Meta Farley

Located within the historic James A. Farley building, a former U.S. Postal Service Office and one of New York’s first landmarked buildings, Meta Farley celebrates the building’s history while reinventing today’s workplace to meet the needs of one of the world’s largest innovation companies.

Meta’s Neighborhood Within a Building

Transforming the exceptionally large footprint of the former U.S. Postal Service main sorting facility into a workplace of tomorrow meant both reckoning with its sprawling size to facilitate wayfinding and create a sense of community, while also leveraging it to create pockets of relief amid efficiently-planned work areas.

Balancing wellness-focused workspaces and open collaboration areas, the office offers 3,500 desks and a range of meeting rooms and break-out areas, providing opportunities for both collaborative and heads-down work.

1: Atrium, 2: Lobby, 3: Moynihan Train Hall (not in scope)

Central Atrium

A communicating feature stair in the office’s central atrium spans the four levels, providing natural light throughout and casual gathering spaces at large landings and enabling biophilic elements to support user well-being. Indoor plants connect the journey from the main lobby, through the second floor “pass” and to the central atrium, culminating in the generously planted top floor dining facility.

Intuitive Wayfinding

To promote intuitive wayfinding, each floor is organized by a central theme, leveraging unique aesthetic selections. The material choices create a sense of belonging and attachment to place. For example, the fourth floor leans into the legacy of the historic corridor, taking cues from the building’s material and programmatic past, while the fifth floor, with its access to the terraces, features a biophilic design. Each elevator lobby uses a different brick bond to differentiate the three moments of vertical circulation.

A New Life for a New York Landmark

Some of the original elevator lobbies were designated as historic landmarks, and required to be restored and maintained. We recast the decommissioned elevator cabs into intimate carrels for individual work or respite, and transformed the elevator lobbies into small, library-style reading rooms to provide quiet space for well-being at the workplace.

The long, L-shaped corridor at Farley was a designated historic landmark space to be restored and preserved. We leveraged its considerable length to re-calibrate the popular walking meeting. The concept involved a subtle gradation of tones in the wall coloring and furnishings to help pace a given meeting, which is additionally supported by comfortable lounge seating for pauses and break out spaces for the working community.

Leveraging Historic Motifs Through Material Honesty

Historic patterns and original elements were utilized within the workplace. The Farley Building’s historic motifs are reinterpreted through material and form throughout its five floors. Tapping into motifs and patterns with historic significance, the design employs raw and humble materials with honesty.

Railway Roots

two-by-fours are fashioned into a screen inspired by railroad ties of the trains that would historically bring mail to the post office terminus.

Cafe Details

This café is formally inspired by the historic post office mail sorting room. Raw, hollow terra cotta, historically used for wall construction, is employed here as a feature wall fronting the pantry space. Ornamental historic grille motifs lend their pattern to a subtle concrete floor stain treatment.

From Old to New

In addition to the original brick restoration and matching in the elevator lobbies, the brick is present along some perimeter walls of the office, serving as a reminder of the balance between history and evolution.

Inspirations

KPF identified three historic brick patterns existing throughout the site and assigned one to each elevator lobby stack, carefully matching the old and the new for a subtle visual cue to guide visitors upon their arrival. Historic metalwork patterns served as inspiration for ornamentation in the lobbies.

Fostering Wellness and Sustainability

Throughout the design process, our teams worked to specify healthy and sustainable materials, minimizing embodied carbon and human health impacts through a combination of design moves and smart specification.

Low-Carbon Interiors

Design moves like open ceilings, modular seating, polished concrete floors, and strategically allocated interior finishes reduce embodied carbon. Low-VOC finishes, FSC-certified wood, and products free of harmful, Red-List materials were prioritized for new materials. Products with EPDs were specified for major categories.

Ceiling System

The ceiling system was designed to contribute to optimal indoor air quality with low-VOC finishes and materials that are free of harmful substances.

Furniture and Fixtures

The furniture and fixtures all use low-VOC, mercury-free textiles. Where possible, they are made of bio-based materials like cork, organic cotton, and hemp.

Flooring Surfaces

The floors are all free of vinyl products, and use exposed existing materials or low-VOC carpeting where possible.

Wall Finishes

Walls were either left exposed or painted with low-VOC finishes.

Biophilic Design

Biophilia permeates the design of the entire office. The feature stair brings airy, light-filled green space from a skylight through all five floors of the building. Indoor plants connect the journey from the main lobby, culminating in the generously planted top floor dining facility.

Project Details

Meta’s superblock-sized New York headquarters recasts historic materials and forms into a neighborhood-scale tech office of tomorrow.

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