If you could design happenstance, this January at FXFOWLE is what it would look like. The architecture, interiors and planning firm celebrates its 40th anniversary, while rolling out a well-timed rebrand and announcing a move from its Chelsea NYC headquarters to downtown Brooklyn. The firm’s newly unveiled name, FXCollaborative, is a symbol of evolution that will follow it to Brooklyn, into a new building of its own design.
Originally founded by Bruce Fowle in 1978 as Fox & Fowle, FXCollaborative is now headed by eight partners, supported by a staff of more than 150 in offices in New York and Washington, D.C. We spoke with Managing Partner Guy Geier to shed light on the trio of changes.
“These things all came together at the same time, but we didn’t necessarily plan it that way,” said Mr. Geier. “Two years ago, we made the decision to explore rebranding, and our anniversary and the announcement of our move to Brooklyn began to coalesce in perfect timing.”
The rebrand and relocation is a sign that the firm is intent on maintaining its position as a dominant mid-sized practice.
“With the profession becoming increasingly polarized between small boutique firms and large global firms, FXCollaborative resists being wholly defined by either of these models,” noted the press announcement. “It operates like a large atelier, with few boundaries between disciplines and typologies, reinforcing information and knowledge exchange.”
FXCollaborative is keen on keeping its hands-on approach.
“Small firms tend to be dominated by individual designers, and large firms are not necessarily known for the way partners and staff work together,” noted Mr. Geier. We have the ability to spread our partners and other lead designers into every project, while our full staff shares its knowledge and expertise.”
The meaning behind the new name points to the firm’s identity and history – holding onto the ‘FX’ – while positioning the firm for the future it sees for itself.
“We asked our clients what part of the FXFOWLE brand people immediately recognize, and the ‘FX’ is the hook for so many people; it’s an important part of our identity,” said Mr. Geier. “But we also studied a constellation of names in the A&D community, and we found that many include initials and last names of firm founders, but don’t talk about the firm’s culture and attitudes and beliefs. We asked our clients about the qualities they associate with us, and a close collaborative process came up consistently. We want our name to say something deeper about who we are.”
The firm’s move from its Chelsea headquarters in Manhattan to a brand new building in downtown Brooklyn was too good to pass up.
“It’s a rare opportunity for an architecture firm to design a building from scratch, and then to have their offices in a building they’ve designed,” said Mr. Geier.
The 34-story mixed-use tower, developed by JEMB Realty Corporation, is slated to open in 2021. FXCollaborative has signed a 15-year lease as its anchor tenant for 40,000 square feet on floors seven through nine; the move is planned for 2022.
“JEMB wanted to design this building to have a Brooklyn feel, rather than a more mainstream Manhattan profile,” noted Mr. Geier. “An edgy, creative driven loft. The more we talked about that, the more we came to the realization that we’re a great fit for that space.”
FXCollaborative designed the light-filled offices to embrace creativity, deep collaboration, flexibility and authentic social interaction.
“It made great economic sense as well as cultural sense. Slightly more than 40% of our staff lives in Brooklyn, so the location change wasn’t out of the question,” noted Mr. Geier. “And One Willoughby Square is at the nexus of everything, including transit right at its doorstep. In Chelsea, we have an older building with a great space, but we’ve made many compromises over the years. So the notion of a blank slate to work with is very compelling to us.”
One Willoughby Square draws a clear line between Manhattan and Brooklyn sensibilities.
“We designed this building to have a more honest use of materials, to not be as slick as a Manhattan building,” said Mr. Geier. “We took cues from masonry and other industrial influences. Instead of a full glass sheet wall, we designed a glazed brick tile with tall windows that still keeps a sense of craft.”
The building features a setback at the 6th floor creating a terrace on two sides of FXCollaborative’s offices. The building’s entire design puts a premium on access to natural light and the outdoors.
The new headquarters also present an obvious opportunity for FXCollaborative to showcase their design process, to walk the talk.
“Our first steps as a team of designers have been about designing the process, rather than designing the space,” said Mr. Geier. “We want to make our process similar to the process we use with our clients. It really becomes a test bed for everything we’re doing with our clients.”
FXCollaborative’s new logo was designed by Pentagram, as “a statement of purpose and a commitment to a way of working,” noted Michael Bierut, partner at Pentagram, in the press announcement. “It’s a simple statement but a profound promise, reflected in straightforward typography and a simple, strong underscore.”
The trio of announcements from FXCollaborative are significant, but clear in intention, showing the strength and confidence of a firm that knows its identity.
Sustainable Design at FXCollaborative
“FXCollaborative’s work ranges from the scale of an individual building – office towers, multi-family residences, cultural facilities, K-12 and higher education institutions – to the city as a whole, addressing sustainability infrastructure and transportation.”
“We have built upon the knowledge of founder Bruce Fowle, whose early experience designing solar-responsive, naturally-ventilated homes, led us to become a pioneer in the green building movement. These early explorations led to an innovative approach rooted in conservationist values. We soon became known for taking sustainable design to new heights, with the first green high-rise in Shanghai, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (1992); and in New York, 4 Times Square – formerly the Condé Nast Building (1999). As the first green skyscraper in the United States, 4 Times Square’s unprecedented integration of sustainable design principles and technologies – all implemented for the first time at this scale – galvanized the green building movement and was a catalyst for the development of the USGBC LEED rating system. The firm’s pioneering Battery Park City Sustainable Guidelines propelled sustainable development in New York City.
“FXFOWLE projects represent the assimilation of years of knowledge and technical expertise building sustainable environments congruous with clients’ values. Our work has a distinguished record of achieving performance metrics of sustainability and energy efficiency, including LEED, Enterprise Green Communities, ENERGY STAR, the 2030 Challenge, and other international rating systems. We continue to advance our sustainability objectives and expertise, currently focusing on Passive House and Net Zero Energy projects.”