Wednesday, December 16, 2015
A Sensible Makeover for the Ford Foundation Workspace
Going to see the president of the Ford Foundation was once the philanthropic equivalent of going to see the Wizard of Oz.
But there is little reason to stand on ceremony now. So the president’s suite will be among the amenities sacrificed in a $190 million renovation of the Ford Foundation Building, 320 East 43rd Street in Manhattan, that is expected to close it for two years.
When designing the suite in the 1960s, the architects Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo made it clear you were about to see a Very Important Person.
The procession began as you stepped off the elevator at the 10th floor and into a reception area tastefully fitted with custom modernist furniture by Warren Platner. Behind the reception desk, a floor-to-ceiling glass wall offered a glimpse of the soaring greenhouse atrium, a volume of about 1.6 million cubic feet. . .