Real Estate

Is This What the Office of the Future Will Look Like?

The Rockwell Group and Fisher Brothers have an idea
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An amenity space.Photo: Courtesy of Robert Henry / Fisher Brothers

New York–based real estate company Fisher Brothers didn’t expect to spin off a hospitality brand two years ago. At the time, the firm was vetting amenities operators for its 1345 Avenue of the Americas commercial tower. But in early 2019, a hiccup in contract negotiations inspired the multigenerational family business to determine whether the traditional lobby and gym did enough to serve today’s class-A office tenants.

Now, Ease Hospitality is preparing to open its inaugural space, @Ease 1345, within the concourse level of the Manhattan skyscraper. Measuring approximately 18,000 square feet and designed by the Rockwell Group, @Ease 1345 not only dramatically one-ups standard office amenities but also suggests where the post-pandemic workplace is headed. In other words, it could just be called an office of the future.

“How do we make this a space that people want to come to?” is the question that guided the design process, says Crystal Fisher, managing director at both Fisher Brothers and Ease Hospitality, to AD PRO. She adds, “If a place doesn’t add value to your day, then you may as well stay in your cubicle.” A significant swath of @Ease 1345 bears more resemblance to an upscale hotel than a workplace, in turn. The interior includes a lounge where a variety of seating types overlook a ping-pong table, as well as an adjacent game room and café, and its gym features thoughtful touches including a hair and makeup bar in the women’s locker room as well as a massage room.

What will the office of the future contain? Tables fit for breakout-meeting facilities, for one.

Photo: Courtesy of Robert Henry / Fisher Brothers

As the project team members observed the rapid shift to WFH during the COVID-19 pandemic, they also realized, “In order for workplaces to thrive now, they must make the transition between working from home and going to the office seamless and cohesive,” says Rockwell Group’s Richard Chandler, an associate principal and studio leader at the New York–based firm.

Reflecting how work and life activities have blurred during WFH, for example, @Ease 1345’s recreational components flow easily into a variety of work environments: a large conference area, an open conference breakout space that includes library and elevated seating, meeting rooms that can be reconfigured for film screenings and events, and acoustically dampened huddle rooms. Chandler notes that, during the pandemic, “workplace teams [have become] more fluid and organic—allowing employees to come together to work collaboratively and then separate into small groups or focus on individual tasks.” The diversity of work areas, as well as the inherent flexibility of each, supports this emerging behavior.

The Palm Rose, which provides good and beverages.

Photo: Courtesy of Robert Henry / Fisher Brothers
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Fisher Brothers opened 1345 Avenue of the Americas in 1969, and Rockwell Group–specified oak paneling, metal mesh curtains, sculptural chairs, and other elements are in homage to the building’s original midcentury design by Emery Roth & Sons. Rockwell Group also manifested the wellness and biophilia trends that accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, most notably by anchoring @Ease 1345 with the largest terrarium in the northeast United States, which was created by the AD100 landscape architecture firm Hollander Design. Because “a true amenity offering today has to exist in both physical and digital planes,” as Fisher puts it, tech connectivity is embedded throughout @Ease 1345 and a proprietary app supports uses ranging from touchless entry to conference booking.

Tenants of 1345 Avenue of the Americas have exclusive access to @Ease 1345’s lounge, fitness center, and café, whereas the conference center and meeting rooms can be booked by anyone. (As of now, only tenants had pre-booking privileges.) Fisher says there are plans to roll out @Ease spaces to other Fisher Brothers buildings. Ease Hospitality is also considering providing third-party services to other commercial landlords. In other words, this concept could just be spread far and wide.

A look around the space. 

Photo: Courtesy of Robert Henry / Fisher Brothers

A vanity-clad area.

Photo: Courtesy of Robert Henry / Fisher Brothers