Office Snapshots » Washington

ZAAZ Shows Off Its Headquarters

Stephen Searer — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:00:43 +0000

When we posted last week about how bar-height tables were a great addition so an office, we received some nice feedback in the form of images. ZAAZ, an interactive digital agency in Seattle shot over some images of their space — complete with bar-height tables of course.

The images below show a space that is not directly in the workspace, but in more of a lounge setting that can be used for brainstorming, thinking, hanging out, and of course, partying – as seen in the video that follows.

Other views give us a taste of the company’s style, with a conference room titled ‘The Situation’ and raw, worn brick walls. The kitchen is immaculate, though it doesn’t look like anyone splattered a tv dinner all over the microwave and ‘forgot to clean it’ at the time when these images were taken.

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Microsoft’s Garage of Innovation

Stephen Searer — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 14:00:05 +0000

We’ve had the opportunity to see a couple Microsoft office spaces, but their latest space, the Garage of Innovation is something else. Designed by Studio O+A, the Garage of Innovation is meant to give employees an outlet for creativity beyond the regular desks.

One way of doing this is to equip employees with all sorts of gadgetry from soldering benches, 3d printers, and a laser cutter to help get some of that creativity out into the real world. Employees are encouraged to use the space as they need, though most likely as long as their regular work is being finished.

“It took six months to remodel the 60,000 square foot building. Now, the building has huge open gathering spaces and plenty of new windows to let in daylight. Sprinkled around the building are new “pods,” temporary work spaces where teams of two, three, or five employees can set up shop to collaborate on projects for weeks at a time.”

We’ve seen a number of other spaces created by Studio O+A, such as Yelp, Aol, and Facebook, and while this project reflects the company;s design style, it has many new elements that give the space a fresh and appealing vibe.

The garage theme for the space came from the inspiration of companies such as Amazon, HP, or Google and is carried beyond just the name. Several space dividers are actually garage doors that can be opened or closed depending on the needs of the space’s users.

Many of the furniture options that we can see from the photos are classic mid-century iconic Eames pieces, while others look as though they are fabricated on an as-needed basis like the OSB side table.

Check out a more in-depth writeup from CNET here.

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Urban Influence Offices

Stephen Searer — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 13:00:23 +0000

During my visit to Seattle last week, I had the opportunity to visit the offices of Urban Influence, a branding/creative company located in the Capital Hill neighborhood. The company was recently notified that their lease was up at the old office, so they quickly found this new space and have been working to properly make it their own.

After going through what looked like a steel blastdoor and up some stairs, we were greeted by a warm loft space, with a lot of natural light and room to expand. The company is currently hiring as well.

One of the more completed areas in the conference space, which uses reclaimed stable doors, to which were added the names of the horses that used to call them home. Urban Influence opted to use custom-made tables for their employee workstations as to preserve the specific look they were going for. Those tables, in addition to the exposed brick, old wood beams, and wood floors (not to mention the fact that the space is half-finished) give the office a very rugged appearance.

A unique feature we noted was a red occupancy light that adorns the wall above the restroom letting potential users know they should come back later.

With all that said, it will be great to see how the company and office space progress in the near months. Hopefully we’ll be able to get a few more images one the space is finished.

Photos | Grant Johnson, Stephen Searer

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Tooth & Nail Records Offices

Stephen Searer — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 13:00:08 +0000

This design was created within the interior of an existing commercial building atop Queen Anne Hill, a largely residential neighborhood that flanks Seattle’s downtown to the North. Organizing the office circulation spatially as well as the re-routed mechanical systems is a silver painted soffit running the length of space from the entry reception to the CEO’s office toward the back of the office.

Working with relatively few perimeter windows, Lead Pencil Studio employed indirect illumination at every opportunity and fronted much of it in frosted glass to raise the ambient light level with a minimum of glare.Nearly every detail in this office is custom fabricated from raw material including the flat bar relites, aluminum pendant up lights, steel casework, window gaskets and plywood built-in furniture. Black walnut veneer is employed in several locations, but most interestingly, as a natural laminate over 1 inch acrylic workstations throughout individual offices. Black walnut also re-appears as a singular slab salvaged from local windfall and in the face of the reception desk, which has a decorative CNC-incised pattern referencing audio equalizer graphics.

[Via Archimodes]

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Microsoft – Pioneer Studios Office

Stephen Searer — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 13:00:48 +0000

When you think of Microsoft, you typically think of dry, boring, and bland. Hopefully that will change after today’s office. Microsoft’s Pioneer Studios space is wonderful. Here is some information on the space from the designe company, SkB Architects:

Microsofts Entertainment and Devices (E & D) division needed an inspiring, flexible studio where ideas could incubate and creative expression could flow unhindered. In addition to a focus on collaboration and conceptual development, the space also needed to socialize at night as well as it functioned during the day.

To promote dialogue and encourage the cross-pollination of creative ideas through collaboration, the project team created a transparent, open workspace with intimate niches and adaptable areas. The central spine where technology stations are docked is easily reconfigurable, enabling individuals to add another monitor for their own use or adjust their workspace to be in closer proximity to another team member.

And with regard to the design…

To brighten the interior and instill a feeling of connectivity, the project team replaced a solid wall adjacent to the existing stairwell with multi-story glass panels. Opening the wall also helped make the existing skylight more prominent, flooding the open kitchen and entertainment space with light.

Maintaining the flexibility required of an inspirational, incubation space, the top floor includes a white board partition that can be adjusted to create one large gathering space or two more private, smaller rooms. Equipped with an AV system, the space is also positioned to host public gatherings and planned events.

(click images to enlarge)

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