Victor Stein is a legend in New York interior design circles. In the late 1960s, he began working with his instructor from Boston University, Hans Krieks. They became partners in the 1970s with offices in New York and Boston. In the 1980s, he founded Planned Space Interiors in New York, which was one of the early design firms focused on commercial interiors. His designs were innovative in terms of planning and design. For example, his early retail shop for NBC took its cues from a television studio. One of his best known projects was the headquarters for Mercedes Benz of North America in Montvale, New Jersey. Mercedes was an innovator, with one of the first almost entirely open office landscapes in the United States, with custom-designed furniture that could be reconfigured for different uses. In the famed CBS headquarters building in New York City, Stein’s practice developed a plan for restacking 650,000 square feet of floors with minimal disruption.
Going to industry events with Victor means stopping every few feet and exchanging anecdotes and war stories from a long and varied career. He joined Huntsman Architectural Group last year to bring all this knowledge to our New York practice. We caught up with him between meetings a few weeks ago at the office on Wall Street.
Q: How did you get started in this business? What was your background?
Stein: I came from the ghetto. I was brought up on the lower east side of Manhattan by parents who were immigrants. My father was a furrier—his work was very seasonal. We were poor. But I excelled in math, and my geometry teacher steered me toward engineering. I applied to City College and got in.
The chairman of the engineering department called me into his office after the second or third week. He asked me what my background was, and I told him. He gave a list of supplies that we needed. I told him I was drafting on my kitchen table. He said, “You can’t do that. Do you have a book?” A book back then was about $25, and I said “No.” He says “You can’t do this.” I said “Well, I guess I’ll drop the class.” He said “You can’t, it’s Engineering 101. Here’s the book. Here’s everything. Get yourself a drafting table. Just a board. All you need is a board, and of course, a few knobs.”
At the end of the year, I gave him back everything. I said, “Why’d you do this?” And he said “Because I sympathize with you. I came from the same background.” I will never forget it.
But I hated engineering. So I switched over to architecture.
Q: How did you get into interior design?
Stein: I graduated at the tail end of the Vietnam War and was drafted. I never saw combat, thank God. After I got out, I went to work for architectural firms. I became friendly with a large firm of contractors in New York, and they said, “Did you ever think of interiors?” I didn’t even know what “interiors” meant.
I thought I’d try it. And I found there was more opportunity for advancement in interior design than in architecture—and much more opportunity to design. In architecture, it might have been forty years before I would have the chance to design a building. It’s a slow-moving process. In interiors, it moves much more quickly.
Q: How was Planned Space Interiors different from other interior design firms?
Victor Stein: Here’s an example. For one job we were pursuing, the person in charge was favoring a much larger corporate competitor. I went to see him, and he asked me, “So, what’s your company’s brand like?”
I said, “You just hit a major point. Did you like the projects the other firm showed you? That’s their brand—that’s what your office is going to look like. If you like that, then I would suggest you go with them. My brand, on the other hand, is your brand. You’re going to make it happen. I’m your consultant. I can only advise you in what direction you’re going, and how much it’s going to cost and give you a menu. The rest is your decision.”
And he sat back and said, “You got the job.”
I want clients to feel comfortable. I want them to enjoy the experience, and not make it a monster for them. We’re there to minimize disruption to the best of our ability.
Q: What are some of the most exciting projects you worked on?
Stein: When I was working with Hans Krieks Associates, we won a national competition for the Mercedes Benz Northern Hemisphere Headquarters, in Montvale, New Jersey, which was the first open plan in the United States. It housed 600 people and it had six executive offices and about four conference rooms. There was no systems furniture to speak of in those days, so we designed all the office furniture ourselves. They didn’t want the usual rectangular desks, because they felt that the edges of the desk were wasted—everybody just tends to stack paper there. They wanted trapezoidal desks with files underneath, so people could only have room for their current work on the desk. Typical German efficiency.
That job gave me an education. I spent three years on it, and it was just incredible. We designed all of the electric and communications components on a five-foot-wide module throughout, so that at any time, one section could be transferred to another, or added to, and all the components were already there. You just had to plug it in. That was the first application of that kind of modular approach, as far as I know.
Q: What else?
Stein: The New York Life Building was another one. New York Life was using all of its tower building for its employees, and they decided that their property was worth too much to do that. So they moved half the employees out to Westchester and asked us to split the building so they could rent half out. That meant a new infrastructure. Elevators had to be set aside for their tenants, air conditioning and power had to be split, and we had to meet all kinds of ADA regulations. That was a major undertaking, with a lot of consultants to manage. The project took three years.
Then there was the NBC Boutique in Rockefeller Center on Fifth Avenue in New York City. We designed a retail store for NBC in the lobby, using mirror, plastic laminate, and chrome for the fixtures, and bronze and glass sliding lobby doors. The NBC peacock logo is illuminated so its colors reflect off the ceiling. The Rockefeller Center’s architectural and design guidelines were very strict, so we had to do a lot of negotiating between the building owner and NBC.
Q: What has changed in the industry since you started out?
Stein: The technology may have changed, but the core design process hasn’t. What’s different is that a lot of the work today is being given out by developers. It used to be that most of our work came from referrals from end users and brokers. Now, because the real estate industry has been hit so hard by the economy, developers are paying for architecture, engineering, and interior design services as part of the lease package to entice new tenants. The end users have changed, too. They’re more conscious about spending money.
Q: Are they more conscious of design than they used to be?
Stein: Depends on the client. Some want a vanilla type of project, others want upscale design in some areas—the lounge, reception area, elevator lobby, restrooms. I’d say it’s a 50-50 split.
Q: Are you beginning to see a recovery?
Stein: Slowly. People are starting to move to new office space again, or improve the space they’re in. It’s a cautious recovery. Very cautious.
Going to industry events with Victor means stopping every few feet and exchanging anecdotes and war stories from a long and varied career. He joined Huntsman Architectural Group last year to bring all this knowledge to our New York practice. We caught up with him between meetings a few weeks ago at the office on Wall Street.
Q: How did you get started in this business? What was your background?
Stein: I came from the ghetto. I was brought up on the lower east side of Manhattan by parents who were immigrants. My father was a furrier—his work was very seasonal. We were poor. But I excelled in math, and my geometry teacher steered me toward engineering. I applied to City College and got in.
The chairman of the engineering department called me into his office after the second or third week. He asked me what my background was, and I told him. He gave a list of supplies that we needed. I told him I was drafting on my kitchen table. He said, “You can’t do that. Do you have a book?” A book back then was about $25, and I said “No.” He says “You can’t do this.” I said “Well, I guess I’ll drop the class.” He said “You can’t, it’s Engineering 101. Here’s the book. Here’s everything. Get yourself a drafting table. Just a board. All you need is a board, and of course, a few knobs.”
At the end of the year, I gave him back everything. I said, “Why’d you do this?” And he said “Because I sympathize with you. I came from the same background.” I will never forget it.
But I hated engineering. So I switched over to architecture.
Q: How did you get into interior design?
Stein: I graduated at the tail end of the Vietnam War and was drafted. I never saw combat, thank God. After I got out, I went to work for architectural firms. I became friendly with a large firm of contractors in New York, and they said, “Did you ever think of interiors?” I didn’t even know what “interiors” meant.
I thought I’d try it. And I found there was more opportunity for advancement in interior design than in architecture—and much more opportunity to design. In architecture, it might have been forty years before I would have the chance to design a building. It’s a slow-moving process. In interiors, it moves much more quickly.
Q: How was Planned Space Interiors different from other interior design firms?
Victor Stein: Here’s an example. For one job we were pursuing, the person in charge was favoring a much larger corporate competitor. I went to see him, and he asked me, “So, what’s your company’s brand like?”
I said, “You just hit a major point. Did you like the projects the other firm showed you? That’s their brand—that’s what your office is going to look like. If you like that, then I would suggest you go with them. My brand, on the other hand, is your brand. You’re going to make it happen. I’m your consultant. I can only advise you in what direction you’re going, and how much it’s going to cost and give you a menu. The rest is your decision.”
And he sat back and said, “You got the job.”
I want clients to feel comfortable. I want them to enjoy the experience, and not make it a monster for them. We’re there to minimize disruption to the best of our ability.
Q: What are some of the most exciting projects you worked on?
Stein: When I was working with Hans Krieks Associates, we won a national competition for the Mercedes Benz Northern Hemisphere Headquarters, in Montvale, New Jersey, which was the first open plan in the United States. It housed 600 people and it had six executive offices and about four conference rooms. There was no systems furniture to speak of in those days, so we designed all the office furniture ourselves. They didn’t want the usual rectangular desks, because they felt that the edges of the desk were wasted—everybody just tends to stack paper there. They wanted trapezoidal desks with files underneath, so people could only have room for their current work on the desk. Typical German efficiency.
That job gave me an education. I spent three years on it, and it was just incredible. We designed all of the electric and communications components on a five-foot-wide module throughout, so that at any time, one section could be transferred to another, or added to, and all the components were already there. You just had to plug it in. That was the first application of that kind of modular approach, as far as I know.
Q: What else?
Stein: The New York Life Building was another one. New York Life was using all of its tower building for its employees, and they decided that their property was worth too much to do that. So they moved half the employees out to Westchester and asked us to split the building so they could rent half out. That meant a new infrastructure. Elevators had to be set aside for their tenants, air conditioning and power had to be split, and we had to meet all kinds of ADA regulations. That was a major undertaking, with a lot of consultants to manage. The project took three years.
Then there was the NBC Boutique in Rockefeller Center on Fifth Avenue in New York City. We designed a retail store for NBC in the lobby, using mirror, plastic laminate, and chrome for the fixtures, and bronze and glass sliding lobby doors. The NBC peacock logo is illuminated so its colors reflect off the ceiling. The Rockefeller Center’s architectural and design guidelines were very strict, so we had to do a lot of negotiating between the building owner and NBC.
Q: What has changed in the industry since you started out?
Stein: The technology may have changed, but the core design process hasn’t. What’s different is that a lot of the work today is being given out by developers. It used to be that most of our work came from referrals from end users and brokers. Now, because the real estate industry has been hit so hard by the economy, developers are paying for architecture, engineering, and interior design services as part of the lease package to entice new tenants. The end users have changed, too. They’re more conscious about spending money.
Q: Are they more conscious of design than they used to be?
Stein: Depends on the client. Some want a vanilla type of project, others want upscale design in some areas—the lounge, reception area, elevator lobby, restrooms. I’d say it’s a 50-50 split.
Q: Are you beginning to see a recovery?
Stein: Slowly. People are starting to move to new office space again, or improve the space they’re in. It’s a cautious recovery. Very cautious.
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