Collection by Craig Aucutt
Office
IDEO Palo Alto
An incremental series of projects for this global design firm provide for a communal, flexible office environment expressive of the firm’s work ethic. The diverse projects include two office renovations, an employee café and kitchen remodel, and a roof deck that functions as an outdoor room. One renovation includes custom butcher-block workstations, serving as anchors within a sea of creative chaos. The “kitchen table” approach creates a sense of intimacy. Similarly, the café, kitchen and roof deck provide lively gathering spots for employees and clients. The most recent project for IDEO is an office wide expansion for their San Francisco location.
On the top two floors of a six-story early 20th century building in downtown San Francisco, Jensen & Macy Architects created a unified office space for a graphic design firm. At the center of the plan, two bays of floor slab were removed to provide a direct visual connection between the floors and a dramatic double-height space at the reception area. The approach is restrained, disinterested and quiet; realized in a simple palette of drywall, walnut, steel, glass and integrally colored concrete. At selected locations, existing finishers were removed to reveal the original rough brick and concrete surfaces underneath.
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The project attempts to create an experiential and constructional analogue for this product development and engineering firm’s work methodology and philosophy. The space invites collaboration and communication, while de-emphasizing hierarchies within the company. Individual workstations are grouped around the perimeter of a comfortable common library-like area that contains a variety of informal meeting tables, ample storage space and shared office equipment. Exposed infrastructure including fabric air ducts, cable trays, and metal support framing are carefully organized and integrated into the construction of the workstations.
Awards
Business Week Magazine, 1998 Industrial Design Excellence Award, Silver Medal
I.D. Magazine, 1998 Honorable Mention, Environments Category
Press
Innovation, Winter 1998
I.D. Magazine, July/August 1998
Location
San Francisco, CA
A 1920s pier building in the Port District of San Francisco is vibrantly filled with new offices for global design firm IDEO. A wide range of meeting spaces provide for an eclectic office atmosphere. “Phone Booths” permit private communication, while much of the office is designed to encourage overlap and communal interaction. Perforated felt panels slide along a rail to create acoustic partitions while maintaining visual transparency. A kitchen and cafe space, set around a large table, faces the Embarcadero with new garage doors, creating a strong visual connection between the IDEO community and the busy pedestrian walkway of the Embarcadero.
The new office makes the most of the exposed brick, tall ceilings, and large southfacing windows. "Because we are based in New York, we don’t have a ton of space," says Dots co-founder Patrick Moberg. "We wanted a clean, thoughtfully designed place to build and play games." Murphy interpreted these wishes into an aesthetic she describes as "traditional American office meets Scandinavian home."








