G
lobal financial services company Alliance Bernstein has opened a new office in Manhattan's Hudson Yards neighborhood, featuring four floors of space designed to delight high-net-worth clients. The office boasts an AI-powered "dream wall" in the lobby, signaling its commitment to technology and innovation. This new location is the culmination of a 10-year plan that saw the company move offices across Hong Kong, London, and within the United States.

    The Hudson Yards office represents a significant downsize from Alliance Bernstein's previous million-square-foot presence on Sixth Avenue and in White Plains, which are set to close this year. The new space is located in The Spiral Tower, an area redeveloped as part of New York City's bid for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

    The office features a reception desk and concierge on one side, with a café-like area on the other, where employees can use a central flight of spiral stairs to walk up and down between the four floors. The top three floors have kitchen areas that lead to "neighborhood-style" workspaces. Alliance Bernstein has also done away with assigned seats, instead offering department-based neighborhoods and different styles of workspaces for focused work, collaboration, and everything in between.

    The company's leadership aimed to create a space that is inviting and unique as an installation statement, while showcasing its commitment to technology and the AI revolution. The LED first-floor hallway walls dynamically change color when people walk by, and the way they change evolves over the course of the day. On another floor, a leather wall will become slowly worn and change as people walk by and touch it over the years.

    Alliance Bernstein has also equipped its buildings with advanced meeting and conference-room technology, including external lights to indicate availability, switch-activated privacy shutters, smart cameras, microphones, and Zoom-enabled call rooms. This tech-forward design is meant to demonstrate the company's commitment to the future.

    The new office space is designed to encourage mentorship and help employees develop and learn from each other. The company has come a long way from its old-school financial services haunts, with a focus on technology and innovation. As COO Karl Sprules said, "We want to think of ourselves as a tech-forward asset management wealth management firm."