text: edie cohen photography: patricia parinejad
RTKL Stands Tall The firm’s got a brand-new interiors division and a Los Angeles studio to match
JANUARY2008
the two spaces would catch
the eye of cl ients, vendors, and
passersby alike, she and pr inci-
pal Jennifer Cardinal came up
w ith a w indow display every bit
as allur ing as Simon Doonan’s
extravaganzas for Barneys New
York—if not quite so cheeky.
Who could resist the RTKL staff’s
fetching faces, pr inted on acrylic
disks strung together hor izon-
tally on a standard store cable
system? “They’re the jewelry
of the space,” Cardinal notes.
“They gl itter and shine.”
Most activ ity occurs, logically,
in the larger studio, which came
with a 5,000-square-foot mezza-
nine perfect for the technology,
marketing, and administrative
It would clearly take some very entic ing bait to hire Yvonne
Colacion away from Gensler, her
professional home of 11 years.
What lure did RTKL Associates
offer? To be the senior design
director of a start-up inter iors
department and to debut w ith
a renovation of the firm’s own
studio in Los Angeles. Colac ion
bit. And a five-month, phased
construction process ensued.
For 12 years, RTKL has occu-
pied 41,000 square feet on the
concourse level of the Bank of
Amer ica Plaza tower downtown.
The space was div ided in two by a
court yard, which might seem l ike
a drawback. But the location had
a built-in storefront presence
r ight on the B of A concourse,
which suited Colac ion just fine.
“I love retail,” she says.
To make sure that the larger of
Previous spread, left: Abstracted planning symbols adorn the canvas shade of a custom pendant fixture in a team area at RTKL Associates in Los Angeles.
Previous spread, right: A team area’s Ludwig Mies van der Rohe chairs and pine table gather near a mural painted by stage-set designers David and Marion Dies.
Opposite top: The reception desk combines a base of Corian and a top veneered in reconstituted zebrawood with an inset of back-painted glass. Flooring is cork. Opposite bottom, from left: In the lounge, Bertjan Pot’s pendant globes hang above the vinyl-upholstered banquette. The nearby bar counter is hand-rubbed zinc.
Top, from left: Acrylic disks printed with the faces of staff members advertise the firm in its storefront window on the concourse of Bank of America Plaza. Greenguard-certified polyurethane-polyester upholsters a built-in ottoman in re-ception. Bottom: The lounge is also furnished with Ross Lovegrove chairs and Douglas Ball tables.
staffs. The setting is entirely
open, and RTKL’s hor izontal
moves point the way in, starting
w ith the reception desk: Its top
half, veneered in reconstituted
zebrawood, angles up and down
to draw the eye along for more
than 20 feet.
For the studios proper, RTKL
opted to go off-gr id. “Fractured,
w ith a degree of chaos” is how
Colac ion descr ibes the arrange-
ment. Getting that effect meant
custom workstations. The 8-foot-
w ide modular units are built sim-
ply of steel-framed high-density
fiberboard clad in white plastic
laminate. She used panels of per-
forated painted steel for upper
bins—“not too big, since we
don’t need much storage.”
“Sight l ines were important,
since we were blending teams →
made up of architects, inter ior
designers, graphic designers,
and branding specialists,” con-
tinues Colac ion, who was re-
cently made VP. The overhead
expanse is v irtually unbroken
except for the parallel rows of
energy-effic ient f luorescent l in-
ear fixtures. Underfoot runs car-
pet str iated in black and gray.
Div ided by only three steps
from the workplace proper, the
lounge is groovy enough that
club-hoppers might exper ience
déjà vu. Capped by a constel-
lation of giant white fiberglass
pendant globes, the semicircular
area supports ad hoc hanging
out, especially around a bar w ith
a counter of hand-rubbed zinc.
For lunch, staff can opt for tables
along the crescent banquette,
w ith its alternating sections of
ac id-green, icy-blue, and taupe
v inyl upholstery. Charrettes, pre-
sentations, and cl ient meetings
are welcome, too. “Things are
a l ittle playful,” Colac ion admits
w ith a smile.
RTKL went for full-on fun w ith
the end wall’s v iv id mural painted
by stage-set designers. It looks →
Left: In the larger studio, 94 custom workstations feature surfaces clad in plastic laminate and overhead bins backed by perforated painted steel. The nylon broadloom is custom. Right: Staffers contributed the state-ments on the mezzanine’s vinyl mural.
a bit l ike a r iff on L.A.’s endless
freeways. And it is, partially. “It’s
about movement, connecting,
and intersection in general,” Car-
dinal explains. RTKL shows off
its own graphic prowess on a
wall that’s covered in white v inyl
pr inted w ith the staff’s multil in-
gual responses to the question:
What is inspirational about work-
ing here? (The fusion of culture
and styles. I enjoy the people.)
of the sunshine comes from a
w indow wall at the rear, by the
mater ials l ibrary. Sensors here
read the daylight, then adjust sup-
plementary levels throughout.
Mater ials, too, express eco-
fr iendliness. A synthetic certified
by Greenguard covers an otto-
man by the entry. Aside from the
str iated broadloom, most f loor ing
is cork. Colac ion and Cardinal
practiced adaptive reuse, too.
The conference and presentation
rooms’ enclosure panels were
recycled from RTKL’s or iginal
setup—where they were already
recycled from the prev ious ten-
ant, B. of A. “They’re 11 years
old,” Colac ion estimates.
There’s absolutely nothing re-
cycled about the v ideo presen-
tations spotl ighting the firm’s
latest architecture and inter iors
projects, such as Beijing’s Chi-
nese Museum of Film, the Shang-
hai Sc ience and Technology Mu-
seum, and a Moscow sports and
entertainment complex. That
says “RTKL” in any language.
Intersection finds a l iteral
interpretation in both studios.
RTKL’s branding and graphics
groups pr inted the word, along
w ith abstracted master-planning
symbols, on the colorful canvas
shades of impressively long pen-
dant fixtures suspended above
the team islands.
RTKL made its main green
move with what Colacion calls a
“l ight-harvesting system.” Most
Opposite top: The mezzanine houses the technology, marketing, and administrative staff. Opposite bottom, from left: This model is made of foam core. Padded cotton tops mobile pedestals at each workstation.
Top, from left: In-house graphic designers provided way-finding. Glass-fronted offices line the main circulation path. Bottom: The smaller studio, accommodating 56 people, has two team areas.
PROJECT TEAM: MANDY CHAN; LIZ CHUNG; NU GUO;
DWOYNE KEITH; QUAN HONG LI; PHILIP SMITH.
STOOLS (TEAM AREAS): ALLERMUIR. CHAIRS
(TEAM AREAS), BANQUETTE UPHOLSTERY,
CHAIRS (LOUNGE): KNOLL. DESK SURFACING
(RECEPTION): TABU (TOP); DUPONT (BASE).
CUSTOM MAP PANELS: PULP STUDIO. PEN-
DANT FIXTURES (LOUNGE): MOOOI. CUSTOM
BANQUETTE (LOUNGE), CUSTOM OTTOMAN
(RECEPTION): MARTIN BRATTRUD. STOOLS
(LOUNGE): DUNE. OTTOMAN FABRIC (RECEP-
TION): MAHARAM. TABLES (LOUNGE): VECTA.
CHAIRS (STUDIOS, MEZZANINE): HERMAN
MILLER. CUSTOM WORKSTATIONS (STUDIOS,
MEZZANINE), CUSTOM PEDESTALS (STUDIOS):
DTANK. PEDESTAL FABRIC (STUDIOS): ARCHI -
TEX. STOREFRONT SYSTEM (OFFICES): NORD -
WALL. LINEAR FIXTURES: METALUMEN MAN -
UFACTURING. FLOORING: AMERICAN CORK
PRODUCTS COMPANY THROUGH RENEGADE
FLOORING. CUSTOM CARPET: BENTLEY PRINCE
STREET. FURNITURE SUPPLIER: SYSTEM
SOURCE. CUSTOM GRAPHICS: GUCHI GRAPHICS;
LUSH SCENERY; RAINIER INDUSTRIES; SIGN -
TECH. MILLWORK: NORTHWESTERN. LIGHTING
CONSULTANT: KAPLAN GEHRING MCCARROLL
ARCHITECTURAL LIGHTING. ENGINEERS: JOHN
A. MARTIN & ASSOCIATES (STRUCTURAL); NIKO-
LAKOPULOS & ASSOCIATES (ELECTRICAL); ANTI-
ERI & HALOOSSIM CONSULTING ENGINEERS (MEP).
GENERAL CONTRACTOR: CLUNE CONSTRUCTION. Reproduced from Interior Design Jan.2008 © 2008 by Reed Business Information Subscription info. 800.900.0804
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