Adjaye Associates

1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces

1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces
© Dror Baldinger
1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces
© Dror Baldinger

1199SEIU UNITED HEALTHCARE WORKERS EAST PUBLIC MEMBER SPACES

Adjaye Associates

ARCHITECTS
Adjaye Associates

LIGHTING CONSULTANT
Dot Dash

GENERAL CONTRACTOR
JRM

PROJECT TEAM
David Adjaye, Eric Ball, Ryan Ball, Adrienne Colenburg, Kyungsik Kim, Paula Sanchez

AV ENGINEER
Cerami & Associates

COST & PROJECT MANAGER
Gardiner & Theobald

ACOUSTICAL CONSULTANT
Longman Lindsey

STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS
Gilsanz Murray Steficek

VERTICAL TRANSPORTATION CONSULTANT
Van Deusen & Associates

IT ENGINEER
Robert Derector Telecommunications

EXPEDITOR / Code Consultant
Milrose

SIGNAGE CONSULTANT
Gensler

SPECIFICATIONS
The Friday Group

EXPEDITOR
Milrose

CODE CONSULTANT
Milrose

MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL/PLUMBING
Robert Derector Associates

PHOTOGRAPHS
Dror Baldinger

AREA
16500 ft²

YEAR
2020

LOCATION
New York, United States

CATEGORY
Institutional Buildings, Offices Interiors

1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces
© Dror Baldinger
1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces
© Dror Baldinger

The Public Member Spaces for the new headquarters of the 1199SEIU— the largest health care union in the United States— is a project that aims to embody the principles, ethos, and achievements of its tenant.

1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces
© Dror Baldinger
1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces
© Dror Baldinger

With a galvanizing history since its founding in 1932, the project holds the spirit of the union which works to organize and efficiently consolidate all operations under one roof.

As a space of social justice, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. himself referred to the union as “the authentic conscience of the labor movement”, the design concept is born out of the engaged and politically active community of 1199SEIU.

1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces
© Dror Baldinger
1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces
© Dror Baldinger

The original SEIU building contains the Anton Refreigier mural which is replicated in the entry-level lobby and is the inspiration for the continuous ceramic tiled walls that unites all of the member-facing spaces extending all four floors.

The mural acts as an inspiring archive through a depiction of key moments that highlight milestones in the SEIU’s fight for labor rights since its founding.

1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces
© Dror Baldinger
1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces
© Dror Baldinger

Additionally, another unifying feature is the continuous barrel ceiling vaults made from glass fiber reinforced gypsum (GFRG) cement which allows for ceiling heights that celebrate the resilience of the union.

This coalescing element functions as an exhibition space to display the history, strength, and mission of the 1199SEIU.

1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces
© Dror Baldinger
1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces
© Dror Baldinger

The central circulation void—the beating heart of the new unified space—not only openly connects all four floors but establishes a quadruple height feature wall.

Starting at the ground floor, the original mural imagery depicting Hospital, Guild, and Drug division workers transitions to an image of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. giving his ‘Salute to Freedom’ speech to 1199ers in 1968 as it ascends the height of the member space.

Along with embodying the purpose of the member-facing spaces, the words from Dr. King as well as James Oppenheim (in ‘bread and roses’) also functions as the organizational strategy for the ceramic tile imagery and bronze lettered quotes.

1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces
© Dror Baldinger
1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces
© Dror Baldinger

The union auditorium and enrollment spaces on level 2 are surrounded by images and quotes celebrating the history and freedom that Dr. King spoke to in 1968, while level 3 represents the ‘roses’ (wellness/pension/retirement) and level 4, the ‘bread’ (training, employment, health care) that Mr. Oppenheim called for.

Crafting all member-facing spaces in this new project in a cohesive and historically rooted language not only instills pride but positions the new lobby space as a central unifying force and symbol of the goal to empower the community of 1199SEIU.

1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces
© Dror Baldinger


1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces
© Dror Baldinger
1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces
© Dror Baldinger
1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces
© Dror Baldinger
1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces
© Dror Baldinger
1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces
© Dror Baldinger
1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces
© Dror Baldinger


1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces
© Dror Baldinger
1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces
© Dror Baldinger


1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces
Ground floor plan
1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces
2nd level floor plan
1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces
3rd level floor plan
1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces
4th level floor plan


1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces
Site plan
1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces
Building section


1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces
Space organization
1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Public Member Spaces
Section
Adjaye Associates
T +1 212 9658477
Adjaye Associates
One Liberty Plaza, Suite 2701, New York, NY 10006, United States