TOMMY BOY RECORDS OFFICES

“Refinement” can mean something different in every design context and for every user. For this prominent hip-hop and rap recording company, it means sleek forms, attention to feng shui and energy flow, and close attention to efficient but non-traditional layout.

Refinement also means attending to some unusual office amenities: weightlifting space, an aerobics room, a dance studio and an isolation chamber for quiet reflection.

Balance was a major theme in Turett’s design; these corporate offices have to communicate the artistic and financial success of the label while eschewing much of the cultural symbolism of mainstream American business. The goal was to start with a hip-hop sensibility, and see how it could be made only as corporate as necessary -- not the other way around.

So when it was published in Interior Design magazine, we were gratified when the writer called Tommy Boy’s offices an exercise in “more upscale street sensibility”, precisely what the studio was looking for.

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Read More: The New York Times