Porcelanosa Readies Main U.S. Showroom
NEW YORK – Porcelanosa released details today on its refurbishment of behind its plans to refurbish a historic Manhattan building for its flagship U.S. showroom.
The Villarreal, Spain-based tile and bathroom/kitchen furnishings company will open its facility on Fifth Avenue at Madison Square Park in the spring of 2014, occupying the Commodore Criterion building.
Click image to enlargeThe company recently completed interior demolition of the building, which formerly housed toy-industry showrooms.
“As a staple of New York’s Flatiron district for years, the Commodore Criterion is the ideal location for Porcelanosa’s new flagship showroom ,as the neighborhood is the epicenter of New York’s architecture and design community,” said Manuel Prior, U.S. branch director for the company. “The new building also represents Porcelanosa’s growing presence in the United States, and firm commitment to quality, innovation and design.”
The Wall Street Journal reported last June that Porcelanosa bought the building at 202 Fifth Avenue for $40 million. The company selected London-based Foster + Partners, headed by Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning architect Lord Norman Foster, to refurbish the 18,000 ft², six-story building and preserve its exterior, which is on the city’s protected properties list.
The new space includes a showroom with full-scale vignettes showcasing Porcelanosa’s product portfolio, including floor and wall coverings plus kitchen and bath solutions. An entire floor of the building will be used as a design library with more than 1,000 references of tiles, mosaics, stone, hardwood and other materials as a working space for architects and designers.
“Porcelanosa’s new Manhattan flagship showroom is in a great location, close to the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Broadway and opposite the Flatiron Building,” said Lord Foster. “The design will create new visual connections vertically through the building and will introduce a greater variety of spaces, with a series of dramatic interlocking levels.
“The design will restore historic aspects of the exterior and create a new interior experience of large-volume show room spaces— all within the context of a sustainable agenda.”
Privately held Porcelanosa operates 400 showrooms worldwide, with 18 showrooms and six distribution centers in the United States. The company’s U.S. operations encompass more than five million square-feet of working space.
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