MAKING THE CUT

Hariri & Hariri Architecture—the firm of Iranian sisters andInterior DesignHall of Fame members Gisue and Mojgan Hariri—began the renovation of the headquarters of SIBA Corp/SIBA Residences, a prominent gem dealer and real estate business in Manhattan’s Diamond District, in early 2020, just as COVID-19 was about to grip New York. The architects designed the 3,000-square-foot full floor during the transitional period when the SIBA office staff, like countless others across the country, started Zooming from home. Like anthropologists unexpectedly equipped with a telephoto lens into the lives of their subjects, the Hariris observed home environments that had become on-screen business backdrops. COVID taught the architects what now seems obvious: People were in no rush to return to the office because they like the warmth, character, crafted touches, and creature comforts of their homes. Specialists in both residential and workplace, the sisters resolved to adapt domesticity to the penthouse site, balancing the amenities of home with office life in a building deep in Midtown’s thicket of highrises. “Zoom confirmed what George Nelson advocated long ago,” Gisue Hariri notes: “‘The office should be a daytime living room.’” The renovation initiated a new era and ethos for the four-generation family business. The third-generation patriarch, Sam Abram, had recently died, and his son Edward, now CEO, was relaunching the company. Three of SIBA’s separate divisions—diamond trading, real estate sales, and building management—shared the floor. Without looking like Fort Knox, the gem side of the business had to be secured away from the real estate and management spaces, which were themselves separate from each other. With multiple zones and numerous dedicated functions—reception and waiting areas, open workstations and offices, a conference room and a jewelry viewing lounge, kitchen and dining—the program presented the organizational challenge of piecing together an intricate puzzle. The existing office looked like a leftover period set fromThe Honeymooners. Cubicles and rooms were grafted onto each other higgledy-piggledy under harsh fluorescents set in a water-damaged dropped

Previous spread: A custom desk, faceted like a diamond, defines reception at the New York headquarters of gem dealer and real estate business SIBA Corp/SIBA Residences by Hariri & Hariri Architecture. Top, from left: SIBA’s art collection, including a painting by graffiti artist Hektad, adds color to the project’s materials palette, which, in reception, consists of rift-cut oak and solid surfacing. The collection also includes a silkscreen print by Gene Davis and the sculpture Puzzle Man. Robby & Francesca Cantarutti’s Forest chairs and Lievore Altherr Molina’s Branch table outfit the terrace. Bottom, from left: A band of LED strips highlights the elevator lobby’s wraparound aluminum slats and porcelain floor tile. The LEDs and slats continue in the open work area, which is surrounded by etched-glass panels fronting private offices.

“The architects told their clients that the goal was to build the analogue of a jewel”

ceiling. A large safe was strapped down like an electric chair. The whole place required a gut renovation.

The unsalvageable maze, however, hid two assets. The space had good infrastructure—a wraparound terrace ringed the entire floor, which offered unobstructed, heart-of-the-city views. Then, in and around the principal office, the architects discovered numerous modernist prints and silkscreens that the company had quietly collected, hung up, and left in place for decades, as forgotten as old wallpaper. To their surprise, the Hariris were dealing with a portfolio that included works by Josef Albers, Ellsworth Kelly, Kenneth Noland, and Louise Nevelson. New pieces, including ones by Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, and Alexander Calder, were added to the mix, and the trove became a vehicle that helped the two sisters infuse the project with color and character.

Aiming for a daytime living-room effect, the Hariris avoided a systematic, gridded, modular layout. Instead, the floor is organized episodically along a circuit leading to an unfolding sequence of spaces, each highlighting art or special seating. The unique turns in the plan camouflaged the harsh fact that a corridor, for example, might function as a security lock bordered by bulletproof glass. The Hariri team included pockets as socializing zones for passing office chats and break-out moments. They sited the jewelry viewing lounge among the first rooms, beyond which lies a small openplan pool of workstations for real estate management surrounded by a perimeter of private offices.

Improvements in technology over the last several decades facilitated domestication. Thanks to the computer, the architects could reduce the number of chilly, metal file cabinets to a minimum. A new ceiling system of parallel

Opposite: Dark Gray and White, a screen print and collage by Ellsworth Kelly, hangs in a corridor. Top: Colorful nylon carpet tiles, Matthew LaPenta emoticon sculptures, and an Andy Warhol silkscreen bring a residential vibe. Center: Cabinets flanking an office door display Fred Allard’s resin sculptures. Bottom: Terry Crew’s Lilypad, a table and lounge chair combo, sits under Martín Azúa’s Halo pendant fixtures in the waiting area.

aluminum slats set wide enough apart to accommodate sprinklers let them raise the ceiling from 8 to nearly 10 feet. Compact HVAC equipment replaced large, antiquated units that colonized the outdoor terrace, allowing for an alfresco dining setup plus a meditation garden. Contemporary window frames gave each opening a clear view, turning the urban skyline into a sequence of spectacular pictures. But beyond technology, the Hariris deployed architecture’s traditional tool-set—materials, scale, lighting, and simplicity—to make the HQ homelike. They covered metal access panels with rift-cut oak. Etched glass between perimeter offices and the open work area softly radiate natural light to the landlocked interior. They dimensionalized the floor with patterned carpet tile that creates the illusion of depth, its pile inviting staff to kick off their shoes. Overall, the spaces were kept intimate, with clean planes and edges that defer to the art. The walls, mostly painted white or gray, have the visual clarity of a gallery. At the beginning of the commission, the architects told their clients that the goal was to build the analogue of a jewel—“something light, airy, and tactile,” Gisue Hariri says, “something small, precious, and special, where every turn is unique.” She and her sister crafted that idea right at the front door by chamfering the reception desk like a precious cut stone—its faceted, sculptural quality a trademark of their work. “From early on, we’ve collected rocks andstudied geological and crystal formations, fascinated by the abstract, geometric, asymmetrical forms derived from nature, which are also apparent in both Persian and modern Western architecture,” the architect adds. But even more than a built metaphor, the diamond at the door sets the stage for the multifaceted gem of an environment beyond.

Top, from left: A Luca Nichetto leather sofa shares a corner of the jewelry viewing lounge with a Shayna La painting. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona lounge chair and Charles and Ray Eames’s executive and task chairs join custom casegoods in the CEO’s office. Bottom, from left: A restroom is a serene composition of Carrara marble tile and custom lacquered cabinetry. Three Alexander Calder lithographs enliven a corridor. Ceiling-mounted LED fixtures 3 feet in diameter illuminate the kitchen’s solid-surfacing countertop and brushed stainless-steel shelving, both custom.

PROJECT TEAM BIEINNA HAM; KYUHUN KIM; CHRIS WHITESIDE; MARIA DIGAETANGO-RODRIGUEZ: HARIRI & HARIRI ARCHITECTURE. BLONDIE’S TREEHOUSE: LANDSCAPE CONSULTANT. LIGHTING WORKSHOP: LIGHTING CONSULTANT. ROBERT SILMAN ASSOCIATES STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS: STRUCTURAL ENGINEER. SKYLINE ENGINEERING: SPECIAL INSPECTION ENGINEER. IP GROUP: MEP. NAPOLEON CONTRACTING CORP.: WOODWORK. ICON INTERIORS: GENERAL CONTRACTOR.

PRODUCT SOURCES FROM FRONT JANUS ET CIE: CHAIRS, TABLE (TERRACE). EXPERT WELDING GATES: CUSTOM RAILING. BENDHEIM: ETCHED GLASS PANELS (OPEN WORK AREA). KNOLL: WORKSTATIONS (OPEN WORK AREA), LOUNGE CHAIR (OFFICE). VIBIA: PENDANT FIXTURES (WAITING AREA). BERNHARDT DESIGN: TABLE/CHAIR (WAITING AREA), SOFA (JEWELRY LOUNGE). SPINNEYBECK: SOFA UPHOLSTERY (JEWELRY LOUNGE). DWR: PILLOWS. HERMAN MILLER: EXECUTIVE CHAIR, TASK CHAIRS (OFFICE). KOHLER CO.: SINK FITTINGS (RESTROOM). FOCAL POINT: CEILING FIXTURES (KITCHEN). JULIEN: SINK. KWC: SINK FITTINGS. WOLF: COOKTOP. MIELE: OVEN. BLU DOT: CREDENZA. THROUGHOUT MOSA: FLOOR TILE. INTERFACE: CARPET TILE. AMERLUX; CORONET LIGHTING: LIGHTING. ARMSTRONG: ACOUSTIC CEILING PANELS. B+N INDUSTRIES: ALUMINUM SLATS. C.R. LAURENCE CO.: DOOR PULLS. KILROY ARCHITECTURAL WINDOWS: WINDOWS. EVENSONBEST: FURNITURE SUPPLIER. BENJAMIN MOORE & CO.: PAINT.