Photos by Justin Miers Photography
Architecture firm Bockus Payne has completed the renovation and expansion of an office in Oklahoma City for Express Employment Professionals, one of the leading staffing providers in the United States. The bright and airy workplace not only showcases the company’s refreshed brand, but serves as a physical reminder of the culture of openness.
A primary goal of the project was to increase formal and informal space for training and conferences. Because groups of different sizes meet regularly, the designers focused on providing spaces that the staff would still be able to utilize even with continued expansion on the horizon. With partitions, employees can reconfigure designated areas as needed for maximum efficiency. “They have a little under two dozen departments,” said Cara Sutton, junior interior designer, Bockus Payne. “And so we included breakout rooms, collaboration spaces, and smaller private areas.”
The basement now functions as a multipurpose collaboration level, with various spaces that encourage groups and their various tasks. “More people are coming together from out of town to use the office for training or meetings. So they needed a lot of different spaces to accommodate the different functions,” said Alan Krone, project architect, Bockus Payne.
The architects wanted to ensure that all areas of the office received ample light. The executive offices along the edge were enveloped in daylight, and so the idea was to pull that illumination all the way through to reach the employees at the center. The workstations were scattered closer to the perimeter, without obstruction. And the huddle rooms and conference rooms serving those staff groups are found along the core. The result is an intentional distribution that creates a sense of balance and luminosity throughout. “Random glass walls weren’t sprinkled around the office,” Krone noted.
The second floor executive wing, located in the new addition, features clean, linear lines with anodized aluminum framing and butt-glazed glass to keep the look clean and unclutttered. Yet unlike most areas designated for management that are closed off or in the back of a building, the design encourages interaction among senior staff and a host of other employees.
There was a continual emphasis on removing actual or perceived boundaries, with materials which have visual softness rather than edges or harshness that make interiors feel cold or too drab. “We didn’t want to have these barriers between everyone,” Krone said. “And we used different finishes to emphasize the spaces versus actual walls and barriers.”
Choices, however, weren’t left solely to the designers. Employees expressed their opinions about certain styles, fabrics, and furnishings. Allowing participation was another facet of inclusivity. “All of the department heads would bring samples in and let the staff try the chairs,” Krone noted. “Everyone was a part of the process, and not many companies will put in the effort to make that happen.”
For this project, more furniture was definitely better due to a range of variables. “The employees tested out so many different types of furniture for the different functions and the different departments throughout the building. And the choices were thoughtful, based on not only what people would be doing all day long, but also workflow and connection with others. It was about prioritizing comfort in an open space,” Sutton added.
The CEO’s office is more like a living area, complete with bar, restroom, and space for breakout meetings. Soft seating encourages people to stay in the area awhile. “The CEO was really promoting the idea of having an inviting place where people would feel at ease to approach him, sit on the couch or have a meeting there,” Krone said. And even the material of the door is an element of welcome. “The office has a glass door, which is emblematic of the open door policy. There is a level of transparency that speaks to their culture of access,” Sutton added.
Bringing everyone together in a refreshed environment has been invigorating for the team. “It was an opportunity to bring the executive branch with the others so that they all could be more collaborative. And it has created this ease of communication and greater efficiency,” Krone noted.
