Brick Blueprint with Architecture Plus Information

A+I is a New York based strategy-driven architecture and design agency focused on the future of work.

The name stems from Architecture + Information and encapsulates the firm’s investigative approach and creative curiosity. A+I was founded in 1996 by Brad Zizmor and Dag Folger who met at Columbia University. At the time, the blossoming dot-com era spotlighted architecture’s ability to push the boundaries of workplace design and meet the evolving needs of its workers. Since then, A+I has grown to be an internationally renowned firm with a diverse practice that encompasses branding, strategy, design, and architecture, specializing in workplace, retail and development projects.

A+I is recognized for its thought leadership in workplace strategy and design, its award-winning projects, and its meticulous, research-based designs. Recently completed projects include the Headquarters for Le Truc (part of Publicis Groupe), Peloton, Squarespace, Equinox, and Hines, as well as the elevated repositioning of theMART and PENN 1 for Vornado Realty Trust, and ‘The Gardens’ at 780 3rd for Nuveen Real Estate.

Q: What was your inspiration for the Peloton Headquarters?
A: Our greatest inspiration was the community of creators we met at Peloton, and their collective mission to support and empower their members. They aspired for their workplace environment to be egalitarian and of the highest quality, giving everyone throughout the organization equal treatment. That ambition informed the creative direction for the project and served as an anchor for design decisions. As a result, central to the design was the idea of a shared experience – one of connectivity and community.

Q: What was the overall goal, or desired outcome, for this project?
A: Our goal was to support every creator uniquely and equally, while maintaining perspective on the collective mission. We met and interviewed a wide range of creators with diverse workplace needs who were united by a commitment to a shared vision, and we wanted to support and celebrate that commitment.

Q: Why did you choose brick for this project? How important is material to your approach?
A: We chose brick after a thorough material research phase for a central “spine” wall that connects every floor of the project through a shared open space. We needed a material that would be constructed through aggregation, a process in which countless individual elements are combined to create an effect greater than its parts. In this way, the wall became an embodiment of our architectural mission. 

Q: What interested you most while designing this project?
A: We spent a lot of time engineering a system for the brick wall that could achieve the complex stacking and rotating pattern we designed. This pattern was developed in response to Peloton’s branding collateral, which uses similar gradient patterns to express dynamic movement, appropriate for this active and stacked space.

Q: What features of brick are most important to you? What made you choose Glen-Gery?
A: In addition to its construction logic, we chose Livenza Raw for its tactile qualities and variation in color and texture. For the desired effect to be achieved, each individual unit in the wall needed to have a distinct and “handmade” quality that set it apart.

Q: What made this design process different from others you have worked on?
A: Because of the complexity inherent in the design, there was a lot of back and forth between the overall design intent of the wall and the details built into each brick. This feedback loop between scales is different from other materials and led to the success of the end result.

Q: What is a typical timeline for a project of this scale?
A: For a project of this scale, the timeline varies greatly depending on a number of factors, from the extent of the strategic interrogation to the complexity of the design. A+I carefully designs the approach and schedule for a project based on our client’s unique needs and desires. On average, a project of this kind takes approx. 18-24 months.

Q: Has this project won any awards?
A: SARA National Design Awards 2022, Fitwel Impact Award 2022 (“Highest Scoring Project of All Time”)

Project Team
Phil Ward, Peter Knutson, Sohee Moon, Chris Shelley, Hannah Lee, Vané Broussard, Nico Martin, Maria Lozano, Anjali Patel, Catalina Rivera, Jara Mira, Josipa Baricevic, Katherine Salamat