SOM completes restoration of New York’s historic Lever House

By Realestates News On Sep 28, 2024

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US-based architecture studio SOM has completed a restoration of the Lever House seventy years after the studio originally designed the historic New York City office building.

Under developers Brookfield Properties and WatermanClark, the project includes a restoration of the building’s lobby, plaza, interior office spaces, terraces, third-floor lounge and mechanical systems.

A building with a green glass facade — SOM has completed a restoration of the Lever House office building in New York City

The 22-storey building consists of a rectangular base that is suspended over a courtyard and plaza by columns, with a tower of office suites extending from the northern corner of its city plot.

Upon the developers’ purchase of the building in 2020, many of the interior spaces had fallen into disrepair.

A large courtyard with patio — The Lever House is known for its green-hued glass facade and small stature

“It still had all of the good bones, it had all its original parts, but it had, over that 70-year period, sort of suffered,” said vice president of design at Brookfield Properties Scott Kirkham.

“It wasn’t in particularly good repair and it certainly was showing certain signs of its ageing.”

A covered plaza with gray and white terrazzo — The renovation included updates to the lobby, plaza, office floors, terraces and mechanical systems

Along with interior designer Marmol Radziner and landscape architect Reed Hilderbrand, the team overhauled both interior and exterior spaces.

“This renovation reactivates Lever House for the 21st century,” said SOM partner Chris Cooper. “We’ve restored the plaza and podium to its original 1952 glory while comprehensively overhauling the mechanical systems.”

“The result is a landmark that is both renewed and reminiscent of its midcentury splendour – with revamped outdoor spaces, more natural light inside, and an efficient use of energy.”

In the building’s lobby, which is enclosed in floor-to-ceiling windows, SOM restored the terrazzo flooring, stainless steel-clad columns, white-marble planters, black limestone and white marble walls and a yellow tile mosaic wall that sits at the entrance to the elevators.

Large floor to ceiling glass surrounding a lobby — The lobby’s terrazzo floors and marble and limestone walls were restored

SOM design principle Frank Mahan explained the team used a “variety of data points” including the existing materials, historic drawings, photos and “contemporaneous descriptions” in order to closely match contemporary materials to their 1950s predecessors.

This included sending aged samples of the original terrazzo flooring to a lab, where they were used to create a new, stronger material composed of similar ingredients.

Interior designer Marmol Radziner created rosewood, mohair, and leather furniture and a large bar unit for the building’s newly restored third-floor common space, which is located in the building’s elevated rectangular base.

The central bar consists of two rosewood…