A BRAND EXPERIENCE
Global Relay’s ongoing success in the financial technology sector is linked to its increasing brand visibility and awareness among the global banking community. Global Relay are firm believers of face-to-face interactions and building relationships within physical spaces, supported by excellent hospitality offering, impressive, yet comfortable architectural settings and state-of-art technology. The brand message permeates all aspects of interiors, from spatial organisation to purposely controlled primary palette and direct brand messaging. The office is a bold and immersive spatial expression of Global Relay brand, in line with Client intent to create a ‘high energy’ space for visitors and staff alike.
HOMAGE TO ART DECO
Every Global Relay office we have designed in locations as diverse as London, Stockholm, San Francisco, Vancouver or Halifax, is inspired by local vernacular, stories, or cultures. With the two of most celebrated icons of New York’s Art Deco period – the Empire States Building and the Chrysler Building – visible from every corner of the office, the design language subtly connects with, and pays homage, to the golden age of the American architecture and design.
HOSPITALITY VENUE
The space has been designed to facilitate Global Relay’s busy hospitality programme: client outreach and training sessions, industry forums, workshops and executive events. The Executive Briefing Centre, a dedicated hospitality penthouse floor with 4.5m heigh ceilings, surrounded by roof terraces and 360-degree views across Midtown Manhattan has been designed to provide an impressive setting for these formats. Boardroom, breakout rooms and dining areas with 300 seating capacity are supported by serving areas and bars with direct lift access from the main kitchens, allowing for efficient catering strategy.
STATE-OF-ART CONFERENCING VENUE
Creating a 300-capacity Auditorium was the key component of Global Relay’s NY HQ business strategy. Providing clear views from every of its premium Poltrona Frau seats, with perfect acoustics and views over Times Square and Bryant Park, the facility is the public face of the business and key to its leadership and Client engagement strategy. Locating an auditorium on the top of a high-rise building in the heart Midtown Manhattan, on a conventional office floor, presented a plethora of Fire Strategy, NYC Building Code, building services and structural challenges. The solutions required a new dedicated fire staircase to an adjacent floor, structural slab reinforcement, a new plant with ventilated floor void, a system of ADA ramps as well as comprehensive acoustic and stage AV design. Accompanied by a control room, new WC block, Green Rooms, coats and luggage storage, the space is capable of comfortably handling a high footfall of visitors. Refreshment servery facilities and a Client lounge area provide breakout areas supporting the Auditorium events.
THE STAIRCASE & CIRCULATION
The visitor journey & experience is carefully crafted along pre-determined linear paths including meet & greet, registration, end-of-journey provisions, refreshments, engagement, relaxation and dining. The most important axis on that journey is he vertical connection between the Auditorium floor and hospitality floor where most direct traffic occurs during large events. This link is enabled through a centrally positioned sculptural staircase and a dedicated lift. The staircase was fabricated in Milan by a renowned fabricated Extravega, templated and installed within strictly coordinated opening and was one of the projects more complex statutory and structural challenges.
WHAT’S COOKING
Food is central to Global Relay’s office and hospitality and teamworking culture. Each location has a full-time Chef and a catering team cooking daily fresh and healthy meals for Staff and visitors. The New York kitchen is a large facility capable of catering for 400 covers and includes Chef’s front kitchen, back kitchen, walk-in fridges & freezers, refrigerated recycling room etc. The light & airy Staff dining lounge, which connect two most celebrated diagonal vistas from the building, features serveries, grab & go, wine bar, drinks station and a diverse selection of seating formats.
BROADCASTING HUB
Global Relay’s growing position as a content creator and a voice in the financial technology sector is supported with a comprehensive broadcasting suite comprising a studio, edit room and auditorium filming facilities, designed by leading East Coast studio consultants, allowing for a multitude of formats from expert podast with views of Manhattan skyline, business leader interviews, panel discussions with audience participation. A Green Room and Artist’s changing room are also provided.
…AND ALSO AN OFFICE
Spread across three floors, the office areas for 350 Staff are bright, comfortable and supportive of Global Relay’s collaborative culture. The floor design gives the priority to the areas where most people spend most time. Each desk cluster is adjacent to the perimeter window and has panoramic views across Manhattan, whilst the internal core perimeter is surrounded by enclosed spaces needing privacy and acoustic control, and less daylight – including huddle rooms, Zoom rooms and bookable private offices. The principal, 6th Avenue-facing corner rooms with full-height glazing, are designated as large, shared teamworking rooms. Both sides of the cores feature a detached bank of ancillary facilities including pantries, printing, SER and storage. Glass partitioning system is highly acoustic rated, double glazed, low iron, curved glass system by Spiralis, developed in collaboration with Lorenc across multiple Global Relay locations. Open plan areas have an integrated sound-absorbing and lighting solution, delivered via custom extruded metal trays, sprayed slabs and high efficiency direct-indirect lighting scheme. A particular feature of Global Relay’s working floors are integrated whiteboards, present in every room and every open plan internal façade. The whiteboards support a collaborative nature of Global Relay’s team work, are used regularly and are an important feature of the company culture.
