The days of corporate, spare office design are long gone (thankfully). In its place, warm, hospitality-driven interiors are dominating workplaces. A new update to consulting firm Hakluyt’s North American headquarters jumps on the trend but without sacrificing the office’s codes of influence and luxury. Modellus Novus outfitted Hakluyt’s entertaining room, located in the historic Squibbs Building in New York’s Midtown, with enough layers of sophistication to make even Don Draper envious.
Hakluyt describes itself as “an analogue business in a digital world,” and that sense of a hand-on, personable approach runs through the interior. The new 6,600-square-foot entertainment room is perched on the 28th floor of the building. The local architects structure different zones within the floor like a residential pied-à-terre.
From the wood-clad elevator vestibule, guests enter into a lobby, whose smaller scale marks a transition from the company’s offices on the above floor. White walls and oak floors are warmed by two Casina Cab chairs in Bordeaux saddle leather and an ivory and crema marble side table by &Tradition and a suspended satin brass Flume pendant light from J. Adams & Co.
A door, concealed within the walls, leads to a darker, compressed hallway, another domestically scaled element that then opens into the heart of the floor: the sitting room. A circular Vermont Verde stone table, set upon a travertine disc inlaid into the floor marks the arrival. Clusters of seating, custom designed by Modellus Novus, unfurl across the length of its 1,200 square feet. The seating is upholstered in a light taupe mohair, which sits atop a hand-tufted cornsilk rug. Along the walls, stepped wall reliefs and fluted Strata 600 sconces designed, also by J. Adams & Co, continue the art deco embellishments on the building’s facade.
On the northwest corner of the sitting room, a stainless steel bar topped with Gris Des Rois marble adds a glossy edge to the earthy palette. A closer look reveals the textured details that lend the space its refined air: fluted barstools, curves along the bar, and a back bar lined with more wall reliefs. It’s easy to imagine Hakluyt wooing clients here, serving ice-cold martinis with a side of picturesque views overlooking Central Park.
On the other end of the sitting room, two meetings rooms are tucked behind fluted glass sliding doors. Leather-clad Cassina Cab seating and banquettes decorate the niche covered in millwork. Dark, sleek, and warm, the meeting rooms signal discrete, private, and yet no less sleek, places to discuss work.
The sitting room continues into the dining room, anchored by a custom, 12-seat table in ALPI’s Sapele Pommele veneer, surrounded by Cassina chairs by Charlotte Perriand. Three Allied Maker pendants in verdigris finish illuminate the table from above. The dining room serves as both a place to host events or take larger meetings with a wall of more fluted glass to store glassware and connect to the kitchen. The residential spin on a conference room both impresses with its trust-worthy softness while signaling a sense of tactile richness. Here is a table—and an office—you want to have a seat at.
