grace and i discovered city owl at the brooklyn flea where were completely captivated by ashley de vries and jim collier’s booth. when ashley told us about this project that she recently completed with interior designer christine dalsass, whose work is characterized by her use of organic texture, fauna and all things vintage, we just had to have a peek. this space houses the offices of the open planning project (topp) – a nonprofit founded by mark gorton, which develops tech tools for mapping and geospacial applications – topp also does advocacy work related to bicycle, pedestrian and mass transit issues. the building is a LEED gold building and ltl architects designed the space to be as eco-friendly as possible. ashley and christine were charged with warming it up! and they certainly did so – with the help of lots of vintage! {thanks ltl architects, ashley, christine and all the folks at topp!} -amy a.
[photo above: We used a globe/mapping theme throughout the office, since it relates so closely to Topp's work. Almost all of the globes we used are vintage and each one is different. There are about 500 globes in the office, and we are always buying more! The lockers are old choir boy lockers from Get Back.]
[photo above: TOPP employees eat lunch together every day, so we needed a lot of lunch seating. We found this great trestle table at Interieurs.]
[photo above: We wanted to make a dramatic statement in the reception area and set the tone for the industrial but cozy feel that defines the office. The old industrial railroad cart coffee table from Interieurs was a great find.]
[photo above: LTL Architects developed the brilliant idea of a wall that is the street grid of Manhattan with a green wall for Central Park. Parker Interior Plantscapes chose plantings that reflect the landscape of Central Park, with low dense plantings for the meadows and taller tree-like plantings for the wooded areas.]
CLICK HERE for more of the TOPP office!
[photo above: We wanted an atypical reception desk. This rolltop steel desk from Get Back was perfect for reception - tall enough to give the receptionist privacy but with much more character than the average desk.]
[photo above: People at Topp like to work in areas other than their desks so we provided a lot of casual seating. The vintage subway scroll in the background is one of several in the office.]
[photo above: We looked for ways to make typical office functions (which are usually unattractive and messy) fun and aesthetically pleasing. The mail sorter, from Get Back, is a great looking vintage piece, but also very functional]
[photo above: The main conference room has a live edge trestle table from Trailer Park. We mixed a lot of natural elements in with the industrial pieces to bring a warm feel to the conference rooms, since people sometimes spend hours at a time in those rooms.]
[photo above: The penthouse at Topp serves as a lunchroom and event space, so it needed to be very flexible. Almost everything is on casters so the room can be rearranged quickly. We had Trailer Park make the farm tables and add phenolic resin casters that we found from an industrial supplier]
[photo above: The mirror is made from a foundry mold and the sconces are vintage o.c. white factory fixtures. We used foundry molds all over the office as decorative items, and I became obsessed with them in the process. City Owl now has a huge collection!]
[photo above: TOPP cooks together every Friday, so a functional kitchen was much more important than in the average office. We pieced together this kitchen island from various elements at Get Back - they assembled it for us and put it on a new butcher block. It's a great work space and can be moved around for events.]
