The New York Stock Exchange
Palo Alto, Calif.
RMW Architecture & Interiors

A delicately molded facade makes these offices a bold and beautiful urban statement

© David Wakely

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A suburban boulevard in Silicon Valley was an ideal location for New York Stock Exchange’s regional headquarters. The company wished to establish an exciting and dramatic image for its high-tech industry clients. The architect faced the challenge of designing within an established footprint and shell that already exceeded current zoning regulations and was an eyesore in the neighborhood.

The shell consisted of a 1963 office building formerly housing a small contractor. In order to retain the site’s minimal building area, local zoning regulations required the project to be classified as a renovation. Within this envelope, the program required a small amount of open office space, a meeting room, one closed office, and a lobby.

The two-story corner lobby became a focal place to convey the client’s image. By sheathing it in two layers of glass—one a watertight enclosure and the other a separate fritted glass sunscreen of plates attached by spider connections—and by treating interior elements as building forms—they created an urban skyline image. Especially at night, with moving electronic images and dramatic lighting, the aura of abstracted skyline is visible in the lobby. The designers made the layered glass environmentally sound, disengaging the screen function from the building enclosure to reduce solar heat gain.

The remainder of the shell was detailed to reinforce this corner feature, with minimal articulation and elimination of existing features including the mansard roof. The only other existing element was the rear fire exit stair, which the architect kept outside of the shell in order to maintain maximum interior area. This became a simple tower within the parking lot and allowed an open metal screen that serves as a counterpart to the main entry’s glass screen.

Formal name of Project:
New York Stock Exchange

Location:
Palo Alto, Calif.

Gross square footage:
10,500 sq. ft.

Total construction cost:
$3.2 million

Owner:
Holvick Construction Company

RMW architecture & interiors 160 Pine Street San Francisco, CA 94111 415-781-9800 415-788-5216 Project Principal: Gray Koshaba (top) Design Principal:Ted Mahl, AIA (left) Project Manager: David McAdams, AIA (right)