195 Broadway Glass Partition Walls

This installation of glass vitrines and partition walls creates three new retail spaces in the lobby of the historic AT&T Building in Lower Manhattan. The original architectural details including marble columns, detailed bronze friezes, coffered ceilings and alabaster chandeliers have been maintained since 1916, and the architect’s renovation plan focused on emphasizing these features while bringing new life to the otherwise unused space.

During the initial design collaboration phase, the architect specified preferred proportions for the patch-plate fittings which support the glass panels and for the base channel at the floor. McLaren and TriPyramid worked through the expected loading conditions to design custom assemblies for each node in the system of 178 lites of glass. Each patch was intended to maintain continuity in its external appearance, but address unique requirements internally that could not be solved with off-the-shelf hardware.

Almost all the fittings rely on 6061-T6 aluminum as the base material for primary components. This allowed for reduction in the overall size and thickness of the plates, and manufacturing costs. Bronze plate stock was machined to create pocketed covers which conceal the aluminum, but mimic the existing bronze work on site. By machining the covers from solid plate, TriPyramid provided perfectly sharp corners and avoided inconsistencies in the patina which arise if the metal is joined by brazing.