Carmen Epstein

The Pew Charitable Trusts understood that by buying a 1980s mediocre office building they could collocate and grow their organization in a fluid, connected and creative work environment that would welcome and host in a state-of-the-art conference center everyone from donors, grassroots organizations to Members of Congress. 

The initial step in creating this vision was to design a glass three-story enclosure on the front façade of the building in which a three level glass stair was placed that connected the initial three floors that Pew occupied.  Directly adjacent to the stair are the conference facilities including large and small conference rooms, a boardroom and a multipurpose room.  The multipurpose room and boardroom have movable walls that open onto the reception area creating one large open conference and entertaining space.

As important as the conference center was to their exterior mission, equally important was the creation of an open work environment that mixed staff and broke down barriers between departments and programs. A rigorous planning grid was established in order to give some order to the low ceilinged and columned filled floors.  All the interior glass fronted doorless offices and low paneled workstations are planned on the grid.  Teaming tables are incorporated into the workstation configuration and glass fronted team rooms are positioned adjacent to the glass stair.

The minimal and edited neutral palette of painted drywall, glass, terrazzo and woven vinyl floor tiles acts as a backdrop to the important work that the nonprofit does.