18,500 s/f headquarters for Birch Family Services designed by MKDA

MKDA, a corporate space planning and interiors firm, designed 18,500 s/f of office space on two contiguous floors at 104 West 29th St. for the new headquarters of Birch Family Services, a not-for-profit that operates schools, residential and care facilities in New York for children and adults with learning and developmental disabilities. MKDA president Michael Kleinberg, said, "The organization had its headquarters on numerous non-contiguous floors at 275 Seventh Ave. and needed to bring each of its operational entities together into a contiguous and collaborative workspace, all while maintaining the distinct identities and functions of each group. Our challenge was to create a fresh and interesting space for Birch Family Services on a non-profit budget and within the standard work letter provided by the class C building owner," said Kleinberg. "We also needed to ensure that the design would remain relevant for the duration of the 10-year lease, and beyond." MKDA used the concept of "neighborhoods" to distinguish the organization's distinct departments that include training, administration and curriculum, to name a few. The design team also had to factor into its layout the typical office space needs, such as boardrooms, IT, conference rooms, pantries, and more. "We used multi-angular partitions, colors, lighting and workstations integrated with glass dividers to define each area. These created a sense of openness and interdepartmental collaboration while also giving each group its own definitive and functional space," said Jerry Herman, executive vice president at MKDA. In order to create a timeless yet energetic design, MKDA used neutral shades and a palette of grays accented with bursts of orange.The firm installed pendant-mounted linear and incandescent fixtures to provide lighting in the organization's open areas, and traditional recessed fluorescent fixtures to provide lighting in its offices, corridors and conference rooms.