Extending its reputation for carefully considered, place-based design, Workstead grounded Olympia in the story of New York Harbor with a subdued, organic palette.

The studio manifested concepts of rhythm, chamfering, and craft in its chosen materials in direct acknowledgment of DUMBO’s origins in the maritime and early industrial economies. Workstead’s design of Olympia’s residential interiors and fixtures, as well as its amenities, draw inspiration from nature and culture—and it inspires those who behold the spaces, in turn.

“We thought about the river and the bridges. And about the sea,” says Ryan. “A word we came to was oceanic. A stereotypical ocean is blue and sparkling, but we also thought about how beautiful a storm at sea can be.”

You can see this in the texture and color of the blue-grey granite walls of the lobby, and in the mosaic of stones on the pool floor. “They’re mini-cobblestones,” says Ryan, “so they’re very DUMBO. And they’re laid out with a feeling of movement in a moiré pattern that flows almost like water.”