Workplace Design

The office of architecture firm, BUJ.

The creative studio for Venture 3 - a global branding consultancy company.

I have been working on an office design this week and through my research, I came across these work spaces by London design agency, Brinkworth. Both workplaces are very clean, uncluttered and fresh. Nice.
Photographs via Brinkworth.

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Stylish Office

This is the stylish office belonging to Jim Rosenfield, a succesful large scale retail owner, located in Marin County, California. With a keen eye for design, Rosenfield has created a place that felt like home. "I love work," he says, "and I want the space to feel like home, since this is where I spend a lot of my time." It's also a showcase of sorts for his highly evolved aesthetic: "This is a place where people come to see the potential of the spaces."
I enjoy seeing examples of corporate environments that are 'relaxed' and softer around the edges - while still very professional and creating comfortable spaces for their employees.
Photographs by Mimi Giboin for Remodelista.

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Office

I've been away from my office today. So here is one from the archives - a cool office set up with a desk from danish brand, House Doctor.
Photograph source unknown.

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Cool and Fashionable Office

 Refinery 29's warm and inviting reception area

Informal meeting area

Meeting area

Open office desks with pinboards to pin up inspirations and images

Meeting area with whiteboards walls

This is one cool office and it belongs to popular fashion website, Refinery29. Created for a team of 70 people, the office has a professional office layout which is soften with warm and relaxed touches. By using details like rugs, stylish yet comfortable furniture, plants, feature lighting, write-able walls and pinboards, it allows the office to lose the stiff corporate feel that many offices can have and creates an environment open to creativity. This design really suits the fashion focus company that Refinery29 is. Read more about it here.
Photographs by Ingalls Photography via Design Sponge.

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Shiney Surroundings

My girlfriend Alisha has been asking for my input while designing her husband's office. She has great taste, so she only requires a little guidance from GEORGE. BUT when I see her this week I am going to pressure advise her to lacquer the walls. I think it could make all the difference to his wee study, and in only the best way!

Don't you love when you have a friend who you can design one of your dream-rooms through?!

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Office Design - APFEL



 

The office space of A Practice for Everyday Life, London.



Meeting room - yes, with more Eames chairs.

 Here is another office that I liked from my research. It is the office of A Practice for Everday Life (APFEL), a graphic design studio in London, UK. When you are in the creative industry and have to deal with colour everyday,  you understand the need for clean white spaces. This office is overall rather simple, however, there are some lovely touches - like the yellow flourescent lights, the white Eames chairs and the hanging bulbs with the black cables.
Photographs via Office Design Gallery.

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Office Design - Parliament



Upstair area (with yummy pale blue Eames chairs)



Downstairs (with more cool Eames chairs)



Office - looking through to the pool room.



The pool room with the kitchenette.



Posters close-up - love that mo.



Meeting area.



Production room.



"War room"



Working table.



Kitchenette.

At the moment, I am working on a proposed office re-fit and on my research journey, I came across Parliament.  A creative company based in Portland, Oregon, Parliament's "world headquarters" are rather eye catching and breaks out of the typical office mould. I was intrigued by the open spaces, the multi meeting/relaxing areas, the use of industrial and recycled materials, the relaxed vibe, the pool room(!), cool designer chairs, simple colour palette and the overall 'warmth' of the place. As a client looking for a good design team, you would definitely know that you were walking into a space full of creatives and have a good feeling that you are in good hands.

(Found on Parliament's blog - try out the Pentagram's what type are you? Brillant. I am Archer Hairline - pretty bang on actually.)

Photographs by Lincoln Barbour via Parliament.

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To WORK or to PLAY...The Manhattan Beach Dilemma.

Home office planning 101... make sure to incorporate LOTS of distractions. Life is too short to be so serious! (photo by Manolo Langis.)



This Manhattan Beach homeowner came to GEORGE with a dilemma... with a house full of kids (3 darling ones), a busy schedule being a wife and mom, and the occasional house visitor...she needed the only spare room in the house to function as way more than just a guest bedroom with a play station for the kids shoved up against the wall...



Other than serving as the indoor trampoline for the kids, the guest bed seemed an unwelcome occupant of the much needed space.



Another problem that threatened to drive the homeowner insane was the 8' tall pair of sliding doors at the closet which greatly hampered access to what was inside...



The tight space (and sweet family) definitely needed a space that would look good and function for all of their needs. GEORGE got to work planning the house's "HQ" or headquarters so to speak... custom side-by-side work stations for Mom and kids, a wall mounted flat screen on a pivoting arm, shelving for additional storage, a pull out bed and a spot for the kids to sit while watching TV or playing Wii.



Here is a shot of the wall-to-wall desk unit being built and the custom "components" cabinet. For the dimensions of the table, we took into account the seat height of the incredibly beautiful Lange Side Chair (Room and Board). We needed just enough room for a person to comfortably sit at the computer, have room for a skinny ped file (from Ballard Design) and of course the components at center:

The shelves were built to accommodate a printer/scanner/fax machine on top and the cable box/Wii components on the bottom. The glides underneath the pull out shelves, allow the homeowner to roll the shelf out /send a fax without the slightest inconvenience (see opening photo).



Here is the desk unit fully installed and lacquered white. The pendant was a custom creation by Cindy Ciscowski. TV was hardwired into the wall with a 1 receptacle directly behind the TV, and another below, just behind the cable box.



Wood floors were installed, window treatments made and slipper chairs were upholstered... The fabric on these chairs (a favorite Hinson fabric called Oxus Blues) is actually laminated with the COOLEST new lamination process... it is totally breathable and almost matte. Perfect for the little ones:


The sliders on the closet doors (at far left) were replaced with bifolds (the 8' tall frame was not reinforced to hold the weight of single panel doors). We miraculously found 8' bifolds in the same Brazilian Cherry wood species and with the same sticking detail as the rest of the doors in the house...(thank you Dave at Learned Lumber and Palacios Painting for the awesome stain treatment):


And alas... a workable, beautiful space...

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