Avaya Communications designs, builds, and manages communications networks for more than one million businesses around the world. It is an offshoot of Western Electric, AT&T, and Lucent. Its existence as a standalone company began October 2000. The company established headquarters in the AT&T corporate park in Somerset County, New Jersey. But the office building, considered “high-tech/modern” in the early 1980’s did not do justice to Avaya’s corporate identity as a major player in the 21^st century high-tech arena.

 

Avaya tapped Fox & Fowle Architects' for a complete aesthetic overhaul of the building's facade that would not only be cutting-edge, but also incorporate elements of security, reception, and corporate branding. The “new” old building welcomed staff this past spring – to rave reports.

 

A crisp arc of suspended glazing stretches across the entire frontage of the lobby.  The three-story high lobby space is gracious and airy with commanding views of the motor court and the valley beyond. Visually countering the glass wall is a stainless steel and frosted glass canopy. Together, the elements create a powerful and welcoming arrival.

 

The glass wall is the most powerful architectural device. Suspended glass structural fins, standing 36 ½-feet-high, are tapered near the ground and capped with a glass return. Translucent bands of charcoal-colored ceramic lend a subtle secondary impression to the otherwise clear glazing.  In daylight, the opaque glass is softened by interior daylighting from a lobby skylight and a suspended Avaya sign (which is readable from both the back and front in a playful take on the company's logo).

 

The Avaya headquarters new tone is established at the entrance drive, where a previously haphazard and informal drop-off has been transformed into a gracious, circular, granite-trimmed motor court.  New paving, plantings, seating areas, and (unobtrusive) security barriers add to the upgraded ambiance.

 

According to Lynn Newman of Avaya’s Financial Media, it has been an ”amazing transformation” for the staff of a dynamic technology company that now enjoys entering a dynamic office filled with light.

 

Architect: Fox & Fowle Architects; Daniel Kaplan, AIA, Project Principal
Interior Design: Space; Newark, NJ
Mechanical Consultants: Joseph R. Loring & Associates; New York, NY
Structural Consultants: Severud Associates; New York, NY
Construction: Structuretone; Lyndhurst, NJ

Photos: Andrew Gordon Photography

 

This is not the first glass wall Fox & Fowle has designed. The firm won an Award of Merit from the AIA New York State for its design of an all glass pavilion at the American Bible Society in Manhattan. The firm is also in the pre-design stage for a commercial building in Beijing's Central Business District that may feature a block-long undulating glass wall. Currently in design is the new tower for The New York Times with Renzo Piano Building Workshop, the new Second Avenue Subway line in New York City, and a business school at Syracuse University. Fox & Fowle is also considered the nation's leading sustainable architectural firm, and designed New York City's first green office tower, the Condé Nast Building at Four Times Square.  In the last year, the firm was awarded the coveted Medal of Honor by the AIA New York Chapter, two design awards from the AIA New York State and a national AIA honor award.