Nomad Financial Offices – New York City
Nomad Financial had to shift the design of their New York City offices partway through construction to adapt and respond to new safety measures imposed by the coronavirus pandemic.
FLOAT Studio worked with Nomad Financial to adapt to a COVID-19 friendly design for their offices located in New York City, New York.
Construction started at the Nomad Financial Startup in late January of this year, and by March Float Studio was confronted with the fact that offices could not be expected to operate the same. As work stopped across New York, Float used the time to reconsider how space should be used, how to pivot the functions to anticipate changes in the workplace without scrapping the project and starting over, especially considering the shutdown had already forced the client to sink more time and money into the project than they were expecting.
The atmosphere stayed true to the original concepts: plenty of nature incorporated throughout the space, with a focus on mental wellness and natural materials. Even before the pervasive health concerns brought about by the pandemic, Float was coming to the design from the perspective that the staff at the firm needed to gain balance from their space, to have it be regenerative and offset the heavy digital workload. It needed to be flexible – desks, break-out spaces, common areas, all with comfortable seating and lighting that made focusing easy.
Float kept the open plan but geared it to have workspaces with sufficient separation. The custom workstations were redesigned to keep 6 feet of space on both sides and from across the desks. Unique concrete planter “boulders,” covered in moss and lichen, encourage distanced circulation around the space, naturally forming lanes without aggressive wayfinding markers. Dotting the office are closed break-out rooms, acoustically fitted to easily drop in for video conferencing and phone calls. The result is a space that feels clean and safe while remaining warm and invigorating, a prototype for the next iteration of the office.
Design: FLOAT Studio
Photography: Aaron Thompson
