Major overhaul after 60 years: United Nations Lounge.

Hard chairs lead to hard positions, compromises are found on soft cushions. Psychologists at Harvard and Yale came to this conclusion when they studied tactile experience in relation to social behavior. Now one of the most important international decision-making spaces has undergone a redesign. On the initiative of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hella Jongerius and Rem Koolhaas, among others, transformed the Delegates' Lounge at the United Nations headquarters in New York from a tired brown hall into a landscape dominated by earth, water and forest tones. If Harvard is right with its studies, discussions here can strike new notes from now on.

For the first time, heads of state and government settled into the leather chairs of the North Delegates' Lounge in 1952, six years after the UN was founded. The décor was up to date: modern, clear and sophisticated, as befitted an informal thinkers' club of this format. Architects such as Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer designed the complex, and leading designers of the era such as Hans Wegner, Peter Hvidt and Jacob Kjaer contributed furniture. But nearly six decades of use have tarnished the luster. Small adjustments and major changes were made again and again, and in the end there was not much left of the old story - it was time to write a new one.

Three Colors Brown
Responsibility for the Make Over of the entire UN Headquarters was delegated to individual countries. Denmark committed to the Council Chamber, Russia took over the World Security Council, Turkey the Ambassador's Lounge, and the Netherlands the Delegate's Lounge. Responsibilities included appointing a national design team and funding. Led by Hella Jongerius, the Dutch team included architect Rem Koolhaas, typographer Irma Boom, artist Gabriel Lester and Louise Schouwenberg, who worked on the new design concept. The furnishings were not radically replaced - partly as a tribute to the history of the space. Some "survivors" such as Knoll Club Chairs and original Peacock Chairs by Hans Wegner from 1952 were integrated into the new concept. "I would describe our intervention in the lounge, which has already been changed several times, as the preservation of change," says Koolhaas, summing up the interdisciplinary team's approach.

Making-of: colors, floors and curtains.
Design according to safety regulations
The strongest element of the tall and long room is the massive window front, which stretches across one complete side and opens up views to the East River. "The space has this strict rhythm of horizontal and vertical lines," says Hella Jongerius. "I wanted to soften that." She covered the entire length of the windows with a curtain of beaded strings, hand-knotted into a cohesive web. Jongerius, who always works closely with artisans for her collections, had the large total of 30,000 porcelain beads made from Dutch clay. This gives the room a certain privacy; strict security guidelines do not permit any screening or even room-dividing elements beyond this: every corner must be visible when entering the room.

Making-of: the furniture.
Tailored with Vitra
Workstations and a new chair were therefore also specially designed by Hella Jongerius for the UN Lounge. Both pieces of furniture were produced by Vitra; the company had already presented the Sphere Table work table in 2012 - as the first in the furniture series for the UN. The special feature of the small work table is the semi-transparent hemisphere, which can be freely attached to the right or left side and provides acoustic and visual protection without violating safety regulations. Hella Jongerius was also responsible for the color concept, although she did not completely abandon the palette of the old days. That, however, was neatly freshened up. While the carpeting and curtains are restrained in brown-orange and white, both the large-format tapestries and the furniture set colorful accents. The Polder sofas produced by Vitra bring shades of green and blue, while the new chair UN Lounge Chair picks up the color spectrum and becomes a connecting element to the floor with its brown armrests. The result is both defined by comfort and professional informality. And thus brings Dutch spirit to New York. As Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon summed it up in his opening speech last week, "I am particularly pleased that this space reflects the Dutch tradition. The Hague is the seat of the International Court of Justice, many of us travel there often. That's why it's nice to have a piece of the Netherlands here."