The global retailer's new headquarters creates an unmistakable sense of place—accentuating each of its fashion brands and putting its art collection front and center.
The new headquarters for Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) consolidates the operations of various brands—Saks, Lord & Taylor, and Gilt, among others—in seven floors of Brookfield Place in Lower Manhattan. The new offices, comprising 350,000 square feet, benefit from panoramic views above the city and New York Harbor.
The interior design establishes a consistent visual language against which HBC and each of its affiliate brands can express unique identities. A clean, minimal design and a neutral color palette provide a quiet backdrop for each of the retailer’s iconic fashion brands. By resolving HBC’s functional requirements in an elegant, unified way, the architecture recedes into the background—allowing fashion, art, and the spectacular views to take center stage.
The design evolved from a deep understanding of the company’s day-to-day business needs. It provides flexible workspaces to accommodate a range of activities, from large meeting rooms to informal collaboration spaces. Conference rooms can be transformed for “style outs,” with integrated display systems to showcase fashion merchandise. Each floor is designed to maximize daylight and privilege views of the city and waterfront.
The New York headquarters is also home to the award-winning HBC Global Art Collection. SOM worked closely with Lisa Baker, director and chief curator, to create an ideal environment to display more than 150 artworks. Sensitively installed throughout the space, the work of artists as diverse as Candida Höfer, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and James Turrell activate and enrich the space.
