Sony Music Entertainment’s Chippendale-pedimented, 35-story, 400,000-square-foot headquarters building located on Madison Avenue in New York City, was originally designed by Philip Johnson in 1983. In 1993, the building became the new home for 2 of Sony Corporation’s largest divisions; its music entertainment division, which manages such recording artists as Bruce Springsteen, Barbra Streisand, Mariah Carey, and Tony Bennett, and their motion picture group, which owns Columbia Pictures, Tri-Star Pictures, and Loews Theaters, among others.

The project’s objective was to create a graphic program that provides a cohesive visual impression, yet still expresses each division’s uniqueness with color, imagery, and visual references, as well as celebrates Sony’s contributions to the music and film industries. The designers developed a unique interior treatment for each elevator lobby which identifies, as well as celebrates, the individuality and personality of each division by incorporating glass murals running the full length of each lobby. Each mural is comprised of recording/film artists photographic portraits, specific to each division, and represented in a subdued color palette identifiable with that division. Broad horizontal glass bands are also color-coded and sandblasted with each of the divisions’ graphic identities to further reinforce a sense of place.