Customer Story Confidential National Non-Profit

Founded in 2003, this organization was started to tackle the root cause of some of the country’s biggest problems. With offices broken into separate suites, the organization sought to unite their employees and partners into one cohesive space—a physical and metaphorical unification.

Location

Washington DC Metropolitan Area

Project Specs

Project Size: approx. 200,000 sq. ft.
Occupants: 1000+

Design Firm

OTJ Architects

Dealer Partner

Price Modern

Unifying People and Space

While this organization has remote as well as headquarters-based employees, they wanted to create a new dynamic destination with intentional workspaces. Spaces that encourage collaboration and give more opportunity for the casual collisions created when people unexpectedly see each other and have important information to share. In addition, this office also needed to be welcoming, accessible, and inspirational event space for guests to experience.

It Takes a Village

The key to this project’s success was a unified approach that the client and design partners shared. Everyone understood how decisions made on one part of the project affected other parts of the project. They aligned on how best to achieve the client’s goals. For example, if one group wanted to add a conference room, they had to consider how many workspaces would have to shift to accommodate the conference room. During the planning process, the project team visited Haworth HQ so they could some of the many solutions in action and test them firsthand.

Extensive research done through interviews and focus groups was used to understand how departments and employees worked and what spaces they needed to make each successful. The floorplate is organized by neighborhood with defined department spaces supported with many types of amenity spaces that encourage gathering, connecting and collaboration in very intentional ways.

Design Meets Experience

The unique architecture of the building creates a visual connection across the large floorplates through a light-filled atrium. Strategically located and furnished spaces support casual collisions and enable seamless collaboration. This project achieved the intended design vision by celebrating the organizations’ dynamic workstyles while supporting intimate, small- and large-scale events.

It takes a village: this project exemplifies how collaboration between all parties can result in built solutions that propel an organization towards the realization of its cultural and operational goals.

Ania Leeson AIA, LEED AP, Fitwel

Senior Principal & Operations Officer | Studio Director at OTJ

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