People have powerful, personal motivations for being active outdoors: challenge, camaraderie, exploration, or simply health and fitness. Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) is the outdoor retailer that inspires and enables them to lead active outdoor lifestyles.Two slender intersecting bars define the building’s form to create a narrow floorplate and provide penetration of natural light. An atrium space with a feature stairway gives people connectivity and visibility right in the heart of the building’s 112,000 square foot space, enabling sight lines and connection among people.
Two slender intersecting bars define the building’s form to create a narrow floorplate and provide penetration of natural light. An atrium space with a feature stairway gives people connectivity and visibility right in the heart of the building’s 112,000 square foot space, enabling sight lines and connection among people.
Several unique spaces embody MEC’s active lifestyle brand and culture. The bouldering cave and storage area for 128 bikes support MEC’s rich climbing and cycling culture. A multi-purpose room for large gatherings also serves as a venue for fitness and yoga classes. The fourth-floor cafeteria with adjacent garden draws employees up through the building where they can gather and socialize.
Haworth partnered with MEC to understand the organization’s active and vibrant culture, as well as workstyle needs for different work groups. Inter-connected workspaces ensure collaboration between work teams and high-degree of operational efficiency. A kit of parts solution keeps spaces flexible for MEC’s key functional areas: call center, collaborative/group space, training, managerial, executive, conference rooms, and unassigned locations. Spaces with soft seating offer ideal settings for spontaneous or planned meetings. Adjustable worksurfaces let people choose to sit or stand while they work.
MEC’s innovative new workplace supports creativity and collaboration now and into the future. The organization’s culture and values are embodied in the construction and design, providing a healthy, inspiring space where people can do their best work. MEC’s new head office facility was designed to meet the Platinum standard of the LEED green building rating system, exceeding the City of Vancouver’s requirements. It is estimated to be 70 per cent more energy efficient than conventional Canadian office buildings.
Serving more than 3.5 million members is a huge undertaking. When MEC’s employees love where they work, they happily support members living active outdoor lifestyles.
Having outgrown its former head office, the organization was seeking to build a new facility that would drive the vibrance of an outdoor culture, support MEC’s values, promote collaboration, and enable adaptability for expansion in the future.
