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