Interiors

Every year, millions of people experience interior spaces designed by Fentress Architects.  Owners, maintenance staff, employees, and clients alike appreciate the remarkable durability and exceptional quality of our human-centered designs, which have garnered over 550 honors and awards

At Fentress, our interiors staff have the expertise to create innovative and inspiring environments for a wide variety of project types including:

• dynamic, media-rich airport facilities like Nashville’s Terminal Lobby, International Arrivals Facility & Concourse D Expansion;
• flexible, high-performance convention centers such as Miami Beach Convention Center;
• inspirational, healthy tenant fit-outs like 116 Inverness; accessible, sustainable museum spaces such as Green Square Complex;
• majestic, serene civic domains like the Johnson County Courthouse. 

“[The design by Fentress Architects is] spectacular, embodying the character of Los Angeles and creating a remarkable sense of place. It is unmistakably L.A.”— Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX

INSPIRED DESIGN

Achieving client objectives, respecting project parameters, elevating the human experience, and complementing the natural and built landscape are hallmarks of Fentress-designed projects.

• Take Miami Beach Convention Center for example where the team creatively and passionately studied how light enters the surface of water and its appearance from a diver’s perspective. This study resulted in the design of exterior façade fins that dapple lobbies and pre-function spaces with daylight. This lighting effect both references the natural local environment as well as provides a graduated transition between indoor and outdoor environments. Throughout the building’s 1.4-million-square-foot interiors program are patterns, materials, and fixtures that further emulate receding water, sea foam, and local coral reef patterns.

HOLISTIC, INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH

Our interiors team—together with the broader practice—employs a holistic, interdisciplinary approach to interior design.  We assign dedicated teams of talented and knowledgable individuals, many of whom have applicable specialty skills, to each project. From project kick-off through post-occupancy evaluation, our teams work cohesively and collaboratively with internal and external partners to research, coordinate, conceive, develop, and deliver exceptional spaces. 

• Take Vectra Bank Renovations for example.  Utilizing research-generated data, the design team ‘right-sized’ Vectra’s 31,500-square-foot, three story main branch. Strategically located collaboration zones—including breakout meeting areas, coffee bars, and an employee café—now provide venues for teamwork to thrive and spontaneous dialogue to occur. Meanwhile, flexible furniture systems support the creation of both private work spaces as well as intentionally collaborative work environments.

TAILOR-MADE ELEMENTS

When appropriate, our teams custom design stonework, fabric, carpeting, millwork, furniture, and more to create unique environments.  Engagement with local suppliers and fabricators is an integral element of our firm ethos.  We proactively establish these relationships early in the design process in order to maximize the benefits they afford.

• Take 169 Inverness for example where a two-story entry lobby features a flyover bridge and a 25-foot-tall Rulon custom wall-to-ceiling system made of wood with integrated LED lights. In addition to framing the space, this system provides a warm contrast to what would otherwise be a monochromatic color palette.  At the elevator lobbies, a two-story, lightly-etched precast concrete wall made with a Reckli formliner mimics the fluidity of a curtain and also creates a strong anchoring presence within the overall space. Finally, a custom metalworks railing on the flyover provides overall visual harmony while also enclosing a viewing platform with unobstructed mountains views.

TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED

Fentress is distinguished by the innate creativity of our team members, our in-depth understanding of a wide variety of technologies, and our deep commitment to product and material durability and sustainability.

• Take our LGS Innovations projects for example where extensive, dense, and open workspaces are accessed via a secured entry lobby, which sits atop a low-profile Haworth TecCrete access floor.  This floor’s intricate electrical and data connectivity framework is conducive to the rapid reconfigurations often required to properly support project teams. Every workstation features a Steelcase sit-to-stand module with quad-mounted monitors and finishes that enhance the brand-focused palette. Due to the extensive deployment of electronics, all work areas feature StaticWorx electro-static dissipative carpet tile in contrasting tones and installed in a pattern intended to both support reconfiguration and maintain order. Interface luxury vinyl tile adds warmth to the entry and work café, while Interface’s Net Effect carpet tile elevates the look of the conference room.