Rockwell Group bring luxury hospitality and wellness to 550 Madison

– David Rockwell
Rockwell Group have unveiled designs for luxury hospitality and wellness amenities at Manhattan's 550 Madison office tower, which is currently being renovated by co-owners Olayan Group.
The updated amenities will complement work like the development of a new public garden designed by Snøhetta that will increase the amount of public open space at the tower by 50 per cent and bring new green space to the area.
They are intended to make the New York building feel not just like a place of work, but like one that will fit in with the lifestyles of occupants to improve their wellbeing and productivity.
Culinary, recreational and fitness facilities will be split between a club and a wellness studio.
Guests will be welcomed to the building's club level by a concierge in its Grand Hall lobby, which is filled with natural light through a large oculus window and boasts 36ft (11m)-high ceilings.
Here, it will be possible to get a coffee from the espresso bar during the day, relax with a drink when the space transforms into a "chic wine bar" at night or enjoy a variety of other food and drink options.
The Living Room will be a dedicated lounge area with comfortable chairs, couches and tables, but there will also be a number of flexible meeting spaces that will be set up as open lounges for tenants when they are not in use.
Similarly, break-out rooms will double as spaces for relaxation when not in use and a screening room will cater for work presentations and meetings, as well as recreational screenings.
The club level will also feature a pool room that will be able to adapt for other games, for dining or, again, for work meetings.
The building's fitness centre has been designed by Rockwell to accommodate classes, personal training, and wellness programming.
Run by FitLore, it will have dedicated space for working out, hosting small and large classes and running semi-private training for premier members, as well as an area for stretching, strengthening and cardio.
There will be treatment rooms for acupuncture and massages, a meditation room, a juice bar and a lounge area.
Discussing the amenities, David Rockwell, founder and president of Rockwell Group, said: "The concept for 550 Madison’s Grand Hall and amenity spaces honours Philip Johnson and John Burgee’s original vision, preserving historical details like Dorothea Rockburne’s monumental murals.
"Residential-style spaces for focused programming, such as lounging, are carved into the eastern part of the plan while dining, meeting rooms, and more active programming are located in light-filled, transformable rooms along the western side."
Rockwell Group 550 Madison Olayan Group tower amenities








BIG's designs Prague concert hall to be vibrant centre of life

Mather & Co-designed Gretna Green Experience opens to the public

Project to save last major bellfoundry which cast bells for St Paul's and Washington National Cathedral

Perkins & Will reveals designs for net-zero sports and cultural centre in Toronto

World’s first living waterslides announced for Therme Manchester

Heatherwick reveals Volcano-inspired opera house designs for Hainan

Natural history museum planned for Abu Dhabi

Controversial London music venue, MSG Sphere, gets full planning permission

Clifford's Tower opens to the public after £5m redevelopment

Clifford's Tower opens to the public after £5m redevelopment

Glasgow's iconic Burrell Collection reopens after five-year, £68.5m revamp

SB Architects delivers Ritz-Carlton Reserve in Costa Rica with tree-house spa and private residences

Ole Scheeren designs vertical jungle resort complex in China

Designer Brian d’Souza launches Swell to create evocative soundscapes for physical environments

Basalt Architects create geothermal Forest Lagoon in the wilds of Iceland

Hot Pickle design £73m Guinness visitor attraction for Diageo in London

Amsterdam's new digital art centre Fabrique des Lumières will use tech to bring art alive

Pharrell Williams to launch tropical Bahamian beach resort

Banyan Tree curating solar-powered wellness retreat on private Mozambican island

Dubai Expo hits 10 million visits

Foster + Partners designs Dorchester Collection's first hotel in Middle East

Neil Jacobs reveals Six Senses Places concept for major cities

Orient Express returns to Italy after 46 years with six trains designed by Dimorestudio and new Rome hotel

400-year-old mineral spring will power Preidlhof’s €2m medicinal bath experience

Universal Beijing Resort reveals expansion plans for second phase

Pop-up stadium built with shipping containers opens ahead of 2022 World Cup

Playfulness will inspire Serenbe’s new wellness community, Spela

John McAslan + Partners-designed M7 cultural hub and museum opens in Doha

LPO Architects and GrecoDeco create vast subterranean wellness retreat for Oslo

Herzog and de Meuron’s M+ museum of visual culture distils essence of Hong Kong
From parks designed to mitigate the effects of flooding to warming huts for one of the world’s coldest cities, these projects have been designed for increasingly extreme climates