The client: Substantial, a digital product studio founded in Seattle in 2006. Substantial needed new digs for its growing team, and it didn’t have to look far. In 2013 the firm had moved into a century-old building at the corner of Pine and Broadway in the heart of Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. When additional space within that building opened up, Substantial took the opportunity to expand.
It tasked the Seattle-based goCstudio to redesign the building’s entire 14,000 square foot upper floor. The top floor had previously existed as two separate office spaces of very different character. Substantial first moved into the smaller of the two offices, then expanded to the rest of the floor when the previous tenant moved.
Substantial wanted its new offices to maintain the feel of its original space – a cohesive, open plan – but one that would enable them to weave more events and social programs into the fabric of the firm. When the project began in 2016, the firm was 50-60 people deep, and wanted work accommodations for 120-130.
goCstudio set about blending those goals with design choices that would embrace the beauty and strength of the building’s natural character. The space is full of exposed brick walls, old growth Douglas Fir beams and roof decking, and warehouse-style window walls. The building’s architecture presents a striking study of light and dark, where many tones of light fall across the space.
At the center of the goCstudio’s programmatic concept is an element it calls “the forum”.
“The idea of the forum is as a place of assembly, for both social and business activities,” reads goCstudio’s plans. “By creating a focal point for a large office, employees and visitors alike would have a place to congregate and exchange ideas in an informal space.”
The forum provides a center space for communication at Substantial. It’s an open space below a new large scale skylight, located adjacent to the entry stairway. goCstudio placed the new skylight to serve as way to naturally draw people into the heart of the building, which has a deep floor plan. goCstudio then laid out the remaining space elements around the forum – large structural elements complementing a vast expanse of natural architectural shapes in the building.
“We retained a couple conference rooms from the previous office because they were up to date with tech and wiring,” said John Gentry, co-founder of goCstudio with Aimée O’Carroll. “And the way we re-clad those spaces and carved new openings in them became the way we tied together all of the spaces surrounding the forum.”
To that end, goCstudio built new architectural insertions into the space – opening up new views from east to west, allowing more natural light to pour into the space from three sides and from above, and providing “a clearer understanding of the space and circulation.”
Tying together all of these elements around the forum – conference rooms, quiet rooms and phone rooms – is a material palette of ebony-stained plywood, complemented by large custom fabricated steel and glass doors of the style of industrial era warehouses as the original building.
Most of the team occupies an open office, and in addition to traditional conference and phone rooms are semi-enclosed project rooms on the north side of the space, intended for teams of 5-10 people working on intensive 3-4 month projects.
Substantial wanted an unprecedented amount of event space integrated into its workplace.
In a way, this priority is a reflection of the firm’s chosen neighborhood. Capitol Hill, the heart of Seattle’s vibrant bar and restaurant district, is the perfect spot for a company seeking to become a part of a larger cultural fabric. Along the streets near the Substantial building are an art supplies shop, a karaoke bar, and other local businesses. Atop the building’s rooftop deck, Substantial’s staff can hang out and enjoy views of the neighborhood below and Cal Anderson Park, which hosts a number of fun events itself.
“A large aspect of Substantial’s working practice is the hosting of public and private events,” reads the Substantial project plans. “Creating a large social space that could function for a variety of purposes was an important factor in the design of the expansion. By day, the large kitchen/dining area is used as drop-by work spaces for the employees who often enjoy a change of scene throughout the day.”
In the evening, and for daytime events as well, the 25-foot-long kitchen island and 16-foot-long bar island transform into a full service event space. Almost half of the office can be repurposed as social gathering and event space. On the east side of the event space, a floating dj booth is an expression of Substantial’s connection to music and creative expression – an important part of the firm’s culture. On top of the all of the open gathering kitchen and dining space, there’s an extra pantry and break room on the opposite side of the office.
“We were really surprised at how much space they wanted to dedicate to event space,” said Mr. Gentry. “Every time we would meet with them, they’d say, ‘We think we need it to be bigger, we need more space.’ And there weren’t many parameters on the space, so that was a challenge for us in a way; they couldn’t really lay out what they were going to do with all of this space.”
In that respect, certain elements of goCstudio’s design plan went unfulfilled due to budgetary limits – an occurrence designers often have to come to terms with.
“We set the space up to transform with them as they grow into the space,” noted Mr. Gentry. “We presented 20 or 30 options of the what the central forum could be, but budget limits meant that right now it’s an open, undefined space.”
goCstudio smartly suggested a projection system set up opposite a large white wall in the forum, as Substantial does quite a bit of tech and app design, and regardless of how Substantial eventually decides use the space, it can always use it as a large scale presentation forum.
Around the corner from the kitchen and dining on the north side of the office, goCstudio also built in a series of “work cubbies,” semi-enclosed spaces equipped with lighting and power for flexible workspace.
“We wanted these work cubbies to be furnished, but again, the budget didn’t allow for it at the moment, which is frustrating,” said Mr. Gentry.
goCstudio developed a streamlined materials palette, first repurposing Substantial’s former steel entry door into a 20-foot-long custom reception desk. Project rooms are separated with simple white walls, providing high contrast to original exposed concrete walls, hardwood roof-decking, exposed beams and brick.
“From the very first meetings, they wanted a timeless sense of material – nothing flashy,” said Mr. Gentry. “We were taking cues from the building itself. They loved the bones of what was already there. All of the materials are a really honest expression of their space and their needs.”
The kitchen and bar island bases are made of hot rolled steel, and their timber bar tops, constructed to be one piece, were craned in through a nearby window. The roof, an old school structure of laminated 2×6 rafters, allowed the design team to make the skylight work, dropping the beams in from above.
goCstudio conceived of a design plan that successfully unifies existing and new structural elements.
For more information about goCstudio, visit https://gocstudio.com/.
