Designer Forum: Area rugs add to the historical context and flexibility of an award-winning office building – May 2024

By Nicole Anders and Krista Neerdaels

Located within Chicago’s Fulton Market, 345 N. Morgan is a new 11-story, 230,000-square-foot, Class A commercial office building. The design goal was to create a boutique-sized office building that embodies the industrial spirit of Fulton Market while placing a high priority on refined design details. Due to the highly competitive nature of the neighborhood’s commercial office market, the interior design teams from lead architect Eckenhoff Saunders and developer Sterling Bay partnered to create innovative amenities that would go beyond the standard Class A office building offerings and rival the nearby hospitality and restaurant scene to attract and retain tenants. A variety of flooring from Shaw Contract, Northern Wide Plank, and others, combine to enhance the hospitality feel while softening the historical-influenced hardscapes throughout.

AN INSPIRED DESIGN
The design team crafted a historical narrative and used hyper-local inspiration to create a sense of place and differentiate the building from adjacent properties. The design concept was inspired by the building’s location adjacent to a major commuter line, drawing cues from the craftsmanship of passenger rail stations and the luxury of travel in the early 20th century. The use of exposed concrete, metal, terrazzo and mosaic tiles references the neighborhood’s industrial history while creating a contemporary and upscale aesthetic.

Tenants enter the lobby through a stately two-story barrel arch, a motif repeated throughout the interior and mirrored on the floors with custom area rugs by Shaw Contract. Finishes and materials are raw and durable with exposed concrete floors, walls and ceilings, while soft textiles and area rugs provide warmth and comfort at the human scale.

The unexpected light, bright color palette and modern furnishings imbue the environment with energy. The commissioned artwork in the lobby weaves a sustainable story with textile scraps, some of which were repurposed from upholstery in the building.

The building footprint prioritizes flexibility and equitable access to daylight for all tenants on efficient 23,000-square-foot office floors, which feature 13’ ceilings and near floor-to-ceiling windows on every level. Each floor also has one large private outdoor terrace with dramatic city views.

The plant-filled glass box conservatory is the property’s crown jewel, providing a year-round connection to sunlight and nature with direct access to the wraparound terrace in warmer months, and the adjoining flexible conference space doubles as a co-working library with cozy booths for games of chess. Northern Wide Plank’s Eden engineered European white oak and Stone Source’s Tierras Industrial brick were selected for historical reference, warm tones, aesthetic, durability and availability within the construction timeline.

The amenity spaces throughout the building promote health and wellness for tenants by offering opportunities for social connection, areas of retreat and, in the fitness center, physical activity in individual and group settings. There, EcoSurfaces’ Forest Rx in Smoked Oak and Ecofit in Take One were chosen for durability, cleanability, suitability for the fitness function, and color palette.

SOFTENING THE AESTHETIC
The design team chose flooring finishes that feel timeless and authentic to the history and industry of the neighborhood, aligning with Sterling Bay’s belief in investing in quality, durable materials that will stand the test of time. The flooring selections contribute significantly to the guiding story of the building by using materials-concrete, terrazzo, mosaic tile, wood, terra cotta and area rugs-that could have been used in the design’s reference period of the early 20th century.

Soft surfaces were layered into the project to not only create interest but also provide acoustic support and act as a grounding element in furniture vignettes. The team wanted to maintain the integrity of the wall-to-wall terrazzo on the first floor and the exposed concrete and wood floors on the amenity level, so they selected area rugs rather than inset carpets. This approach allows for more flexibility in space planning, with the hope that the base flooring materials will be less likely to be demolished as the building evolves, which is ultimately a sustainable approach.

The team was familiar and comfortable with the maintenance of Shaw’s solution-dyed nylon, and in combination with the area rugs’ integral non-skid backing and ADA-compliant edge binding, they felt confident that the rugs would perform well and look beautiful for many years.

The Shaw Forum collection was released at the perfect moment in the design process. The designers were instantly attracted to its bold shapes and modern patterns and knew the rugs would reflect the more significant design motifs while providing a beautiful contrast to the traditional flooring materials of terrazzo, concrete and wood. In addition, the ability to source area rugs, custom broadloom and running-line carpet tile from a single manufacturer streamlined the design and documentation process.

The design team was able to specify the area rugs with minimal customization. They selected the patterns and provided Shaw with plans and dimensions, and Shaw’s team scaled the pieces to fit into each space. The custom broadloom in the meeting room was a slightly bigger challenge, however. The design team wanted to pull the very graphic black-and-white grid pattern from one of the area rugs to use in a larger expanse, but ultimately, the strike-off felt a bit flat, and there was concern that the expanse of dark cut pile might require more maintenance. Additionally, the Shaw team noted that the stark contrast could result in some optical illusion banding. The solution to both issues proved to be combining cut and loop piles, which added greater dimension and allowed the designers to keep the desired graphic dual-color pattern.

MODERN APPEAL
The project has been highly celebrated, winning the 2023 ASID Design Excellence Award in the Contract Over 10,000 Square Feet category, the 2023 IIDA RED Award for Best in Show and People’s Choice in the 100,001+ Square Feet category, and the 2023 Shaw Contract Best of Globe and Best Regional awards, among others.

While it’s difficult to pinpoint the exact magic of this project, the design team has heard anecdotally from the building’s management that visitors have dropped into the lobby believing that it’s a hotel. Beginning at the threshold, the lobby exudes warmth and welcome, and that hospitality is carried throughout the space. The building tells a story, and ultimately, it’s one you’d like to cozy up in.

Copyright 2024 Floor Focus

Print the Article