Industrious and Equinox Partner for Luxe New York Coworking Space
Luxury gym provider Equinox has teamed up with coworking brand Industrious for a new line of co-located fitness centers and workspaces that embody the rich characteristics of both brands.
The first of the Industrious at Equinox spaces opened at New York’s Hudson Yards development in late 2019, where Equinox has also opened its first hotel. The 72-story mixed-use development also includes the world’s largest Equinox Fitness Club, six floors of office space, a SoulCycle, and private residences.
The design team, led by Industrious Head of Design Matt Bosserman, focused on creating a warm and welcoming environment with materials that both honored the industrial character of the building and surrounding neighborhood and reflected the elevated lifestyle branding of the two companies.
“We started with a fairly warm, light palette through the use of wood flooring and wayfinding signage that marks the entrances to each office. From there, we layered in a number of more dramatic and rich materials, like a honed marble feature wall in the elevator lobby,” says Bosserman. “Then we layered in some of those more dramatic materials, like teak wood and rich blue velvet chairs in the main entrance hall and café.”
Mixed materials also define key architectural moments in the space, like the monumental staircase that connects the office’s two floors.
“The introduction of dark metal and brasses in both the staircase itself as well as in the feature light fixture that hangs above really connects the two spaces both physically and functionally through lighting,” he says. “This gives a unique character to the space and represents both of our [company’s] design perspectives.”
But beyond a beautiful aesthetic, Bosserman emphasizes that the primary objective behind the firm’s design strategy is providing the most productive day at work possible for its members.
“Ultimately every decision we made started from that perspective—does the material, or the function of a chair, or set up of technology in a conference room serve to provide a seamless productive experience for our members or not?” he says. “If the answer was no, then we wouldn’t move forward with whichever of those options was on the table.”
The space occupies 44,000 square feet across two floors (the eighth and ninth in the building), and includes 71 offices.
Members can choose from a range of workspace options, including private offices, one-person soundproof rooms with acoustic panels, huddle spaces for small groups, and open, communal spaces. Private offices can accommodate anywhere from one to 19 employees. Some of the space’s private offices line the perimeter of the central staircase and tout 14-foot ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Vessel and the Hudson River.
The design team is also experimenting with construction methods that will allow Industrious to modify spaces over time to suit changing member needs.
“One component of promoting productivity is maximizing flexibility and understanding that our members have different workstyles throughout their day,” says Bosserman. “Meaning that for some portion of their day they want privacy, and then in other portions of their day they may want a communal experience, and maybe some parts of their day they need dedicated team work spaces.”
Both lighting and sound abatement played a pivotal role in making workspaces conducive to a productive day. In addition to strategic task lighting (including cove fixtures, undercounter downlight, streamline general lighting, and accent fixtures), the space offers optimal daylight through use of a custom glazing technique on the office’s glass walls that pulls in light while still offering privacy. The glass allows natural light as far into the core of the space as possible, as glazed portions of the partition in what Bosserman calls an “ombre frost effect” provide privacy at eye level and transparency up above.
Meanwhile, noise-canceling features in the communal spaces allow for multiple conversations without distraction.
The office is also wired with audio and video features that help animate the space and help members interact. The main café lounge has a large screen which serves as an events calendar for the building and Equinox’s other programming. Each conference room is integrated with video screens and cameras to create a comprehensive and interactive tech hub.
When not working, a café and lounge offers food and beverage services for members to unwind with communal and café tables. A range of seating options, like banquettes, provide a place to relax or gather. Much of Industrious’ furniture seamlessly incorporates power capabilities for phone and laptop charging.
“Ultimately, that level of detail focus ensures that [the space] is entirely seamless which becomes not only an elevated experience for members, but also ensures that every aspect of every place they touch in that space is as productive as possible for them,” says Bosserman.
With both private offices and coworking spaces across the country currently closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, Industrious is evaluating what the workplace will look like when we return to work in person. The company spearheaded the formation of the Workplace Operator Readiness Council (WORC), a global coalition of workplace operators and advisors working together to develop new guidelines to help minimize the risk of COVID-19 spread in the workplace.
Some health and hygiene guidelines identified to-date have been geared toward establishing safe distance between employees, sanitization of common shared spaces and additional measures that include improved control of airflow, according to a release from Industrious.
Similar social distancing changes have been announced by flexible workspace providers like WeWork, which plans to implement floor stickers marking spots for social-distancing guidelines, touchless hand-sanitizing stations and new house cleanup rules into its post-pandemic offices.
