The Rock Family of Companies, which includes Rocket Mortgage and Quicken Loans, is one of Detroit’s largest employers, with 17,000 workers. Over the past several months, many of those employees have been returning to their offices, more than 1 million sf of which in several buildings were renovated in 2020, while those spaces were closed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Pophouse—a nine-year-old interior design studio owned by Jennifer Gilbert,, the wife of Dan Gilbert, Rock’s chairman and majority owner—came up with the design concept for this renovation project through a pilot program at Rocket Mortgage Technology’s four-story 288,000-sf headquarters in the One Campus Martius Building that, initially, involved around 40 employees for several months in 2019, and then was refined to the point where it could be rolled out for 2,000 workers.
“The goal was to offer a destination and collaborative space for innovation,” says Mike Malloy, Chief Amazement Officer for Rock Central, a professional services firm that’s part of Rocket Companies. Jennifer Janus, Pophouse’s President, says her firm’s mission on this project was to create a positive impact on employees and visitors by using data and metrics to inform its design.
Five parameters defined the pilot’s design:
•Culture + Community, where branded moments demonstrate organizational identity;
•Team + Wellness, where workers are exposed to the outdoors and natural light;
•Collaboration that allows team members to work together within new orientations;
•Tech Integration that reduces extraneous equipment and facilitates team meetings wherever employees are working;
•Flexible Amenity Settings, where private offices are designed with small or larger gathering tables, where team ownership of spaces allows each group to manage its physical assets, and where communal amenities, like kitchens and conference rooms, support all individuals on that floor.
OFFICES WERE BEING USED SPARSELY
![An intimate quiet meeting place in Rocket Mortgage Technology's headquarters.](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Rocket%20Mortgage%20Tech%20HQ%20remodel%202.png)
A survey of employees for the pilot found that 90 percent would use a quiet place at work if it were made available, and that 80 percent wanted more conference rooms. More significant were the findings that 36 percent of room needs per hour were for two-person meetings, and that on an average day 30 percent of the office’s tech team does not come into the building, and that even at its highest level, 20 percent aren’t in the office on a given day.
Pophouse, working with the GC Braun Construction Group and the architect Rossetti, tested all kinds of things: smaller desk surfaces, collaborative zones and software, training areas, additional monitors for teams to use, desk utilization, and digital behaviors.
![Different work settings in Rocket Mortgage Technology's redesigned HQs.](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Pophouse%20-%20Work%20setting%20types.png)
It found that workers could acclimate themselves to a smaller, five-ft desk surface; that they preferred high-top tables to casual seating in collaborative areas; that non-bookable team spaces were “highly valued” and led to different employee behaviors and team rituals; that flexible conditions resonated positively; that new technology should be deployed and tested thoroughly; and that finding solutions that permit onsite and remote work transparently was imperative.
The test space contained new types of work settings for the team to leverage. These included one-on-one spaces, smaller collaborative spaces with soft seating, quiet areas, so-called “touchdown” spaces for spontaneous and quick interaction, and enhanced tech to improve the remote working experience.
Pophouse’s “neighborhood” concept included determining a kit of parts creating a “home base” for team members, which would allow an “ecosystem” of work settings for individuals to choose from. The concept reduced the quantity of workstations but increased the number of overall seats per floor.
OFFICE-TO-RESIDENTIAL COULD BE NEXT OPPORTUNITY
![A shared kitchen amenity](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Rocket%20MOrtgage%20tech%20remodel%203.png)
The firm’s pilot design—which assumes a hybrid work model—revolves around these principles: culture is key, variety over repetition, full sensory performance that reduces distractions, a spectrum of shared and individual spaces, a “playground of perspective” where teams share a “home,” the smart home that functions seamlessly with the office space, a clutter-free workspace, authenticity, and “driven simplicity.”
As the design was applied to offices in other Rock-owned buildings, Pophouse worked with building teams that included the AE firm NORR and Whiting-Turner Construction.
Pophouse, with 30 employees, over the years has completed several thousand large and small projects for Gilbert’s businesses in Detroit, Cleveland, and Miami. But Pophouse still gets 40 percent of its work from other clients. Janus foresees opportunities doing more work in states like California and Florida that would include converting vacated office spaces to residential. Malloy notes that his company is “intrigued” by a pending bill in Washington D.C. that would provide funding for such conversions.
Related Stories
| Oct 30, 2013
15 stellar historic preservation, adaptive reuse, and renovation projects
The winners of the 2013 Reconstruction Awards showcase the best work of distinguished Building Teams, encompassing historic preservation, adaptive reuse, and renovations and additions.
| Oct 30, 2013
Why are companies forcing people back to the office?
For a while now companies have been advised that flexibility is a key component to a successful workplace strategy, with remote working being a big consideration. But some argue that we’ve moved the needle too far toward a “work anywhere” culture.
| Oct 30, 2013
11 hot BIM/VDC topics for 2013
If you like to geek out on building information modeling and virtual design and construction, you should enjoy this overview of the top BIM/VDC topics.
| Oct 28, 2013
Urban growth doesn’t have to destroy nature—it can work with it
Our collective desire to live in cities has never been stronger. According to the World Health Organization, 60% of the world’s population will live in a city by 2030. As urban populations swell, what people demand from their cities is evolving.
| Oct 23, 2013
Gehry, Foster join Battersea Power Station redevelopment
Norman Foster and Frank Gehry have been selected to design a retail section within the £8 billion redevelopment of Battersea Power Station in London.
| Oct 21, 2013
University of Queensland’s net-zero building features biomimicry-based design
University of Queensland’s Global Change Institute (GCI) building in Australia showcases on-site solar energy sources, biomimicry-based design features, and the first structural use of low-carbon concrete in the country.
| Oct 18, 2013
Meet the winners of BD+C's $5,000 Vision U40 Competition
Fifteen teams competed last week in the first annual Vision U40 Competition at BD+C's Under 40 Leadership Summit in San Francisco. Here are the five winning teams, including the $3,000 grand prize honorees.
| Oct 18, 2013
Researchers discover tension-fusing properties of metal
When a group of MIT researchers recently discovered that stress can cause metal alloy to fuse rather than break apart, they assumed it must be a mistake. It wasn't. The surprising finding could lead to self-healing materials that repair early damage before it has a chance to spread.
| Oct 18, 2013
Sustainability expert: Smart building technology can have quick payback
Smart building technology investments typically pay for themselves within one or two years by delivering energy savings and maintenance efficiencies.
| Oct 14, 2013
How to leverage workplaces to attract and retain top talent
Just about every conversation I have related to employee attraction and retention tends to turn into an HR sounding discussion about office protocols, incentives, and perks. But as a workplace strategist, I need to help my clients make more tangible links between their physical workplace and how it can be leveraged to attract and retain top talent. Here are some ideas.