Harley Ellis Devereaux's new Los Angeles office isn't the typical workspace of an architecture firm. When the award-winning national firm set out to relocate from the mid-Wilshire area to design their own new space at 601 South Figueroa, one of downtown's premier Class-A office towers, the project team wanted employees to step away from the drafting table and instead, to gather in huddle spaces to collaborate.
"The flexibility of the space, furniture and workstations promotes collaboration among our design studio and support staff. These design elements are becoming the norm in the corporate world, but many design firms are still centered on large desks and drafting tables. We needed to bring people together, and the new office was a perfect way to reinforce our collaborative culture," said Enrique Suarez, AIA, principal and studio leader for the firm's corporate/commercial design studio.
The 35,375 square foot space located on the fourth and fifth floors of the 50-story tower accommodates 125 people and contains flexible workstations, pinup walls for displaying drawings and an open concept that offers a different spin on sustainability. Lighting technology usually associated with industrial warehouses provide energy-efficiency, while the office's vivid color scheme reflects all things LA; from its natural elements to contemporary attitude.
The LEED-CI designated space is one of the few interior office spaces in Los Angeles expected to achieve silver status, according to Suarez. Energy-efficient lighting, maximized day-lighting and energy controls are all incorporated into the space, while secure bike storage and showers/changing areas are available to employees near the building.
"When we looked at materials and thought about compliance with sustainable design guidelines, we didn't want the interior space to appear earthy - we wanted to make it look cool yet sustainable," Suarez said.
Peter Devereaux, FAIA, Harley Ellis Devereaux corporate president, said all roads led to downtown after analyzing travel times, locations of employees, and examining the city's downtown development initiative.
"Downtown is becoming a vital place and we wanted our employees to take advantage of public transportation and all of the amenities it has to offer," Devereaux said. He added that public transportation usage is up forty percent among employees since the firm moved to their new space earlier this spring.
With all technical staff housed on the fourth floor, the challenge became how to facilitate communication between the firms's various design studios. The floor's layout naturally formed pockets of space that concealed open areas, and the design team needed to link the pockets in order to prevent teams from being hidden from one another.
Suarez and Tim White, interior architect, said the team used the concept of the company's weaving organizational matrix to connect the pockets of technical staff. The use of architectonic planes on the ceilings, stripes of paint on the walls and walkways that form "ribbons," wrap around the office and connect the various "neighborhoods" of space.
"The physical layout of the ribbons and matrix reinforces our vision for the organization of our company. Interaction is expressed through the ribbons, and the ribbons represent connections not only to employees in our new office, but to the people in the firm's other offices across the country," said White.
The design of the space was a nationwide effort, with its engineering staff stationed in Los Angeles, its design staff in Chicago and its corporate staff in Detroit.
"The design team conducted a series of focus groups with members of the company in order to build the identity of the firm into the space. And although we were on the fast track to complete this project, we still posted the draft design on our intranet and invited all employees to comment before we adopted the final documents," said Suarez.
Devereaux said that moving downtown was very powerful in showing that something exciting was in the works at the firm.
"It was a big step to move to our old location on Wilshire years ago. But the results of the new space and location have been fabulous. We work more efficiently, morale has risen, and it's helped to give us a clear sense of identity," he said.