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CONDÉ NAST
CAFETERIA
New York 1996–2000
The Times Square headquarters of Condé Nast
Publications contains what is surely the most lavish
employee cafeteria. What could have been a relatively
staid interior project if commissioned by a less
adventuresome client instead provided Gehry with an
unparalleled opportunity to push his experiments to
new extremes. The architect's penchant for habitually
reinventing materials—evident as early as
1964–65 in his appropriation of roadway
supplies and techniques for the stucco exterior of
the Danziger Studio and Residence in Los
Angeles—is spectacularly demonstrated by the
contoured architectural glass that winds through the
cafeteria.
The billowing glass, which encloses dining areas
within the main room, is the key to Gehry's success
in creating a sense of privacy while visually
maintaining the space's openness and overall
proportions. Each laminated glass panel is a unique
curved form. The perimeter walls are clad in blue
titanium whose shapes evolved from the formal
vocabulary of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao
(1991–97). Designed to appeal to the culture of
an organization whose publications include Vogue and
Vanity Fair, much of the custom seating is in the
form of curvilinear banquettes that recall the "power
booths" the magazines' editors regularly occupy in
Manhattan's finest restaurants, yet here they are
available to all Condé Nast employees. A
dazzling and witty commentary on the "see and be
seen" culture, the cafeteria nonetheless provides a
democratic environment with wide appeal and has
quickly become the social heart of the
organization.
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