Property Rounds: New offices opening up interior vistas

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1 The Stamford Advocate 6/4/2015 Property Rounds: New offices opening up interior vistas Alexander Soule Facing a tight deadline before First County Bank was to move into a new headquarters, Peter Rugen was handed carte blanche to put together an interior design he thought best for his bank. Trust Operations Manager Rachel Valenzon works at her desk as SVP Peter Rugen looks on at the new First County Bank headquarters at 3001 Summer Square in Stamford, Conn. Wednesday, May 27, The new space is nearly 20,000 sq. ft. and much more up-to-date than the former location at 100 Prospect St. Photo: Tyler Sizemore Whether by design or happenstance, the blueprints quickly evolved to reflect "Let's talk" -- the community bank's newest slogan. Across Fairfield County, architects and, by extension, their clients are all in on the concept of encouraging the chance interplay between colleagues and visitors, opening up glassy vistas within offices that previously were walled off and adding side spaces for people to emerge from their cubicles and offices for face time.

2 Among the newest examples is First County Bank, which moved last month into its new offices at 3001 Summer St. in Stamford, an Ashforth-owned office building that also serves as the headquarters for Pitney Bowes (NYSE: PBI). First County Bank employees Patty Sweeney, left, Maciel Valdez, center, and Sara Tucker prepare a commercial banking compliance audit in Tucker's office at the new First County Bank headquarters at 3001 Summer Square in Stamford, Conn. Wednesday, May 27, The new space is nearly 20,000 sq. ft. and much more up-to-date than the former location at 100 Prospect St. Photo: Tyler Sizemore It's similar to Sacred Heart University's soon-to-open home for its Jack Welch College of Business on its Fairfield campus, where Sasaki Associates designed a wide-open space that encourages chance encounters and face-to-face meetings. Rugen, First County Bank's senior vice president and chief administrative officer, worked with Rashmi Kinariwala of Esposito Design Associates in Stamford to create an open interior with partially opaque glass walls, portions of which double as "whiteboards," allowing people to jot down ideas. Behind the white walls of 3001 Summer St., Esposito Design was able to duplicate for First County Bank's interiors the notable visual effects that Greenwich-based Granoff Architects accomplished with the curved exterior glass facade of Chase Bank's new branch across from the Greenwich Library. Granoff's other big project was turning Greenwich's former U.S. Post Office on Greenwich Avenue into a Restoration Hardware, which was completed a year ago, and he's done interior work for hedge funds, among other office spaces.

3 First County Bank SVP Peter Rugen poses at the new First County Bank headquarters at 3001 Summer Square in Stamford, Conn. Wednesday, May 27, The new space is nearly 20,000 sq. ft. and much more up-to-date than the former location at 100 Prospect St. Photo: Tyler Sizemore "The trend towards open office design has been around since the sixties but has escalated post-recession, as firms look to increase the efficiency of their occupancy expenses," founder Rich Granoff said in an . "The advantages of this type of space include more natural light for all and better communication amongst employees. The disadvantages include less privacy and possible acoustical issues, which can be resolved with various soundproofing methods." If First County Bank's makeover borrows concepts already embedded in other area offices, including Belimo Americas in Danbury, Dorel in Wilton and Lovesac in Stamford, it is a ratification of sorts that those concepts are starting to become second nature for designers, extending even to a community bank tracing its history to "We always have auditors here, regulators are always here doing their thing -- the normal course of business for... a bank," said CEO Rey Giallongo. "So `hoteling' space, the extra offices, the conference rooms -- they're always in use either by us or by a (visitor)."

4 The same design principals factored into this year's award winners for best business architecture in Connecticut, bestowed in May by the state chapter of the American Institute of Architects. AIA has its main office in New Haven. Commercial Lender VP Gene Schreiner eats in the break room at the new First County Bank headquarters at 3001 Summer Square in Stamford, Conn. Wednesday, May 27, The new space is nearly 20,000 sq. ft. and much more up-to-date than the former location at 100 Prospect St. Photo: Tyler Sizemore Southwestern Connecticut workplaces won two of the three awards for best business architecture, including the new Wilton offices that Stamford-based CPG Architects worked up for Dorel Sports, which was recognized among worksites with space for more than 50 employees; and new headquarters for Belimo Americas in Danbury, which received honorable mention as designed by the Glastonbury-based S/L/A/M Collaborative. CPG employed similar concepts in designing interior spaces for the new Vineyard Vines headquarters on Harbor Drive in Stamford. With as much new commercial construction as anywhere in Connecticut, Fairfield County has been a fixture on the AIA business architecture awards dating back a decade, other winners including Urban Outfitters' retail store in Westport; Volo Aviation, in Stratford; the Canine Fence Co., in Wilton; and the Interstate Design Center, in Greenwich. For the most part, those were all nontraditional spaces giving ample inspiration for fresh architectural interpretations. More often, however, commercial architects must find ways to infuse fresh life into the anonymous glass facades and sterile corridors that offer the best

5 combination of price, utility and efficiency in the office buildings and campuses in Fairfield County. A large meeting room at the new First County Bank headquarters at 3001 Summer Square in Stamford, Conn. Wednesday, May 27, The new space is nearly 20,000 sq. ft. and much more up-to-date than the former location at 100 Prospect St. Photo: Tyler Sizemore Looking to the future Westport-based Geitz Design helped Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide do just that. Designers are succeeding by emphasizing the interplay of people, with a dash of design whimsy. In dropping anchor at Harbor Point, Vineyard Vines dropped a cruising vessel into the midst of its headquarters. At Belimo Americas, colorful, freestanding partitions create small meeting spaces in open areas. And at Dorel in Wilton, bicycles are planted on pedestals at intervals along open walkways. In assessing Dorel's space, AIA's judges said "the project looks like its story -- it merges both the staff and the visitor experience... and gets the message out of what it does. Interesting and well-executed, it shows that you can have fun doing a project." Rugen and Giallongo allow they had fun with the First County Bank offices, at least with what their budget would allow, and clearly enjoy talking up the benefits. One isolated meeting space tucked toward the innermost recess of the building reminds Giallongo of a transporter pod from "Star Trek" -- a piece of technology that would have been handy at the

6 company's former headquarters on Prospect Street, which required visitors to ascend a parking garage elevator, sign in, traverse outside on a roof walkway, and finally ride a second elevator to its office. First County Advisors Senior VP David Metzgar takes a call in his office at the new First County Bank headquarters at 3001 Summer Square in Stamford, Conn. Wednesday, May 27, The new space is nearly 20,000 sq. ft. and much more up-todate than the former location at 100 Prospect St. Photo: Tyler Sizemore "We did some really cool things outside the sphere of banking with the space -- open ceilings, floating `cloud,' noise reduction, different lighting," Giallongo said. "I'm not a big fan of clutter." Alex.Soule@scni.com; ; Read More: