The lifestyle brand Tommy Bahama first moved to the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle in 2005, with almost 200 employees and 78,000 square feet of workspace. Now, with a headcount twice that, Tommy Bahama needed a new headquarters space that could house a bigger team, and also communicate with an expanding, shape-shifting audience.
When Seattle-based SkB Architects began work on the new headquarters, their client was already in the process of evolving its identity and branding language.
The original “Tommy Bahama” persona was that of “grandma’s closet” – a pleasant swirl of bohemian, vintage, sugar plantation vibes. Today, that persona has expanded to embody island, lake, or any form of nautical life – and the casual sophistication that comes with it. Tommy Bahama’s new 120,000 square foot workspace is a warm embrace most people find in a beach house in Bali, a coastal resort off the Atlantic, a lazy island stay in St. Thomas – or whatever nautical paradise metaphor best suits you.
“They’re consciously saying two things,” said Shannon Gaffney, co-managing partner, chief creative director and a founding principal at SkB Architects. “‘We don’t want to turn our back on our clientele, but we also want to speak to a new client – a new audience.’ They’re targeting a younger demographic and needed their imagery and public and private point of view to shift to reflect that. It was a bigger switch than they’d ever done before, and their language was still evolving when we started on the new headquarters.”
“This project was really refreshing and surprising for its open-endedness,” said Ms. Gaffney. “A lot of hospitality and retail projects have a strong point of view already in place, in their stores and hotels. Stores are one thing – their story is their product, too. The stores are a chance to create an immersive lifestyle experience for their customers; there are even bars in some of the Tommy Bahama stores. But the company’s own workspace doesn’t always have a prescriptive number of pieces.”
“One of the great things about Tommy Bahama is that they have a strong point of a view, but they’re comfortable enough in their own skin that they don’t want to be a slave to it. With Tommy Bahama, it’s not a crystal-clear aesthetic. It’s not one thing – it’s everything. There’s a diverse appeal speaking to diverse groups of people.”
In a brand new 13 story building, Tommy Bahama occupies floors 2 through 5. Anchor tenants typically take the top floors of a building. But Tommy Bahama CEO Doug Wood wanted to be closer to the action on the ground floor. Levels 2 through 5 serve as the building’s podium, with huge light wells piercing through each of those floors to provide floods of natural light as well as a vital connection to the public spaces below – sense of community.
“These are absolutely killer spaces that buck the trend of a huge uninterrupted floor plate,” said Ms. Gaffney. “The light wells visually connect you to the action going on at the ground level and each floor above. By taking these floors, you have a relationship between the public and private. It connects people to action. Tommy Bahama gets all of the best benefits. The space is evocative and interesting, and the structure gives movement and life to their space.”
SkB designed the new workspace to be inspired by the Tommy Bahama ethos to “Make Life One Long Weekend.” In addition to the light wells running through the center of the floor plate, workspaces are thoughtfully tucked around a common beach structure – a grand processional “boardwalk.”
“The open, casual setting fosters a relaxing environment in which to work, a place not unlike a modern beach house,” reads the project notes. “The design is focused on the user experience and reflects the attributes found throughout the brand and its products. A grand “boardwalk” serves to organize the space, drawing guests from the main lobby and reception to the showroom and mock store, and collaborative workspaces. Casual seating areas along the boardwalk, provide opportunities for informal gathering.”
“Once the boardwalk was in place, it was about figuring out how to pull off nooks and crannies,” said Ms. Gaffney.
Off the boardwalk and away from their height-adjustable, storage-oriented desks, employees can huddle up in traditional meeting rooms, flexible project work rooms, and semi-enclosed and open collaborative spaces. Reception and larger amenities are located on an intermediate level of the company’s four floors, encouraging social interaction among everyone entering the space.
A 1,000 square foot café on the main level opens out to a 1,500 square foot roof deck, tricked out with Tommy Bahama furnishings and views to the South Lake Union neighborhood and the city. Employees can enjoy the convenience of a coffee bar on each floor, but their visual and physical proximity to the public ground level plane gives them an added layer of space.
The boardwalk eventually runs into a fashion catwalk; in addition to the business-oriented functions carried out at Tommy Bahama, the new HQ space also includes a fashion and design studio.
“The studio, where they’re actually designing Tommy Bahama apparel and merchandising, needed to be practical for their work,” said Ms. Gaffney. “We wanted to evoke and allude to all of those ‘Make Life One Long Weekend’ qualities, but it’s also a studio for the work that goes into designing and developing those products.
“The rest of the office has this casual calm vibe, but the studio is over-the-top chaotic. There’s stuff flying everywhere, presentation supplies, materials all over the place. The duality and contrast of the calming resort feel of the office versus the super creative smart chaos of the fashion industry that you get in the studio – it was really cool to see take it all shape once they moved in.”
“They continue to expand and bring in new audiences, and it was funny because they themselves even get wigged out about all the chaos being too much in the studio space. But as designers we thought, “No, keep it that way because it’s fabulous.’ We really embraced that side of the project.”
Furnishings and aesthetic choices bridge a contemporary style of furniture to more traditional pieces softly evoking the south; modern and streamlined, but with a soul.
A natural material palette complemented by rich textures fill each floor – picture woven fabric wall coverings, rough-honed stone, and rope cleat for cabinet pulls in a café.
“We used so many different woods – mixed tones, different shades, a little worn, a little weathered, new teak, old teak,” said Ms. Gaffney. “There’s a nautical element to the space, with a lake, resort, Hyannis Port vibe. It’s a nod to a tropical feel, but then it can shift seamlessly to a boat party on a lake. We wanted to create a space where everywhere you look, there are small things that are clever and make you smile.
“Soft lighting was absolutely key. We wanted to create an environment where, as you look up, you have this experience of hanging elements in the trees. In one instance we used a muslin cloth lighting design. It gives off a little more casual, undulating feel.”
And, you can’t have the beach life without the beach.
“When we were in planning meetings with them, they would say they needed sand; they needed the grit, the softness, the luxury that goes with sand and a beach,” said Ms. Gaffney. “Then, whenever we met with them through the rest of the project, we would ask them, ‘Do you have enough sand?’ It was very fun, and at the end of the project, I really think they got enough ‘sand.’”
