Friday, August 18, 2017

Lowenstein Sandler Fuels Collaborative Culture with New Suburban Space

Lowenstein Sandler LLP announced the opening of its new New Jersey office space to complement its recently upgraded and expanded midtown Manhattan office.



Entrance to One Lowenstein

“The new space is designed to be an epicenter of collaboration for flexible teams that benefit from having one foot in Manhattan and another in a natural, suburban setting with proximity to great corporate and individual clients in both locations,” said Gary Wingens, chairman and managing partner of Lowenstein Sandler. “We designed the space to harness our intense energy and facilitate greater collaboration and efficiency.”

Lowenstein Sandler is now the anchor tenant at One Lowenstein Drive – part of a wooded office campus in Roseland, New Jersey which also includes 56 Livingston Avenue– where it occupies the entire third floor as well as a vertical townhouse section of the newly repositioned building.



Front Lobby of One Lowenstein

Lowenstein collaborated with Mountain Development Company, the redeveloper of the property, and Marner Architecture to rethink what had been a big pharma headquarters to reflect and amplify the firm’s culture. The office is unified by a central diagonal “parkway” from which one can see the building’s glass front entrance in one direction and the scenic surroundings in the other – connecting teams as it spans the length of the building. On either side of the parkway, practices gather in “neighborhoods.” Avoiding monotonous grids and squares, the office is cut into novel triangular spaces, nooks and angles, offering settings to stop and meet colleagues.

A 5,000 square foot common area called the “Lab” is a gravitational social space at the midpoint of the parkway. It knits together the neighborhoods and features a coffee bar, game rooms, and casual seating. It is ringed by junior associate offices, plugging them into the heart of the firm (as well as the snacks). The Lab is complemented by alternative gathering spots, including a secluded rooftop garden.



The Lab collaborative space at One Lowenstein

Flexible conference rooms and other areas are designed to accommodate everything from small team huddles to large closings, litigation proceedings, public company board meetings, and community and pro bono events. A dedicated data and network operations center, as well as security and backup power systems keep One Lowenstein operational 24 hours a day.



The Lab collaborative space at One Lowenstein

The new office consolidates Lowenstein Sandler’s former suburban offices into a single building in a park-like setting. Just 17 miles from Lowenstein’s Rockefeller Center offices, the new campus allows Lowenstein lawyers the continued flexibility to work in both urban and suburban environments over the course of a day, week or career. It also reflects the innovative thinking of the firm’s real estate practice group, which led the effort, about how office space, particularly in suburban office parks, can evolve to better serve a mobile and everchanging workforce.

“Law firm offices in the U.S. are typically designed for work behind a closed door,” said Ted Hunter, chair of Lowenstein Sandler’s real estate practice group. “A rabbit warren of individual workspaces results, shut off from the rest of the office. As work has become mobile, the primary mission of an office is no longer to provide access to a computer and a desk. Workplaces are evolving to provide more specialized spaces in which to meet and collaborate with teammates and solve problems together that you can’t do as well alone or remotely.”

“One Lowenstein has been a great opportunity for our real estate practice to illustrate the same creativity and problemsolving we utilize for our clients, here propelling our own firm's investment in real estate that advances our goals,” said Hunter. “Set free from the traditional thinking about office space as a collection of individual workspaces, businesses are exploring buildings they wouldn’t typically consider. They are structuring space in a way that they wouldn’t have thought of previously, and making real estate decisions based on new economics to unlock their optimal business culture. In our case, the new One Lowenstein campus allows us to make our entrepreneurial personality work seamlessly in the city and in the suburbs, wherever our clients’ and professionals’ needs are best served.”

“The project is an outstanding collaboration between not just the principals but all the design professionals as well,” said Michael Seeve, President Mountain Development Corp. “The interior design supports an innovative, collaborative approach. Employees and guests are assured state-of-the art amenities and technologies within our 56 Livingston campus.”

Lowenstein Sandler is a national law firm with approximately 275 lawyers based in New York, Palo Alto, New Jersey, Utah, and Washington, D.C. The firm represents leaders in virtually every sector of the global economy, with particular emphasis on investment funds, life sciences, and technology. Recognized for its entrepreneurial spirit and high standard of client service, the firm is committed to the interests of its clients, colleagues, and communities.

Lowenstein Sandler 
www.lowenstein.com

All images courtesy of Lowenstein Sandler 

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