Tommy Bahama’s new 120,000-sf Seattle campus has a design focused on user experience and was inspired by the company’s ethos to “Make Life One Long Weekend.”
The open, casual setting has spaces that feature a natural material palette and rich textures such as woven fabric wall coverings and rough-honed stone. A “grand boardwalk” organizes the space and draws guests from the main lobby and reception to the showroom, mock store, and collaborative workspaces. Casual seating areas line the boardwalk and provide opportunities for informal gatherings.
Photo: Magda Biernat.
Workspaces have been designed with flexibility in mind so users can tailor the environment based on departmental and team requirements. The reception area and amenities are located on an intermediate level of the HQ’s four floors to ensure employee interaction and social engagement.
The company decided to lease the floors for the headquarters space in the base of the office tower as opposed to the upper floors in order to create and reinforce physical and visual connections to the community. Breakout and workspaces were designed around large four-story light monitors with access to the market hall at the base of the building to encourage gathering.
Photo: Spencer Lowell.
Each floor has its own coffee bar and a 1,000-sf café on the main level opens out to a 1,500-sf roof deck. The office’s customized workstations feature sit-to-stand desks, ergonomic monitor arms, and task lighting.
The building team includes SkB Architects (interior architecture and interior design), MKA (structural), Lima (lighting), GCH (landscape), Stantec (acoustical), Commercial Office Interiors (furniture procurement), University Mechanical (mechanical-plumbing design-build), Veca (electrical design-build), Skanska (contractor).
Photo: Magda Biernat.
Photo: Magda Biernat.
Related Stories
| Feb 19, 2014
It's a world record! Largest uninterrupted concrete pour kicks off Wilshire Grand project
Guinness World Records verifies the concrete pour as the largest ever
| Feb 17, 2014
Developer plans to 'crowdfund' extended stay hotel in Manhattan
Want to own a piece of Manhattan hotel real estate? Developer Rodrigo Nino is inviting individual investors to put up $100,000 each for his latest project, 17 John.
| Feb 14, 2014
Crowdsourced Placemaking: How people will help shape architecture
The rise of mobile devices and social media, coupled with the use of advanced survey tools and interactive mapping apps, has created a powerful conduit through which Building Teams can capture real-time data on the public. For the first time, the masses can have a real say in how the built environment around them is formed—that is, if Building Teams are willing to listen.
| Feb 13, 2014
Related Companies, LargaVista partner to develop mixed-use tower in SoHo
The site is located at the gateway to the booming SoHo retail market, where Class A office space is scarce yet highly in demand.
| Feb 12, 2014
First Look: Futuristic Silicon Valley campus designed to draw tech startups
The curved campus will consist of four different buildings, one exclusively for amenities like a coffee bar, bike shop, and bank.
| Feb 7, 2014
Zaha Hadid's 'white crystal' petroleum research center taking shape in the desert [slideshow]
Like a crystalline form still in the state of expansion, the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center will rise from the desert in dramatic fashion, with a network of bright-white, six-sided cells combining to form an angular, shell-like façade.
| Feb 6, 2014
End of the open workplace?
If you’ve been following news about workplace design in the popular media, you might believe that the open workplace has run its course. While there’s no shortage of bad open-plan workplaces, there are two big flaws with the now common claim that openness is bad.
| Feb 5, 2014
Extreme conversion: Atlanta turns high-rise office building into high school
Formerly occupied by IBM, the 11-story Lakeside building is the new home for North Atlanta High School.
| Feb 5, 2014
7 towers that define the 'skinny skyscraper' boom [slideshow]
Recent advancements in structural design, combined with the loosening of density and zoning requirements, has opened the door for the so-called "superslim skyscraper."
| Jan 30, 2014
See how architects at NBBJ are using computational design to calculate the best views on projects [video]
In an ideal world, every office employee would have a beautiful view from his or her desk. While no one can make that happen in real life, computational design can help architects maximize views from every angle.