Firm’s Design of Warner Bros. Discovery Global Headquarters in NYC Secures Multiple Accolades by International, National and Local Awards Organizations
Meridian Design Associates, Architects, P.C, an award-winning architecture and design firm, has added to its honors for its design of the Warner Bros. Discovery Global headquarters in New York, winning six gold and one silver award in the Urban Design & Architecture Design Awards, as well as silver and honorable mention accolades in the 2023 International Design Awards and an award for excellence from the New York City chapter of the International Facility Management Association (IFMA).
In the 2023 Urban Design & Architecture Design Awards, the project won the top gold honor award in the Office Building, Commercial Interior, Corporate Architecture, Commercial Architecture, Corporate Interior, and Design categories. It also won a silver award in Interior Design. In the 2023 International Design Awards, Meridian won a silver award in the Interior Design/Office and Service Center category and an overall honorable mention for the project.
The latest honors bring the total number of awards for the Discovery project to nineteen; late last year, the firm won the Design Built, Corporate Design Built, and Corporate Interior Built categories in the World Design Awards and runner-up awards in the Commercial Interior Built, Commercial Built, and Office Building Built categories. It also won three honorable mention awards for the project in the international Architecture MasterPrize Awards, which recognized Meridian Design’s work in the Commercial Interiors, Restoration & Renovation, and Interior Design/Workplace Interiors categories.
“I’m thrilled with our team’s recognition, awards, and honors in these prominent and respected programs,” said Luciana Machado, a senior project manager at Meridian Design who led the design and full upgrade of the historic building in Manhattan’s Flatiron district. “We’re proud of our achievement in designing and implementing a people-centered agile workplace with character, innovative and flexible amenities, and beautiful spaces for collaboration and well-being befitting a company with global stature.”
Recently, The New York City chapter of IMFA, the world’s largest association for facility management professionals, celebrated exceptional achievement and enduring contributions to the facilities management profession by presenting the Discovery Global project team with the Award for Excellence in Design and Construction of a New Facility (over 300K SF). The team honor recognized Warner Bros. Discovery, Meridian and three other partners: Reidy Contracting Group, Robert Derector Associates, and CBRE.
“The IMFA NYC award acknowledges the outstanding spirit of teamwork Meridian brings to our work, for this and for all projects and clients,” said Meridian Design’s Managing Principal Antonio Argibay, AIA, LEED AP. “We were pleased to collaborate with a talented group of partners in a forward-looking renovation that honors the history and beauty of this historic neighborhood.”
Argibay added: “The totality of the awards for this project speaks to the extensive recognition of its fine architectural and design vision and implementation.”
In last year’s Architecture MasterPrize Awards, the Warner Bros. Discovery Global headquarters project was one of only two projects in the United States in the Commercial Interior category to receive honorable mention. It was the only New York City-based project and one of two from the United States to be recognized in the Restoration & Renovation category. The project also was one of only two corporate workplace projects selected from all award winners and honorable mentions.
About Warner Bros. Discovery Global Headquarters
The Warner Bros. Discovery Global headquarters project was a full upgrade of a 375,000 RSF, 13-story historic cast iron and terracotta and brick building in the Flatiron district of Manhattan. The building, once the 19th-century home to an older media business, underwent a complete renovation that consolidated three separate Warner Bros. spaces in other New York City buildings.
Meridian Design’s restoration minimized alterations to the building’s facade while accentuating its architectural strength in a LEED-certified design. The project also achieved WELL platinum certification. Its heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, and refrigeration (HVAC&R) systems use no chlorofluorocarbon-based refrigerants, and all materials used, including paints and coatings, adhesives and sealants, locally-sourced flooring, composite woods, insulation, and furniture, are either no-carbon or low-carbon emissions.
Meridian Design’s award-winning interior design includes a landscaped rooftop terrace (native plants only) with group and individual seating areas, private nursing rooms, a café, a wellness and fitness center, new penthouse and event spaces, and multipurpose spaces with hardwood-finished walls. The aged columns, walls, and ceilings were restored using dry ice. Open spaces are at the perimeter of each floor, where employees have access to sit-stand desks and user-controlled lighting, while enclosed shared spaces and offices are located in the center—a design choice that emphasizes access and equity for all employees. The building’s lobby and workstations on every floor feature living plants—a total 3,500 SF of planters.
About Meridian Design Associates
Founded in 1981 by Managing Principal Antonio Argibay, AIA, Meridian Design Associates Architects, P.C. is an award-winning global company headquartered in New York City, with offices in Miami, Florida and Sevilla, Spain. The firm’s portfolio of work runs the gamut from commercial interiors to retail, residential and healthcare. Meridian Design Associates offers an array of design-related services to a broad range of clients in the United States and around the world. Members of the firm are committed to providing elegant and inspiring design solutions in a practical and efficient fashion.
