BassamFellows Headquarters

Hidden in the Connecticut woods, 100 kilometres or so from New York City, Philip Johnson’s 1952 Schlumberger Administration Building was lost to time.

Inspired by a personal connection to Johnson’s work, luxury design company BassamFellows undertook an eight-year-long project to reinstate and repurpose the property as its new headquarters, design studio and gallery. The building was painstakingly restored in line with the original, revealing a treasure of American modernism that remains as contemporary today as it was groundbreaking then.

Originally part of Schlumberger’s 10-building corporate campus, the Schlumberger Administration Building was Johnson’s first non-residential project, designed in 1951, shortly after his famed Glass House. Designed with an austere aesthetic, in the style of Mies van der Rohe, the building is a single-storey rectangle of steel, glass and iron-spot brick over an underground garage.

Offices are organised around the perimeter, with a central open-air courtyard that adorns the internal spaces with light. A totally new concept at the time, the campus is in Ridgefield in the Connecticut woods, far from the big city. Despite Johnson’s fame, the Schlumberger building was virtually unknown within architectural history. After Schlumberger departed in 2006 and failed to secure a buyer, the building was abandoned and left empty for more than a decade.

The building was painstakingly restored in line with the original, revealing a treasure of American modernism that remains as contemporary today as it was groundbreaking then.

BassamFellows secured the Administration Building in 2012, one of three surviving original buildings, averting other proposals that would have resulted in major alterations to the architecture and restoring the original details. “Our use kept the building and floor plan almost entirely unchanged. Our only alteration to the floor plan was to add an accessible bathroom,” says BassamFellows creative director C. Scott Fellows. To preserve it properly, BassamFellows undertook extensive research and analysis of Johnson’s early work, including locating the original drawings from the archives. Slight adaptations were made to bring the building up to current code and add essential services. The largest modification was to isolate the building from the rest of the campus, which shared all major services and was connected by glass corridors and underground walkways.

“Our use kept the building and floor plan almost entirely unchanged.”

“It was very important to us to restore as many of the original details.”

Over time, Schlumberger made many alterations to the building and much of Johnson’s original details were lost. “We are obsessed with details,” says Scott. “It was very important to us to restore as many of the original details – such as the floating ceiling with reveals around every skylight and every wall junction, and the mullion profile of the wood-framed glazing surrounding the courtyard.” Extensive water damage from a failed roof and burst sprinkler pipes meant the roof required extensive repair. Thought to have been removed in past renovations, the original steel structure was uncovered during the repair. It was also discovered in one of the drawings, helping BassamFellows to reveal the original steelwork and return the elegant proportions to the building’s facade.

As well as a restored exterior, the interior ceiling was removed and rehung with plasterboard, reinvigorating the space’s generous proportions with three-metre-high ceilings throughout. This also provided the opportunity to access and upgrade electrical and data services and to demount and restore architect and designer Richard Kelly’s original light fixture selection, with additional lighting also aligned to Kelly’s style.

The result is that every space has direct contact with the filtered patterns of sunlight through the James Fanning-designed courtyard.

Around the central core is a wide, skylight-covered corridor allowing circulation between the perimeter offices and bringing in abundant natural light. The intention of Johnson and Kelly was for the building “to create the effect of a walled garden with a tarp extended overhead,” says Scott. “That is exactly the effect they achieved. On bright days, the nearly 80 skylights create shards of light and shadow on the walls and floor, while on dull days there is evenly diffused light, like being in a photographer’s light box.” The result is that every space has direct contact with the filtered patterns of sunlight through the James Fanning-designed courtyard. The inter-building glass corridor was replaced with a massive glass pivot door that preserved the scale and integrity of the original opening while providing a view to the greenery beyond.

BassamFellows has brought a deep respect for Johnson’s architectural and interior detailing and materiality to the restoration. Bringing the past to the present reveals the timelessness of Johnson’s austere yet functional design and shows the enduring importance of a connection to nature.

Architecture, interior design, brand design and furniture design by BassamFellows. Build and joinery by Alan Peterman.