400 Record Goes from Vacant to Vibrant

DALLAS—Originally built in the 1980s and formerly known as the Belo Building, the 17-story building at 400 S. Record St. was nearly vacant in an underused area of downtown Dallas. The original tower came along at a time when inwardly focused design was the preferred method of construction.

Like many buildings from this time period, the ground floor divided the public and private realms to protect the occupants of the building from the street. Solid ground-level walls, deserted public spaces and unwelcoming planters created an impermeable edge condition which reinforced the austerity of the building.

The modern 400 Record was redesigned, rebranded and repositioned with employees, future tenants and the surrounding community in mind. The idea behind the project was to transform this austere and private building into a public and engaging space by enhancing the street experience.

Interior and exterior architect Gensler’s repositioning strategy created a pedestrian experience and activated the building’s street presence with a new front door, two-level lobby, a restaurant and sky garden. Gensler’s repositioning erodes the building perimeter, thus blurring the separation of indoors and outdoors, public and private, lobby and street.

By reconstructing the antiquated building, 400 Record is also bringing life back to an underused area of downtown Dallas. With a larger vision of the tower as a catalyst for change, the project moves Dallas further toward becoming a walkable city.

A glass spiral staircase that is visible from outside commands attention and draws guests up into the sculptural restaurant suspended above the lobby. The exterior is clad in weathered metal facets that make the restaurant appear as a public sculpture.

The former plaza was unshaded and unwelcoming. One of the most striking features of the renovation is a 10,000-foot louvered canopy that provides shade for the large outdoor plaza and visual connection between outside and inside. And, the former rooftop solarium was a space entirely too hot to be used, but the new design transforms the space into an open outdoor terrace with views of the Dallas skyline.

Christopher Goggin, principal at Gensler, is a well-known workplace designer who served as the design director for the interiors of 400 Record. He provided some insight into the process of transforming 400 Record from its dated past.

“We’ve learned a lot about the role that human emotion plays in shaping the perceptions and expectations of the spaces we inhabit and with a very engaged client, we have been able to successfully apply that knowledge on this project in some powerfully meaningful ways,” Goggin tells GlobeSt.com. “The existing architecture utilized a refined materials palette implemented by the original architect with logic and restraint so we simply focused our design efforts on solving for what we perceived as the building’s biggest design challenge.”

Goggin says it created a physical barrier from the street and an inability to expose any of the building’s internal energy and exterior engagement. Gensler’s architectural solution turned the original street level design concept on end, creating an inviting and welcoming experience.

“Beyond the removal of physical barriers, obstructions and opacity, there are two enhancements that we realized that began as simple program but evolved significantly throughout the process,” Goggin tells GlobeSt.com. “First the iconic golden-scaled floating restaurant space that partially inspired its name ‘Bullion’ found its genesis in the program for an addition of a tenant cafe space. This is an amenity deemed in our local office real estate community to be a basic requirement to attract tenants to the buildings, but so frequently results in simply checking a box for what is assumed prospective tenants are looking for on a leasing sheet.”

The cafe, usually packaged with a fitness center and a conference center/multi-purpose event space, rounds out that list of obligatory tenant amenities that Gensler was asked to incorporate. The difference was in the implementation and quality of design expected by the owner-occupant clients.

“They provided these key program elements to make the project work for their tenant base but to the level of quality and refinement that they would want if they were using these spaces themselves … because they are,” Goggin tells GlobeSt.com. “The final product is a direct reflection of the level of care and attention to quality and detail they expect for themselves and their tenant partnerships.”

Second was a simple desire to provide a shading element to make the plaza experience a more positive one by controlling the effects of the intense Texas sun and providing protection on a rainy day for visitors approaching from the valet drop-off area, Goggin says. This evolved the two program elements dramatically beyond the initial simple program to become the two most iconic elements of the project.

“As a result, the 400 Record project has become a catalyst for adjacent project development and setting a level of quality expectation for future projects in the district,” Goggin tells GlobeSt.com. “The artistic and possibly slightly ‘cheeky’ manner in which they were realized creates an unexpected approach and that surprise creates a strong emotional response. The client’s decision to incorporate significant works of art from their personal collections into publicly accessible spaces inside and out allowed the project to express another depth of personality and extend an additional high level of community engagement.”

Undoubtedly, Goggin says, what made this such a noteworthy project is that the client and design team were able to successfully incorporate the key core tenets of design that leads to great experiences:

The space should contribute to enhanced emotional and physical well-being, where people leave at the end of a visit in better condition than when they arrived.

The user experience is enhanced and accelerated when it includes a process of discovery. A place with an aesthetic that is fresh and contains some unexpected surprises creates a strong user connection and nurtures the human instinct of creation.

Visitors need to be entertained, and have emotional and intellectual stimulation with experiences that are pleasurable, fun and memorable.

There is a human need for continual transformation, to achieve personal growth and transcendence. The design of a physical environment can have a dramatic impact on a person’s spirit and sense that they are a part of something.

The space should be functional, simple to use, convenient in layout and location, and provide a logically predictable user interface.

There is no question that current workplace designs are placing a much greater emphasis on creating a curated experience, a sense of place and attention to the needs of the individual. Moreover, in all new or redesigns of office environments, the discussion of attracting Millennials usually comes up.

And, 91% of Millennials expect to stay in a job for less than three years, according to the Future Workplace Multiple Generations@Work survey. That statistic and the potential cost it represents should make a compelling case for positive employee experiences that attract and retain the best talent.