Designed in a time of major cultural change, this client’s goal for their new office was a transformative collection of spaces that accommodate both the existing needs and future aspirations of their long-established design practice. Located within a landmark modernist building known for its unique structural expression, the new workplace brings the firm forward into an era of highly collaborative, equitable, sustainable, culturally relevant work.

To create user-responsive spaces, detailed surveys were analyzed to reveal the organization’s many specialties and similarities, leading to an open plan concept in which all employees have adjacency to every type of workspace. These include individual focus areas, open collaboration zones, enclosed meeting rooms, social spaces, maker spaces, and more.

At the fifth floor entry, the traditional lobby is dissolved into a set of spaces overlooking Front Street that include a model gallery, materials library, and fabrication lab, bringing visitors into immediate contact with the physical and digital artifacts of design. Along the adjacent eastern edge of the office, a series of transformable rooms enjoy generous views of the City and Bay. Separated only by moving walls, these spaces transform throughout the day from a series of discrete meeting rooms to a social hub for all-hands meetings or receptions.

Beyond the social hub are a kitchen, VR room, and a sculptural blackened steel stair that links to the fourth-floor commons, which serves as a lounge and quiet work zone complete with softer furnishings and more vibrant colors. Through the plan, enclosed offices and conference rooms are glass-fronted and arranged around the building core to democratize access to light and views. Materials strike a careful balance between creating a bright and minimal backdrop for the firm’s work and establishing a connection to the strong material language of the base building’s landmark modernist palette.

Photography: Dave Burk