At 800,000 sq ft (74,320 sq m), Moody's Corporation's new headquarters at 7 World Trade Center demonstrates the company's commitment to its clientele and Downtown Manhattan. As space and infrastructure demands strained its existing facility, the company made a bold decision to leave its mid-century, mid-rise home for a nearby shimmering glass tower. SHCA's challenge was to create an environment evoking discretion and a sense of history within a new glass box. Responding to Moody's need for numerous private offices and flexibility for growth, designers developed a 'menu' of modular elements, including interior office and workstation clusters, with both fixed and pliable zones. Analysts' offices hug the perimeter wall, ensuring privacy, while their fritted glass interior walls allow natural light to penetrate the larger work area. An elliptical dining area offers respite from the ordered geometry of typical floors and the conference center communicates Moody's history and global presence. A golden bas-relief panel, a reproduction of the sculpture that graced the company's former main entrance, greets visitors to the conference center. Such reminders of the company's past can be found throughout the new space, conveying stability during the transition.........
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