3 NYC Lobby Renovations That Perfectly Reflect The Building Architecture

Just as the vibrant colors of spring blossoms give way to the lush greenery of summer, architectural design trends fade in and out of popularity – and New York City has examples of nearly every single one.

From the building boom of the 1890’s continuing into the modern day, the Big Apple has always been a bustling cacophony of architectural wonder. Apartment building residents are more conscious of the architecture around them. Today, NYC lobby renovations more and more involve staying true to the building’s architecture.

It’s disconcerting to walk into a traditional 1920’s apartment building and be confronted with an ultra-modern lobby, wouldn’t you agree? Therefore, in addition to everything that we are on top of to ensure the residents’ convenience, the needs of the staff, and comply with all the complex New York City building requirements, we also focus on the architectural style of the building when we plan our lobby renovations.

Successfully and seamlessly incorporating the needs of modern urban life into a lobby of a building that was built decades, or a hundred years ago, is the kind of challenge we thrive on. And we’ve had tons of experience doing it.

To illustrate what I mean, here are three of our NYC lobby renovations projects. They illustrate how we make the connection between the architectural style of a building – and the needs of modern city life.

1. Architectural Style: Mid-Century Modern Design

The Mid-Century Modern trend can be spotted all over New York City. Think Mad Men and white bricks, and you know what it is. To make this lobby harmonize with the building’s exterior but feel more current we incorporated midcentury modern shapes and angles into all the furnishings then chose a lovely color palette of grey-blues, lavenders, and soft burgundies. It is a much more welcoming experience than the original lobby with its dark burgundies, oranges, olives, and teals.

2. Architectural Style: Modern/Moderne

This post World War ll architectural style marks a distinct departure from the fussy traditional buildings of earlier decades. We loved the drama of this spectacular apartment building in Forest Hills, Queens with its sweeping, curved lines. But the lobby was downright depressing.

We wanted to stay true to the “less is more” character of the architecture so the lobby provides residents and visitors a delightfully smooth transition from the street into the living space. We preserved the open feeling and took it a step further by using more metal than in the original décor and choosing materials that help preserve the excitement of the architecture but with a more welcoming – and less ‘outer spacey’ – feeling.

3. Architectural Style: 1920’s Traditional

Residents who live in pre-war buildings love that pre-war feel. We often hear, “We bought into this building because it is so exquisitely detailed and we don’t want to lose that.” So, when approaching NYC lobby renovations in 1920’s traditional buildings, we salvage everything we can of the original details – then add our secret sauce so it will function well in the 21st In this example, we restored the coffered ceiling and replicated the original patterned tile flooring.

Then, by using clever solutions we added all the necessities of a modern lobby. For color, we traded the traditional original palette of burgundies and hunter greens for blacks, charcoal greys, camels, and navies.

For every NYC lobby renovations project we take on, our mission is to ensure the residents and building staff have everything they need for today’s urban lifestyle. But staying true to the architectural expression of each building is also the trademark of our work. We are honored to be chosen so often to work on wonderful lobby interior design projects like these in the New York metropolitan area.

Ready to update your building’s tired old lobby? Please call us at 212.757.0631 for a consultation.