{"id":206650,"date":"2023-02-06T14:55:57","date_gmt":"2023-02-06T19:55:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/?post_type=id_project&p=206650"},"modified":"2023-03-02T09:21:25","modified_gmt":"2023-03-02T14:21:25","slug":"post-pandemic-workplace-gym-los-angeles-office","status":"publish","type":"id_project","link":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/projects\/post-pandemic-workplace-gym-los-angeles-office\/","title":{"rendered":"A Standout Gym Entices Employees Back to This Los Angeles Office"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Flooring is rubber; photography: courtesy of Nephew.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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February 6, 2023<\/p>\n\n\n

Words: <\/span>Edie Cohen<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photography: <\/span>Brad Feinknopf<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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A Standout Gym Entices Employees Back to This Los Angeles Office<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Design a post-pandemic workplace. That was architect Kristi Paulson\u2019s first assignment for a confidential client when she landed at Behnisch Architekten. Fortunately for the client\u2014and Behnisch\u2014Paulson had already worked for the firm, when it had a previous L.A. studio from 1999 to 2011 (she was there from 2007 to 2011 as project partner). After a seven-year run at ZGF, she\u2019s returned as partner-in-charge, her duties, in addition to designing the aforementioned workplace, also encompassing putting together a team and heading up the new L.A. operation with majority ownership\u2014making the studio a woman-owned business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The endeavor also marks Paulson\u2019s first copiloting expedition with her husband, Behnisch director Daniel Poei. Further worth noting is when the client\u2019s workplace project began: January 2020. Talk about timing. The confluence of the COVID-19 shutdown, working remotely, and a tight schedule from the client conveyed an unprecedented urgency. It meant two years of quasi 24\/7 dedication. \u201cWe lived and breathed this project,\u201d Paulson recalls. Fortunately again, the couple\u2019s commitment and joint four decades of design experience is clearly evident in the end result: a bright four-story office that focuses on employee connectivity to each other and nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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German firm Behnisch Architekten\u2019s new Los Angeles studio recently completed an L.A. office for a confidential client that features multiple inviting stairways, like this two-story spiral in painted steel and white oak veneer, that encourage activity among employees and connectivity through\u00adout the work\u00adplace. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Design Considerations for This Post-Pandemic Workplace Centered on Collaboration and Wellness<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The process began with the client introducing Paulson and Poei to its 110,000-square-foot \u201cdeveloper box,\u201d Paulson notes, with a central elevator lobby. \u201cLuckily, the owner opened the door for us to communicate directly with the sub-contractors, not just the contractors,\u201d Poei says. \u201cSo we could get to the right people and figure things out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the client\u2019s small, low-density workforce valuing connection and operating on egalitarian premises, the Behnisch team<\/a>\u2019s first step entailed translating said connection to physical reality. Irregular cuts piercing three of the floor plates were means to that end, while simultaneously creating \u201can eccentrically shaped atrium on either side of the elevator lobby,\u201d Paulson says. The resulting new territory sports \u201ca diversity of spatial environments and visual connections between levels.\u201d Moving up and down between them was crucial to collaborative success. She and Poei provided plenty of stunning options\u2014make that eight of them. Four cantilevered, hairpin-turn staircases, a pair for each of the two atriums, connect the upper three levels, designated as office areas. Beyond, four spiral staircases<\/a>, counter\u00adacting the building\u2019s rectangularity and its orthogonal layout, are two-story connectors. All are similarly constructed of matte black\u2013painted steel cladding and white oak veneer for risers, treads, and inner balustrade paneling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A custom sectional and Eero Saarinen chairs congregate around an oak coffee\u00a0table in a break-out area.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Office Gym Features a 15-Foot-High Climbing Wall<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As striking as the stairs are, there\u2019s another showstopper standing front and center on the ground floor. A 10,000-square- foot gym adjoining reception is fully out in the open, not secreted away as is often the case. Outfitted with weight and cardio apparatus, it offers a plethora of choices for staffers. But their real challenge comes at the 15-foot-high bouldering wall<\/a>, conceived to wrap around and conceal some of the existing building core elements. \u201cMany of the buildings Behnisch designs worldwide have ground-floor amenities for connectivity. We think globally and share knowledge,\u201d Paulson says, referring to projects by the firm\u2019s other offices in Boston, Stuttgart, Munich, and Weimar. \u201cHere, the client even provides its employees with free bouldering shoes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From working out to back-to-work, those employees mostly gather out in the open, with much of that area overlooking the atriums. Yet the floor plan, which also includes private perimeter offices, provides ample options for heads-down space and ad-hoc meetings. Glass-fronted meeting rooms, ac\u00adcom\u00admodating five to 25 and enhanced with massive marker boards, flank corridors and, in some cases, cantilever over the atriums as floating boxes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Behnisch treated the corridors like lounges as much as circulation spaces, endowing them with Eero Saarinen chairs and custom seating in calming shades of leather or watery-blue textiles. More lounge-cum-meeting space, double-story in height, comes courtesy of cut-away glass building corners where folks gather, drawn to the light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With all the openness, acoustics were crucial. \u201cWe used a German framing system, actually an exterior window system, with a nice, thin profile engineered to accommodate large sheets of glass almost 1-inch thick,\u201d Paulson explains. Additional solutions come from sound-absorbing cotton above the project\u2019s hemlock-slatted ceilings and the atriums\u2019 micro-perforated, tessellated oak panels. \u201cSound transference is a complaint I often hear from workplace clients,\u201d Paulson states. \u201cInstead, this feels like a library.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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A hairpin-turn stairway, one of four, spans all four levels for primary vertical circulation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Space Nods to Company Values With Custom Art Pieces <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Given Behnisch\u2019s global reach, Paulson\u2019s art program for the client, themed to geography, was a natural\u2014literally and figuratively. Six continents, mapped out as massive oak wall sculptures, unfold two per floor across the office levels. Antarctica, the seventh, is on the ground floor. Meanwhile, conference rooms are named after rivers, like the Amazon, signifying movement and the flow of discussion, with cut-vinyl graphics for signage. The earthy theme continues with open lounge areas named after lakes to connote serenity. Which is, after all, an important vibe when venturing back to the office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A corridor\u2019s wall mural of Africa, executed in oak veneer, is part of the office\u2019s geography-themed art program; photography courtesy of Nephew.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Beyond the river rocks anchoring one of the four spiral stairs, Thomas Bernstrand and Stefan Borselius\u2019s Bob armchairs furnish a meeting area in a cut-away glass corner.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Hans Wegner chairs grace one of the two atriums.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The 10,000-square-foot gym with a 15-foot-high bouldering wall unfolds beneath a hemlock-slat ceiling. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Flooring is rubber; photography: courtesy of Nephew.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Tessellated oak-veneer paneling helps control acoustics in the four-story atriums.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Glass-enclosed meeting rooms jut out over an atrium.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Amazon River is depicted in cut vinyl on a conference room\u2019s walls.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Outside the perimeter offices and meeting rooms, central corridors have nylon carpet tile and function as alternative meeting options.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Joining the Bob sofas in a break-out area are Space Copenhagen\u2019s Moon coffee tables and Lievore Altherr\u00a0Molina\u2019s Big flush-mount ceiling fixtures.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The cafeteria multitasks as an events and all-hands space. Photography courtesy of Nephew.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
PROJECT TEAM<\/h6><\/div>\n\n\n\n
behnisch architekten<\/span><\/a>: tony gonzalez; vera tian; laura fox; erik hegre; apurva ravi; victoria oakes<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
ockert und partner<\/span><\/a>: graphics consultant<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
loisos + ubbelohde<\/span><\/a>: lighting consultant<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
spmdesign<\/span><\/a>: art consultant<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
john a. martin and associates<\/span><\/a>: structural engineer<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
acco engineered systems<\/span><\/a>: mechanical, plumbing contractor<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
morrow meadows<\/span><\/a>: electrical contractor<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
spooner\u2019s woodworks<\/span><\/a>: millwork<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
washington iron works<\/span><\/a>: metalwork<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
dpr construction<\/span><\/a>: general contractor<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
PRODUCT SOURCES<\/h6><\/div>\n\n\n\n
FROM FRONT<\/h6><\/div>\n\n\n\n
diamond perforated metals<\/span><\/a>: staircase panels (atrium)<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
california sheet metal<\/span><\/a>: staircase soffits<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
Dinesen<\/span><\/a>: wood flooring<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
stone source<\/span><\/a>: stone flooring<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
Gubi<\/span><\/a>: coffee tables (break-out areas, atrium)<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
knoll<\/span><\/a>: chairs (break-out areas, lounge)<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
caesarstone<\/span><\/a>: sectional tabletops (break-out areas)<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
spinneybeck<\/span><\/a>: sectional leather<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
unisource solutions<\/span><\/a>: custom sectionals (break-out areas, gym), parson\u2019s table (meeting area), coffee table (lounge), benches (gym), table (conference room)<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
krc rock<\/span><\/a>: custom rock bed (lounge)<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
sistemalux<\/span><\/a>: pendant fixtures<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
Arup<\/span><\/a>: Consultant for Fire\/Life Safety, Acoustics and Audio Visual<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
bl\u00e5 station<\/span><\/a>: chairs (lounge), sectionals (conference room), sofas (break-out area)<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
sorensen<\/span><\/a>: chair upholstery (lounge), sectional upholstery (conference room)<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
Fritz Hansen<\/span><\/a>: chairs (atrium)<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
walltopia<\/span><\/a>: climbing wall panels (gym)<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
climbmat<\/span><\/a>: mat<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
beta-calco<\/span><\/a>: spotlights<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
mondo<\/span><\/a>: floor\u00ading<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
carl hansen & s\u00f8n<\/span><\/a>: chairs (break-out area)<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
kvadrat<\/span><\/a>: sofa fabric<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
leland<\/span><\/a>: stools (meeting area, cafeteria)<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
eureka<\/span><\/a>: pendant fixtures<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
daltile<\/span><\/a>: wall tile (cafeteria)<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
concrete collaborative<\/span><\/a>: flooring<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
Dupont<\/span><\/a>: tabletop material<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
west coast industries<\/span><\/a>: table bases<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
THROUGHOUT<\/h6><\/div>\n\n\n\n
flor<\/span><\/a>: carpet tile<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
Maharam<\/span><\/a>: wall panels<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
conwed<\/span><\/a>: wall system<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
sch\u00fcco<\/span><\/a>: glazing system<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
vibia<\/span><\/a>: flush-mount fixtures<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
lumenpulse<\/span><\/a>: downlights<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
CertainTeed<\/span><\/a>: suspend ceiling grids<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
assa abloy<\/span><\/a>: door pulls<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
guardian glass<\/span><\/a>: glass<\/span><\/section>\n\n\n\n
vista point<\/span><\/a>: paint<\/span><\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n