Best of 2006 Awards
7 World Trade Center Marketing Suite
AWARD OF MERIT: Interior Fit-Out
 Silverstein Properties wanted an innovative space to market its 52-story speculative office building at 7 World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan while it was still under construction. The result was a 4,700-sq-ft. marketing suite that opened in January, complete with exhibition and office space, conference room, meeting areas, coat check, and pantry.
The $3 million suite was designed to showcase the flexibility of the building’s column-free floor space to prospective clients. The office tower opened and had its first new tenants move in this spring. One Best of 2006 jury member said the suite conveyed the magnitude of the tower and its offerings.
“The great challenge is to create something compelling to tell the story of this humongous thing you’re creating, with not a very big budget,” the juror said. “And I think they did a very good job at it.”
Located on the southern end of the 25th floor overlooking the main 16-acre World Trade Center site, the suite’s floor-to- ceiling windows offer dramatic views of the downtown area’s redevelopment efforts. The suite will eventually move to another floor in the building.
As the first commercial building in New York to achieve gold-level Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design core-and- shell certification, the suite highlights the green features in the design by Chicago- based Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. For instance, it showcases the building’s ultraclear glass, which provides shading and reduces the dependence on artificial lighting. It also shows off the air conditioning system, which ventilates the interiors using large amounts of outside air filtered with activated carbon.
The entrance and corridors of the marketing suite are lined with double-curved surfaces in its walls, tables, and screens. Sunlight filters through the 144 perforated, curved panels, creating varying patterns of light within the space.
Meanwhile, in the center of the suite, a large frame hovers above a bank of nine plasma screens mounted against the interior of the glass curtain wall, including a large screen that allows a user to manipulate the viewing content with hand gestures.
The screen displays information about the tower and its tenant amenities. The judges found the space both technologically advanced and pleasing to the eye.
“In terms of attractiveness, it deserves an award,” another judge said.
Key Players
Owner: Silverstein Properties
Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Contractor: Ambassador Construction
AV Consultant, Content Provider-Design: KMS Team
Lighting Consultant: Cline Bettridge Bernstein Lighting Design
Furniture: Herman Miller
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