United Nations UN North Delegates Lounge, Building New York, Architect, Offices
UN North Delegates Lounge, New York, USA : Interior
UN North Interior, Manhattan, United States of America - design by OMA
17 Dec 2011
United Nations North Delegates Lounge
(UNO Buildings)
1st Avenue, New York
2011-
Design: OMA
OMA collaborates on redesigning UN North Delegates Lounge
A team of Dutch designers, including OMA, is reconceiving one of the most crucial spaces in the United Nations headquarters in New York: the North Delegates Lounge.

images © OMA
Located near the General Assembly and with a view of the East River, the lounge has been used since 1952 by policymakers and diplomats from the UN’s member states. OMA is working with an interdisciplinary team including designer Hella Jongerius, graphic designer Irma Boom, artist Gabriel Lester and theorist Louise Schouwenberg.
The team’s aim is to preserve the history of the space and activate the lounge as an informal and intimate debating chamber. OMA’s contribution includes removing the lounge’s mezzanine (an addition made in 1978) in order to open up the view over the East River. OMA’s design will also address the entrance and the bar, and introduce e-paper screens throughout the space.
Rem Koolhaas commented: “We characterize our intervention in the lounge, which has already been modified several times, as a ‘preservation of change.’”
The renovation also includes handmade bead curtains, new carpets, a mixture of old and new furniture including original Knoll club chairs and Eames lounge chairs, and a new installation of the artworks given by member states over the years.
The UN headquarters was originally designed by a team that included Le Corbusier, Oscar Niemeyer and Wallace K. Harrison, who called the complex “a workshop for peace.” The result is a Gesamtkunstwerk born from collaboration and open debate. The interdisciplinary approach to the North Delegates Lounge seeks to continue this tradition.
The redesigned lounge is an initiative of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and will be completed in 2012.
UN North Delegates Lounge images / information from OMA
OMA
|
New York Architecture Walking Tours
United Nations Headquarters - (UNO Buildings)
1st Avenue, New York
1947-53
Le Corbusier, Oscar Niemeyer, Sir Howard Robertson
with Harrison & Abramovitz Architects
UN Building New York
This is the only Le Corbusier building in New York; it starred in the Fountainhead film.
The main building is a massive slab block - Secretariat, 39-floor office tower - that rises up by the East River, located near the UN Plaza.
Le Corbusier in America
The Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University is the only significant building by Le Corbusier in the USA other than the United Nations Building in New York. Built in 1961-63(64) it is a simple medium-rise building dominated by a cranked ramp. It appears in many architecture textbooks and courses.
United Nations Headquarters architect : Le Corbusier
Rem Koolhaas
New York Skyscrapers
New York Architecture
New York Architecture News
USUN Building, New York City
2010

photo : Paul Warchol
USUN Building : FAPE American art installation
New York Architects
New York State Architecture
New York Architecture - Selection
Empire State Building
Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, Architects

photo © Andrew McRae
Empire State Building
Rockefeller Center
Raymond Hood, Architect

photograph © Andrew McRae
Rockefeller Center New York
Guggenheim Museum, East Harlem
Frank Lloyd Wright Architects

photo : David M. Heald, © SRGF, New York
Guggenheim Museum
United Nations Headquarters joint architect : Oscar Niemeyer
Comments / photos for the United Nations North Delegates Lounge New York Architecture page welcome:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
UN North Delegates Lounge NYC page - adrian welch / isabelle lomholt
|
|
|