As you step into a building’s shared public space, that space could say one of many things to you.
Real estate development firms are approaching shared public spaces – lobby, outdoor patios and terraces, on-site food options, fitness facilities, etc. – more and more as an opportunity to provide added value to their tenants. The workplace is shouldering much more than work functions; they’re now places that foster social, collaborative, and decompressing functions. Design firms are helping map out the design of these spaces.
Real estate firm Gaedeke Group tasked Texas-based interior architecture firm lauckgroup with designing a series of high-end communal spaces for its new-build corporate office building in Plano, TX, 30 minutes north of Dallas.
Lauckgroup designed the 13,000 square foot space to appeal to a diverse set of tenants – from tech companies to law firms. The design includes an open lobby, coffee bar, café, informal lounge with a ping pong table, and a fitness center complete with a yoga studio, full-service locker rooms and cardio equipment.
“These are things tenants wouldn’t be able to normally afford on their own,” said Matthew LoPresto, senior associate and project architect at lauckgroup. “Our goal was to provide really high-end attractive amenities that were about a real sense of community. All of the spaces we created are really flexible and not just busy at 9a.m., lunch and end of day. We paid special attention to this goal when making furniture selections.”
As a new-build project, lauckgroup enjoyed the freedom of starting with a blank slate but also a sense of responsibility to honor the building’s architecture, which was designed by Morrison Dilworth + Walls. The finished design is minimalist, high-spirited and bold, yet sophisticated.
“If the architect designed the building as a museum of sorts, our designs were the pieces of art inside the museum,” said Mr. LoPresto. “We wanted to design these microcosms of space to do the exterior architecture justice.
“The proportions of the building are elegant and simple. The level of thought and planning of the proportions down to the smallest details is truly amazing. It provided a great palette for us to work with. We focused on the quality of materials, a simple monochromatic color palette with timeless black and white and natural white oak. The client wanted timeless, not trendy.”
To divide the space in a way that maintains the integrity of the open aesthetic, lauckgroup used custom millwork wood slats and clean sheets of glass as space delineations, “creating distinct zones without impacting sightlines.”
“The wood slats are a repeating element creating a common thread of warmth, but they were also custom developed specifically as an acoustic material,” noted Mr. LoPresto. “The slats were spaced specifically to build in a high level of acoustic function.”
Past a sleek open lobby and lounge, a “module box composed of wood slats denotes a new zone,” housing the leasing offices and reservable conference rooms, including a high-ceilinged, 20-person conference room with state-of-the-art A/V equipment and private coffee bar. Past the conference center, the remaining spaces follow suit.
To complement the lobby, lauckgroup designed a stand-out 3,000 square foot, 50-seat eatery called Stir. It’s a full-service restaurant open to the public, featuring all fresh-made dishes and operated all in-house; but it’s also a full-time caterer to tenants.
“It’s a very unusual amenity – a high-end design with a very tiny footprint and high-design qualities that required a lot of balancing,” said Mr. LoPresto.
The tiny footprint, coupled with design goals that of maintaining an open and inclusive atmosphere, required lauckgroup to get creative with the accommodating for all of the kitchen’s functionality. To address the challenge, they created a mezzanine level above the kitchen, moving some of the functions up above the kitchen. Cooking areas are available at the center of the restaurant space and are visible to patrons, while refrigerators, storage and prep areas are found behind a wall in the back of the kitchen.
“Inspired by their studies of the microscopic structure of fresh food, lauckgroup built a high, geometric ceiling, called “The Geode” to amplify those studies on a massive scale,” reads the project description. “The Geode was designed to serve as an organic symbol of the dining experience and to encourage interaction with the building’s architecture.”
In addition to The Geode, Stir features the same custom millwork wooden slats used through the lobby, offering acoustic support and design continuity.
Design continuity is seen and felt in each space, an intention that lauckgroup worked tirelessly to maintain.
“The space photographs great, but when you step into the space, you get the full picture of all of the thought that went to into the design,” said Mr. LoPresto. “I’m really proud of the way we created the interior to complement, not compete with the building architecture.”
