| For their new corporate headquarters, this Fortune 500 company wanted to employ an open workplace design to reduce hierarchy, increase visibility and foster communication, collaboration and mentoring opportunities among staff. The finished space is a new and modern departure for the client that sets both the principles as well as the aesthetic for their future offices. The overall effect was achieved through the creative and considered use of modest rather than lavish materials and a simple color palette.
The assignment was to create a visually open, connected work environment for 300 corporate personnel and a large Training Center in four and a half floors of an existing building. As one enters the space, the reception area is centered on a primary view of the surrounding city and the magnificent City Hall nearby. The understated but refined space orients and greets visitors with a clear message of the client’s professionalism and future focus.
To complement the open workplace design, collaborative spaces provide significant opportunities for employee interaction. Each floor offers an attractive coffee bar and kitchen which are designed with stools and a counter for serendipitous meetings. One of the heritage functions of a sitting room lounge was maintained at the center of the executive floor and has commanding views of the nearby mountain range to the north. In addition, a variety of lounge seating and standup workstations along the windows encourage both ergonomic variety as well as casual conversations.
A dedicated Training Center that occupies half a floor provides focused training and opportunities for employees to engage with colleagues from around the world. The Center features expandable meeting rooms with state-of-the-art audiovisual and technological capabilities, as well as a large pre-function space, kitchen and lounge.
A challenging feature of the space was a ring of structural columns in the middle of each floor. To address this, the design team arranged workstations in the outer ring formed by the columns and located huddle, conference and quiet rooms in the inner ring around the building’s core. The mix of spaces supports different types of work that happen throughout the day. Room partitions of full-height glass were used to maximize visibility and extend day-lighting from the perimeter deep into the floor plates.
A compressed construction schedule challenged the design and construction team to work quickly and creatively. One key strategy to submit each floor for separate reviews helped to shave seven weeks of the city approval process.
Several sustainability strategies were implemented in the project including siting the office in a walkable urban area near a light rail station. To control heat and glare, a fully automated window shade system is tied to a radiometer on the roof, adjusting the shades based on the sun’s angles throughout the day. An abundance of LED lighting, all of which is controlled by motion and photo sensors, also is integrated with the window shade system. Cradle-to-Cradle Certified workstations were specified for the office, and at least 75 percent of construction waste was diverted from the landfill during construction.
Budget/cost: Confidential |
