BassamFellows repurposes 'virtually unknown' philip johnson building for its connecticut HQ

design firm BassamFellows has repurposed a building originally completed by architect philip johnson for its new its headquarters, studio, and gallery. built in ridgefield, connecticut in 1952, the ‘schlumberger administration building’ was commissioned by annette schlumberger and henri doll after a visit to johnson’s recently completed glass house (1949). forming the american architect’s commercial project, the single-story rectangular steel-glass-and-brick building consists of perimeter offices organized around a central core that contains an open-air landscaped courtyard, glass enclosed conference room, and library.

the project, which involved buying, restoring, and re-purposing the property, took craig bassam and scott fellows of BassamFellows a total of eight years. as the building was abandoned and empty for more than a decade, the restoration work was extensive and involved virtually every element of the existing building. extensive research and analysis of philip johnson’s early work was carried out, including the study of original drawings from the archives at the avery architectural and fine arts library at columbia university and the getty research institute.

the design team’s approach was to preserve the building’s original use as executive office space with slight adaptations to meet current building codes and provide needed services. ‘the interesting thing about the building is that it is virtually unknown,’ bassam and fellows tell mark c. o’flaherty. ‘the building was part of schlumberger’s research division located just blocks from the center of the town of ridgefield, CT but it was a high security campus, which might explain some of the mystery surrounding the building.’ see more photography of the thorough restoration below.

project info:

name: schlumberger administration building
location: ridgefield, connecticut, USA
original architect: philip johnson
restoration: BassamFellows
status: complete