constructing’s pink-red brick exterior nods to the Osun-Osogbo sacred grove in Nigeria (the theatre’s former area was adorned with sculptures by modern artists from the grove) and its ground-floor ‘lounge’ might be open to the general public. Ray Phoenix, opening in 2026, additionally takes cues from its environment. Its inexperienced façade will change with the daylight all through the day – ‘a mirrored image of the ephemerality of life in an arid local weather,’ says Johnston. She’s nonetheless fine-tuning the Ray Nashville undertaking, however when it’s full in 2027, its blues will mix in with the sky.
Demisch hopes that Ray’s strategy appeals to different builders. ‘We want a paradigm shift, the place visible tradition will not be handled as an afterthought however embraced as a cornerstone of improvement practices for the advantage of residents and your complete neighborhood,’ she says.
(Picture credit score: William Jess Laird)
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