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Renovated office building is designed to ensure staff want to be there

Staff at Edmunds.com aren't compelled to attend the office every day but with new premises and staff facilities like these, most people want to

Pride of place at Los Angeles-based online car automotive design, interior design, red, gray
Pride of place at Los Angeles-based online car marketer Edmunds.com goes to the reception area, with two Corvettes rotating above the desk. Immediately overhead is a Stingray Convertible from 2016 the year that the new premises opened. Interior design of the renovated building were by M+M Creative Studio.

Changing workplace philosophies have forced us to seriously rethink workplace design in recent years. Non-hierarchical layouts, collaborative environments, quiet spaces, a social kitchen/cafe area these are all becoming commonplace features.

One of the more radical of these new workplace philosophies has been ROWE a Results Only Work Environment.

Essentially this is a programme designed to increase productivity by giving employees the freedom to work on their own terms and in their own time. It's a system based on trust that measures staff only on the results they produce not the amount of time they spend at their desks.

So how do you design a workplace for staff that don't have to be there?

That was the challenge facing architect Chris Mitchell when working with Edmunds.com on its new Los Angeles headquarters. The company had leased a building just across the street from its existing premises and wanted to re-develop it into 13,000m² of space for its 600+ staff.

"But you have to ask yourself why go through this process if your staff don't need to turn up if they don't want to?" asks Mitchell.

"Edmunds did it because it wanted to entice people to be there. It's like having a clubhouse that you want to go to, even if it means a two-hour drive to work in LA traffic."


The logo on the wall of the main ceiling, interior design, gray
The logo on the wall of the main lounge at Edmunds.com was constructed from 2472 miniature Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars.

He says this was the business driver for creating the space. A branding message was then layered on top of that, to talk about what Edmunds does.

Edmunds provides online automotive information not actually selling vehicles, but facilitating their purchase.

"Car companies are its clients, so the company wanted a space that was evocative of cars, motion and highways. We needed to make staff happy but we also wanted visitors to be excited."

That's achieved as soon as anyone steps into the main lobby. Rotating above the reception desk is a 2016 Corvette, with another Corvette the iconic 1966 model above that at first floor level.

Mitchell says that ground floor also contains conference rooms, collaborative and social spaces.

"It's natural people come in, they grab a coffee and then head for a conference room. The ground floor is loud and fun, a place where people can casually bump into each other."

The design includes elements from car culture such as the display of 72 chrome wheel rims above the coffee bar, chrome exhaust pipes by the main entry monitors, a wall of miniature Matchbox cars, and a refurbished 1958 Cadillac that's used as a bar.

In keeping with the nature of the business interior design, leisure centre, red, gray
In keeping with the nature of the business of providing online automotive information for potential vehicle buyers, M+M Creative Studios interior design is evocative of cars, highways and motion.

"Beyond that is a twisting, open slide between floors that we call the Expressway that people use all day long to come down to the coffee bar."

With all the fun happening on the ground floor, the floor above houses the quieter work spaces.

So has this bold, bright and inclusive approach achieved the goal of enticing staff to be there? Mitchell says the results speak for themselves.

"Edmunds has been able to measure the level of employee engagement and that shows the old office was used 75% of the time, but the new premises get used 89% and above.

"If you work for this company, you do actually want to hang out here."

Credit list

Project
Edmunds.com headquarters, Los Angeles
Executive architect
Lewis/Schoeplein Architects
Flooring
Red and white epoxy paint; clear sealed concrete on stairs; Ground Waves carpet from Interface
Red glass
Pulp Studios
Cove lighting
Edge Lighting
Feature lighting
Tom Dixon Pendant Ball Lights; Tom Dixon Mirror Ball LIghts
Office chairs
Aeron from Herman Miller
Casual seating
Depart Sofa designed by Joquer for Jane Hamley Wells; Noir by Designtex
Kitchen stools
LEM Piston Stool with white leather seat, designed by Sin and Tomoko Azumi for Design Within Reach
Design architect
Chris Mitchell, M+M Creative Studio
Construction company
Corporate Contractors
Paint
Benjamin Moore
Graphic on glass
Hand applied 3M FILM dots
Recessed lighting
Flos USA
Slide
Custom designed from Natural Structures
Reception desk
Hand polished mirror chrome
Kitchen islands
DuPont Corian in Silverite, Designer White and Royal Red

Story by: Paul Taylor

Photography by: Fotoworks

07 Mar, 2017

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